Dog Tours & Tik-Tok Sessions: Getting Creative with College Tours

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:07.190 You are listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.230 --> 00:00:11.869 in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:16.230 recruitment, dontor relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. 4 00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:20.789 If you are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, this 5 00:00:20.989 --> 00:00:30.019 podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the High 6 00:00:30.059 --> 00:00:35.179 Ed Marketer Podcast, where we highlight higher ed leaders that we admire and hopefully 7 00:00:35.539 --> 00:00:41.450 then sharing their ideas, best practices and something inspiring that's actionable that others can 8 00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:47.009 benefit from. I'm troy singer and, as usual, with my cohost Bart 9 00:00:47.130 --> 00:00:52.280 Taylor, and together we're interviewing Colin Palmer today from the University of Toledo. 10 00:00:55.039 --> 00:01:00.320 I'm excited to welcome Colin Palmer, director of undergraduate and mission at the University 11 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:04.069 of Toledo, to the show. Welcome Colin. Thank you, troy. 12 00:01:04.150 --> 00:01:07.790 Thank you, Bar Colin Palmer, director of undergraduate admission at the University of 13 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:14.549 Toledo, where I'm responsible for the domestic recruitment of all undergraduate students, those 14 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:19.379 in high school, transfer students, adults online and military. Very cool. 15 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:21.939 Thanks thanks so much, Colin. It's great to have you here. I 16 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:23.900 know that when we talked to kind of in our pre interview, you were 17 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:27.500 doing. You're telling us about some of the very unique things that you University 18 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:30.659 of Toledo and we want to make sure we kind of highlight a couple of 19 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:34.930 those things that because I think it'd be really beneficial for all the audience that 20 00:01:34.010 --> 00:01:37.969 listens. Tell me a little bit more about the story you shared with us 21 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:42.769 about the twilight tours that you're conducting. Yeah, absolutely. So next week 22 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:48.319 we're kicking off our first of three twilight tours twilight meeting that they're held from 23 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:52.799 thirty to eight pm on our campus. What we're really hoping to do and 24 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:56.920 what the idea spawned from was a conversation that we had had with some local 25 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:01.269 school counselors about how to encourage their students to visit the University of Toledo's campus, 26 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:07.109 because many of those students think they know what they need to know about 27 00:02:07.150 --> 00:02:09.509 the institution. I think many of us in higher education run into that same 28 00:02:09.710 --> 00:02:13.590 problem with students in our own backyard. So we thought, well, how 29 00:02:13.590 --> 00:02:15.219 do we make it different? How do we keep them engaged? How do 30 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:20.699 we peek their interest and so we thought, well, you know, a 31 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:23.939 lot of students are interested and taking the best photo that they can at the 32 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:28.539 perfect time of day, whether it's for their snapchat and then want to say 33 00:02:28.539 --> 00:02:30.810 it to friends on snap chat, whether it's a tick tock video, whatever 34 00:02:30.849 --> 00:02:34.409 it might be. So we thought, oh well, golden hour, twilight 35 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:38.210 hours. So we're doing that and we're really just going behind the scenes. 36 00:02:38.370 --> 00:02:42.969 So rather than a typical admissions presentation and a campus tour led by one of 37 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:47.759 our current students, we decided to actually meet and begin the program at the 38 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:51.919 parking lot right in front of our football stadium. We're going to have some 39 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:55.479 food trucks. We're going to take students into a glass bowl, which is 40 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:00.349 the football stadium at the University of Toledo, up to the roof of the 41 00:03:00.430 --> 00:03:04.469 press box actually, which were very excited about, to the fifth floor at 42 00:03:04.509 --> 00:03:10.150 the library, to the hallways of our university hall and just spaces around campus 43 00:03:10.270 --> 00:03:14.620 that we're definitely not hitting on a on a typical tour, but also not 44 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:20.460 spaces on campus where their parents, older siblings, cousins and friends might have 45 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:23.020 checked out on their time on campus. That's really cool. I A couple 46 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:25.500 things that I really like about what you're doing, Colin, is the idea 47 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:30.610 that one you're kind of meeting the students needs where they are. Certainly, 48 00:03:30.169 --> 00:03:32.490 I think with covid and everything else, I mean people are tired of being 49 00:03:32.569 --> 00:03:36.930 on zoom. A lot of students haven't been in school necessarily, but