Today’s marketers aren’t just communicators, they’re storytellers competing for attention, emotion, and connection. In this episode of Higher Ed Conversations, GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom sits down with Kelly Hiller from Purdue University to unpack how higher ed marketing has shifted from simply delivering information to crafting meaningful, human-centered stories that actually resonate.

Together, they dive into Purdue’s brand transformation and what it took to build something that is both distinctive and scalable across a decentralized institution. If you’ve ever felt the pressure to make your college “everything to everyone,” consider this your reality check. Because knowing who your brand is not for is just as powerful as knowing who it is for, and that clarity is what leads to stronger, more ownable storytelling.

What You’ll Learn:

Why higher ed marketing must evolve from information delivery to emotional storytelling
How to uncover and leverage the human truth in your institution’s stories
Why your brand shouldn’t try to appeal to everyone (and what happens when it does)
How Purdue built alignment across a decentralized campus
How to create messaging frameworks that resonate with different audiences

Thanks for listening!

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Higher Ed Conversations is hosted by Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm, a marketing and branding agency specializing in community colleges and public education.