you're 50 00:03:36.930 --> 00:03:39.050 kind of changing things up a little bit to make it more interesting and and 51 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:44.280 really, like you said, I think that twilight time of the instagram perfect 52 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.159 photo or whatever those might be taking advantage of that and I'm sure too, 53 00:03:49.159 --> 00:03:53.879 making it a little bit more like a Destination Party as opposed to just I'm 54 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:55.870 going to go do my college tour today. I think that's I think that's 55 00:03:55.909 --> 00:03:59.629 a great idea and I love the fact that you guys are taking them kind 56 00:03:59.629 --> 00:04:01.830 of behind the scenes. I mean, I'm sure some of them that I'm 57 00:04:01.990 --> 00:04:04.909 wondering. I mean, have you had anybody that's said, well, I've 58 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:09.110 already done the regular tour, but can I come back for the twilight tour? 59 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:13.819 We have actually yes, and and we have school counselors and interested in 60 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:17.220 attending the visits as well, because we really wanted to use their ability to 61 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.060 connect with students to help advertise the events, and so they're very interested and 62 00:04:21.420 --> 00:04:26.490 I think an added benefit of this too is it's been something different and unique 63 00:04:26.649 --> 00:04:30.569 for the staff at our office and it's really re energize them and the work 64 00:04:30.649 --> 00:04:34.810 that they're doing to just kind of express their creativity, think outside of the 65 00:04:34.930 --> 00:04:41.519 box and, like you said earlier, not just another zoom Webinar that's, 66 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.959 you know, a quick overview of the University of Toledo. So we're we're 67 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.319 very energized. My colleague who's actually kind of spearheading all of this, even 68 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:51.870 referred to next week as our party week. That's really kind of how we're 69 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:56.430 how we're viewing it in the office. That's great and I'm guessing that you've 70 00:04:56.470 --> 00:05:00.310 probably marketed a little bit differently than you would from your typical calm flow on 71 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.069 hey, virtual tour com or, you know, sign up for the tour. 72 00:05:03.829 --> 00:05:10.980 Absolutely, absolutely, we've been far more active on social media and advertising. 73 00:05:11.100 --> 00:05:15.540 These tours. Were very fortunate at the University of Toledo to be right 74 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:20.300 across the street from a residential neighborhood, and so we've really urged the community 75 00:05:20.689 --> 00:05:25.649 to visit our campus and kind of see the behind the scenes as well, 76 00:05:25.810 --> 00:05:30.689 because we know that how how the community feels about the institution directly affects our 77 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:33.329 ability to engage and recruit perspective students, and so we want them to be 78 00:05:34.050 --> 00:05:39.759 involved in the process and learn about Toledo and be a abassadors for the university. 79 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.439 So the way that we've thought about who we want to attend and how 80 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:46.600 we're going to encourage attendance is much different than a typical admissions of it it's 81 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:50.110 great try, I think another question. Yes, that wasn't the only unique 82 00:05:50.149 --> 00:05:55.310 event that you're having. I think we also talked about a dog tour. 83 00:05:55.430 --> 00:05:58.269 So could you share with us a little bit more about that? Yes, 84 00:05:58.470 --> 00:06:03.230 absolutely so, if you check out the University of Toledo's undergraduate admissions facebook or 85 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:09.379 instagram account, about an hour before the recording we posted our first dog in 86 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:14.180 front of our university hall and one of the Bandanas that we purchased it says 87 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:18.569 honorary admissions ambassador. And so what we're doing is inviting perspective students and, 88 00:06:18.649 --> 00:06:23.730 again, members of the community to bring their dogs to campus to do a 89 00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:27.730 lawn tour of the University of Toledo. So we'll stop outside of the Student 90 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:31.209 Union, University Hall, the Glass Ball, as I mentioned earlier, the 91 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:35.680 admissions building in Libby Hall, and we're going to have cookies for humans and 92 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:40.600 cookies for dogs. So we're very excited about that and again, just a 93 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:45.639 fun and unique way to do something a little bit different, but also bring 94 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:47.990 people on campus and see the University of Toledo in a different way than what 95 00:06:48.069 --> 00:06:53.310 they probably experienced in the past. And because we're it's a lawn tour, 96 00:06:53.550 --> 00:06:58.230 you know, also very covid safe because we aren't going to need to enter 97 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:01.579 any of the campus buildings or anything like that. So we're very side. 98 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:05.220 I think it's interesting. I mean you're the you're the second guest on our 99 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:10.139 on our podcast, that has talked about utilizing dogs. Butler University. I 100 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:13.899 mean they have a they have a pet com flow. But I think what's 101 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:16.170 interesting, and we talked about this when we talked to to Christia Butler, 102 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:21.050 that students and families are pets are certainly a big part of their family, 103 00:07:21.170 --> 00:07:26.529 and the fact that you guys are recognizing that and including those members of the 104 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:30.600 family and in participating in this decision to attend college, I think it strikes 105 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:34.040 and strikes the chord that people understand that you guys get them, and I 106 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.839 don't know if you've. I don't know even even as you guys start to 107 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:41.160 promote the dog tour. And I mean, what kind of feedback are you 108 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:46.269 getting from these perspective students? My my colleague who's really spearheading that effort is 109 00:07:46.509 --> 00:07:50.709 a passionate dog mom and a lot of the credit for, really all of 110 00:07:50.790 --> 00:07:55.990 the credit for everything that we've done around this idea goes to her and she 111 00:07:56.149 --> 00:08:01.579 also supervises our admission ambassador's right. So we're always talking to them about ways 112 00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:05.860 to stay uniquely engaged with prospective students and think outside of the box and we're 113 00:08:05.860 --> 00:08:11.300 very empowered at Toledo and encouraged to to not just stick with the status quo. 114 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:15.610 We're do things that we've all always been doing and if I were to 115 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:18.850 take a proposal to my boss or to the president and say hey, you 116 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:20.889 know, we think we're just going to do the same thing that we did 117 00:08:20.930 --> 00:08:24.009 last year, that would not be acceptable. That would not go over well, 118 00:08:24.689 --> 00:08:30.279 and so we have to think about what's new, what's unique and what's 119 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.519 different and how is that going to Pique the interest of a perspective student. 120 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:37.639 As I mentioned earlier. You know, the University of Toledo is a regional 121 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:41.110 institution with a national, you know, recognition, but a lot of our 122 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:46.070 students come from Ohio and Michigan. But again they think, many of them, 123 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:48.789 that they know a little bit more about Toledo than what they think. 124 00:08:48.950 --> 00:08:52.110 That with them what they really do, and so we've thought about how do 125 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:58.659 we prove otherwise? Well, also empowering them and teaching them about the institution. 126 00:08:58.220 --> 00:09:01.980 I love the fact that you guys are recognizing that there's a there's an 127 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:05.740 issue. You know couple things I don't. I think a lot of time 128 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:09.250 schools might recognize it and we got a problem with that, but oh well, 129 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:13.250 that's that's that's our lot in life, type of thing. But I 130 00:09:13.409 --> 00:09:15.370 like the fact that you guys are saying, well, we have a problem 131 00:09:15.370 --> 00:09:16.330 with that. What can we do about it to make it different? And 132 00:09:16.409 --> 00:09:20.289 you guys are being creative about that, and I probably helps a lot that 133 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:26.240 you have a administration that is not risk adverse, because I mean, I'm 134 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.080 sure a lot of a lot of our listeners would be like man, I 135 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:31.399 would love to be able to have the administrators say, you know, no, 136 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:35.120 we don't want you to do the same thing it did last year because 137 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.320 a lot of administrator, I think, would say, well, that's what 138 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:41.110 I'm comfortable with and that's what I know and so so that's great. I'm 139 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:43.309 really glad that that's working out and it's glad that you guys are taking advantage 140 00:09:43.309 --> 00:09:46.309 of that. So another question I have for you is tell us a little 141 00:09:46.309 --> 00:09:50.149 bit about this behavioral data that we talked a little about but earlier. You 142 00:09:50.269 --> 00:09:54.779 know, the idea of really being able to to kind of look at data 143 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:58.940 and look and see how people are behaving and then, you know what be 144 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:01.700 some of the idea of what your opinions and experiences and really being able to 145 00:10:01.740 --> 00:10:07.409 utilize that for your outreach for your admissions, especially the Undergrad admissions. Absolutely 146 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:13.129 absolutely, and you know, I think when, from an admissions director perspective, 147 00:10:13.330 --> 00:10:20.370 we're concerned about the ability to generate inquiries, for example for our upcoming 148 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:24.919 classes, because we're we've been severely inhibited in our recruitment travel over the past 149 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.919 fifteen months. There have our challenges created with building the top of your funnel 150 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:35.110 due to the act and sat cancelations. So we're like, well, we 151 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:39.950 can still find names we can still go out and search for names and you 152 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:46.509 know, I think many of us are are probably partnering with more, I'll 153 00:10:46.509 --> 00:10:50.700 say partners, vendors, use your word, interchangeably, than what we ever 154 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:54.620 have before. But it's also very easy, from our perspective, to be 155 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:58.259 overwhelmed and not know who's really doing what or what's different. And so what 156 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:03.179 we're trying to do is build our funnel but also use our resources very strategically 157 00:11:03.220 --> 00:11:09.809 as we think about, you know, retargeting, paper, Click advertising, 158 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:13.929 direct mail advertising, gifts to admitted students, which is something that this year 159 00:11:15.009 --> 00:11:20.720 that we've not typically done before, and we're using behavioral engagement data to inform 160 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:24.759 the students that should receive those. I think we all recognize are we all 161 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:28.679 probably know on the Higher Ed side that and even on the school counseling side, 162 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:33.549 that encouraging a response is futile at times. You know, receiving a 163 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:39.110 response has is seems to be less and less common, and so what we 164 00:11:39.470 --> 00:11:41.870 what we really want to do and what the goal is is to provide relevant 165 00:11:43.029 --> 00:11:46.139 and timely information to a student when they need it. That's really what we 166 00:11:46.220 --> 00:11:50.500 want to do. That that's the goal, and so we're using behavioral engagement 167 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:54.659 data to do that. We partner with capture at the University of Toledo. 168 00:11:54.700 --> 00:12:00.259 We've been long term capture partners. It's been a great opportunity for us to 169 00:12:00.340 --> 00:12:05.009 learn from them and vice versa, and really build some pretty advanced models to 170 00:12:05.169 --> 00:12:11.090 show who are the students that benefit most from our information sharing. How do 171 00:12:11.210 --> 00:12:15.289 we encourage students to invest in a visit to the University of Toledo? You 172 00:12:15.409 --> 00:12:18.639 know, we have an a beautiful campus. There are thousands of beautiful campuses 173 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:22.399 out there. I would put the University of Toledo's up to any of those. 174 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:26.519 But we need to get students here right where, uniquely positioned an hour 175 00:12:26.639 --> 00:12:31.870 South at Detroit, but two hours from Cleveland, Columbus, three hours from 176 00:12:31.909 --> 00:12:37.269 Cincinnati, and so it's it's kind of a convergence in northwest Ohio that we 177 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:43.669 need to to occur and we're using behavioral engagement data to really align our resources 178 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:48.580 to encourage that great and is that something that you are looking to expand, 179 00:12:48.580 --> 00:12:50.340 because, I mean, one of the questions I would have is that you 180 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:54.139 know certainly some of the behavioral data on on the students. I mean, 181 00:12:54.179 --> 00:12:56.980 if you have behavioral data on the families, on the parents. I'm I 182 00:12:58.059 --> 00:13:01.929 mean certainly we all know the mom's kind of the biggest influencer and decisions like 183 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:03.649 this. Is that something you guys are looking at? How to expand that 184 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:07.370 behavioral data, because it seems like they're so much could be really gleaned from 185 00:13:07.970 --> 00:13:13.960 really understanding how students and family are behaving around your brand? Yeah, I 186 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:20.559 think one way we're looking to expand is just tracking and reviewing and utilizing behavioral 187 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:26.679 data for populations outside of the traditional freshman. Traditional Freshman are a little bit 188 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:31.149 easier, you know, they're more predictable. But what we're interested in learning 189 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:33.909 more about our online students. You know, we're seeing a lot of peaked 190 00:13:33.990 --> 00:13:39.870 interest in one hundred percent online degree programs at Toledo, which is probably not 191 00:13:39.990 --> 00:13:45.139 too surprising. But we're also thinking about transfer students and we've invested heavily in 192 00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:48.460 the last year and a half and in a regional enrollment model. So we 193 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:54.850 have five regional enrollment managers as opposed to zero eighteen months ago. And how 194 00:13:54.889 --> 00:14:01.850 do we engage more meaningfully with community college students or others in those communities to 195 00:14:01.049 --> 00:14:07.049 make the University of Toledo and a viable option for them. Parents are are 196 00:14:07.289 --> 00:14:09.200 interesting, you know. I think all of us would love to know the 197 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:15.720 secret formula to collecting and utilizing parent data and what parents want to hear. 198 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.360 I hear sometimes parents don't want to hear the sales pitch. They just want 199 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:22.279 to know about the next steps. But then my gut sometimes tell me to 200 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:26.149 the opposite right. You know, you need to get the parent on board 201 00:14:26.789 --> 00:14:31.070 early on in order to see or other important influencers. So we're always thinking 202 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:35.990 critically about that and what those communication means are. That's great. That's great. 203 00:14:37.309 --> 00:14:39.259 We'll try now. You've got our our typical question for Colin. That's 204 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:43.820 we like to finalize and follow up with. Yes, Colin, although you've 205 00:14:43.899 --> 00:14:50.220 been so generous giving us the information that you have, we do ask one 206 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:54.210 thing that either something that's very intriguing that you've done or heard about that you 207 00:14:54.409 --> 00:14:58.889 think is worth sharing that others my benefit from. If there is something that 208 00:15:00.450 --> 00:15:03.409 fits that category, if you could share it now. Sure. I'm trying 209 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:07.720 to think of something outside of the twilight tours and the and the dog tour, 210 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:11.000 because for us that's been one of the more out of the box initiatives 211 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.720 that we've had. I have an idea. So one of the things when 212 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:18.159 we were thinking about what our spring yield plan was going to be, you 213 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.789 know, we weren't going to go with the traditional hotel ball room. You 214 00:15:22.870 --> 00:15:26.470 know, we didn't think that a dave and buster's kind of thing was really 215 00:15:26.509 --> 00:15:30.230 going to be an opportunity because it was indoors. So what we did is 216 00:15:30.269 --> 00:15:35.740 we actually partnered with the University of Toledo Athletic Department and wrapped a tour of 217 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:37.700 us. So we took a big charter bus, we put an awesome wrap 218 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:45.059 on it and we actually went to Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and 219 00:15:45.299 --> 00:15:48.419 here locally and Toledo, and we took a staff of people from admissions, 220 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:54.090 current students, residence life and student involvement. We showed up at high schools 221 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:58.250 solely for the fact of celebrating their students. You know, we encourage their 222 00:15:58.330 --> 00:16:03.090 counselors to really ow an opportunity for us to engage with our admitted and confirmed 223 00:16:03.169 --> 00:16:07.679 students. But we wanted to talk to juniors. We wanted to say hey, 224 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.519 you've done an amazing job. You know, we would park in their 225 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:12.919 parking lot for thirty minutes and we played Cornhole, we had giant Jenga, 226 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:22.509 just to take a casual approach and a celebratory approach rather than a transactional approach, 227 00:16:22.549 --> 00:16:26.149 which is such an easy thing to fall into during yield, because you're 228 00:16:26.149 --> 00:16:29.750 really looking for students to take a series of next steps. And so that 229 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:33.019 bus was was great. It was very popular. We have we also hosted 230 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:38.139 evening programming at some outdoor shopping centers. So in Ohio, if you're familiar 231 00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:44.379 with Crocker Park and Wess Lake or Austin landing and Middletown Plaire shopping center in 232 00:16:44.419 --> 00:16:48.330 Columbus, that's really where we were. We're hoping to be and go to 233 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:51.570 the communities, but also to communities to us in a way that was safe 234 00:16:52.090 --> 00:16:56.570 and meaningful for students and there and their influencers. I love that and it 235 00:16:56.690 --> 00:17:00.409 reminds me of a quote that I'm a big fan of, Jay Bear, 236 00:17:00.490 --> 00:17:03.240 and he wrote a book a couple of years ago called utility, and he 237 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:07.559 really talks about being a resource for your your audience, rather than, you 238 00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:10.039 know, something else. And so one of the quotes in there is it's 239 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:14.160 the people who have success are the ones who inform people or engage with them 240 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.390 rather than those who promote and I love the fact that what you just described 241 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:21.190 was you weren't on a bus tour to Promote University of Toledo necessarily. You 242 00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:25.509 were out there to engage with your community, to, you know, celebrate 243 00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:30.619 the success of the students, to be present and be be in the communities, 244 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:33.460 in the shopping malls, and I think that's a little bit at the 245 00:17:33.539 --> 00:17:34.940 heart of maybe some of the ideas that you're talking about there. And whether 246 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:37.900 whether it's a tour bus. I mean some schools might say, well, 247 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.299 I can't afford to rabbit tour of us. Well, it's not about rapping 248 00:17:41.339 --> 00:17:45.809 a tour of us. It's about being there and being present with your audience 249 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:48.490 and in your communities. You know, I don't care if it's tour bus, 250 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:52.130 if you're, you know, utilizing an RV and you're just out there, 251 00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:55.930 you know, helping out. I think it's being engaged and being involved. 252 00:17:55.970 --> 00:18:00.000 So Kudos to University of Toledo for for what you guys are doing and 253 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:03.559 it's been really exciting to have you. Thank you very much. I appreciate 254 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:07.519 it great thanks again. Calling is someone had a question of wanted contact you. 255 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:12.269 What would be the best way for them to do so. Sure I 256 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:17.190 try to remain active and interested in Linkedin, so you can find me on 257 00:18:17.309 --> 00:18:22.390 linkedin and email or phone is as perfectly fine as well. So all of 258 00:18:22.470 --> 00:18:26.220 that can be found on the University of Tweedo Office of undergraduate admissions website. 259 00:18:27.660 --> 00:18:32.619 Thank you calling. You are definitely doing amazing things at the University of Toledo. 260 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:37.339 Bart are there any less thoughts before we wrap this up? I think 261 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:40.460 the only thing that I would kind of you know, sometimes I like to 262 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:42.930 point out some of the the obvious, which is probably not helpful, but 263 00:18:44.089 --> 00:18:47.450 you know, it is what it is. I really think that a lot 264 00:18:47.490 --> 00:18:52.009 of what Colin has talked about today is is kind of being willing to think 265 00:18:52.049 --> 00:18:57.079 outside the box, being willing to really focus on your audience and engage with 266 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:00.880 them the way that they want to be engaged. You know, I from 267 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.880 the twilight tours to thinking the fact that, you know, students like to 268 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:08.319 have twilight time, of being able to take those selfies, those instagram posts, 269 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:11.750 those really cool pictures. They are interested in what's behind the scenes kind 270 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:15.549 of what what else can I get that maybe I can't get in a normal 271 00:19:15.589 --> 00:19:18.109 way? Really try and then the whole idea of the dog tours and and 272 00:19:18.829 --> 00:19:23.460 and understanding the behavior of people, in adapting yourself to them for the behavior, 273 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:26.779 and then even this idea of of being able to go on these tours 274 00:19:26.819 --> 00:19:30.779 with these with with this rapped bus. It's about the student. It's not 275 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:34.940 about your school, and I think that the university Toledo's really kind of demonstrating 276 00:19:36.019 --> 00:19:40.329 that and and living that out, and I think that's where success comes and 277 00:19:40.410 --> 00:19:42.130 that's where their success is coming from, is that, you know, it's 278 00:19:42.170 --> 00:19:47.329 not about drumming the beat of you know, beating the drum about your own 279 00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:49.289 school and, you know, making the case and trying to make the argument 280 00:19:49.369 --> 00:19:52.200 of why you should go to university, of to leader rather than x y 281 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:56.839 Z. it's about being who you are and being present with them and building 282 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:02.359 those relationships that you're drawing people to you. So again, applaud everything you 283 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:03.559 guys are doing, Colin, and I think that, you know, if 284 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:07.869 I were to summarize the entire conversation that we've had up, it's being selfless 285 00:20:08.230 --> 00:20:12.269 and really being able to focus on the others. I think is where success 286 00:20:12.309 --> 00:20:18.029 is going to be Ed Bart. Thank you. The hired marketer podcast is 287 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:25.099 sponsored by Taylor solutions and education marketing and branding agency and by think patented, 288 00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:29.819 a marketing, execution, printing and mailing provider of higher red solutions. On 289 00:20:29.980 --> 00:20:33.500 behalf of my cohost Bark Taylor, I'm troy singer. Thank you for joining 290 00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:40.410 us. You've been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that you 291 00:20:40.569 --> 00:20:44.410 never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. 292 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:48.809 If you're listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a quick 293 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:52.559 rating of the show. Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast 294 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.599 deserves. Until next time,