Talk Less, Listen More: The Story Behind the “Heroes Made Here”

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:06.360 I was very committed to listening to the executives, hearing them out while I 2 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:14.869 was doing my initial discovery period to understand what the problems were. You were 3 00:00:14.910 --> 00:00:19.350 listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals in higher 4 00:00:19.350 --> 00:00:24.140 education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student recruitment, 5 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:28.980 donor relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. If you 6 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:33.219 are looking for conversations centered around where the industry is going, this podcast is 7 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:42.689 for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the High Ed Marketer 8 00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:46.649 podcast. My name is chroice singer and I'm here with my cohost, Bart 9 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:52.600 Taylor, and today we get to interview a wonderful higher ed marketer and a 10 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:57.439 wonderful human being. Her name is Anna Maya Dolgren and she is the director 11 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:02.679 of university marketing for Lowman Linda University, and I will admit from the very 12 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:07.790 beginning this is a relationship that Bart has and I would love for him to 13 00:01:07.349 --> 00:01:11.829 describe an Amia to our listeners. Yeah, Animia, such a treat. 14 00:01:11.909 --> 00:01:15.189 She's she's a wonderful person, as you've pointed out. I've gotten to know 15 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:19.859 her over the past two eighteen months to two years, I had done a 16 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:23.540 little bit of work with Lomolinda University. They hired a new university marketing director 17 00:01:23.060 --> 00:01:26.459 and we got a chance to get to know each other and have been working 18 00:01:26.500 --> 00:01:30.939 on several projects for the past eighteen months. So that's full transparency that we 19 00:01:32.019 --> 00:01:34.769 do have that relationship. But I think that one of the things that I 20 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:37.930 really wanted to bring her on the on the show about was there's so many 21 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:42.450 people that are making the transition from outside of Higher Ed Marketing Into Higher Ed 22 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:46.489 Marketing and that was something that I remember having a few conversations with her early 23 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:49.200 on. was just hey, Bart, can you provide me some resources? 24 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.959 Can you provide me a kind of point me in the direction of some things 25 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:55.719 that that I should, you know, kind of get up to speed on? 26 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:57.560 And she kind of talks about that and not only talks about that, 27 00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:01.230 but also just talks about some of the soft skills that she brought to the 28 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:07.430 table that really have helped her to propel where she is at low Milinda University 29 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:12.189 and has really propelled a lot of the success that we've done together. Yes, 30 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:15.740 and as we can imagine, when you say eighteen months ago. That's 31 00:02:15.780 --> 00:02:20.340 right around when the pandemic hits. So she had to use a lot of 32 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:27.379 those skills in a different environment, under different conditions that she wasn't used to 33 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:30.969 doing it within, and she shares a lot of that with us. Yeah, 34 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:37.770 so now we present to you anemia dolgreen. It is my pleasure to 35 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:43.050 welcome an Amia Dolgren to the high ed market of podcast. She is currently 36 00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:47.719 the Director of university marketing at Lomolinda University. I think this is going to 37 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:53.919 be a very warm and spirited interview. Welcome anemia. Thank you, troy. 38 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.870 It's really wonderful to be here. For the record, you and Bart 39 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:01.949 do have a working relationship and I am now starting to get to know you 40 00:03:02.030 --> 00:03:07.229 a little bit better and really appreciate some of the things that we're getting ready 41 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:12.229 to talk about. Great. Yes, I've enjoyed my work with Bart very 42 00:03:12.310 --> 00:03:15.259 much. It's a pleasure to be here and to support you all in this 43 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:20.139 podcast today. Well, I think that one of the things I wanted to 44 00:03:20.139 --> 00:03:23.620 talk about, Anima. I know that we've been working together now for almost 45 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:30.289 two years and I know that you came in to your role out of you 46 00:03:30.409 --> 00:03:32.689 weren't you didn't have hired background. I guess I should say that I think 47 00:03:32.729 --> 00:03:37.210 it's it's interesting because I think a lot of people and a lot of statistics 48 00:03:37.250 --> 00:03:40.719 I've been reading is a high education is one of the growth industries coming in 49 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:44.120 the future and there's going to be a lot of people that are transitioning from 50 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:47.080 other careers into Higher Ed and I'm just curious to, you know, learn 51 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.439 a little bit more about that journey, what that was like for you, 52 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:53.879 how that played out and and just the types of things that you needed to 53 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:57.590 do, the skills that you needed to bring to the table that probably we're 54 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:01.509 not on your resume, that that kind of required you, especially getting started 55 00:04:01.629 --> 00:04:05.590 like a couple weeks before covid hit. Wow, yeah, Bart, taking 56 00:04:05.669 --> 00:04:13.900 me back to that time really just opens my heart because if anyone is interested 57 00:04:13.979 --> 00:04:17.939 in making a shift from healthcare into higher it, or any other industry for 58 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:24.370 that matter, I have highly recommend it. I am a continuous learner. 59 00:04:24.490 --> 00:04:29.449 I love learning new things and I got to a point where I really wanted 60 00:04:29.490 --> 00:04:35.209 to challenge myself and it happened also at that time that my mom ended up 61 00:04:35.250 --> 00:04:42.079 with a TIA and for health reasons, or for her health reasons, I 62 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:47.600 decided I wanted to move closer to her and I ended up applying to lowland 63 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:54.750 university and they're open position for a director at the university. It's been an 64 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:59.829 incredible journey. I've learned so much. Very grateful to help them in their 65 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:04.189 specific strategic objectives right now. I know part of that too is just the 66 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:10.060 idea that I mean certainly marketing applies across you know, across industries. I 67 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:13.939 mean you know, and I think what's interesting sometimes if we talk about be 68 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.740 tob marketing, we talked about be Toc marketing and higher it. It's a 69 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:19.300 little there's a there's a kind of a difference in that because I mean, 70 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:23.810 yes, it's B Toc, but you're still there's a lot of nuances involved 71 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:27.410 because it's not like, and you and I have talked about this before, 72 00:05:27.449 --> 00:05:31.529 because, just so everybody understands, Lomlanda University has is it's a university hospital, 73 00:05:31.649 --> 00:05:35.040 and so not only is at the university that is one of the larger 74 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:42.079 faith based institutions of graduate study. So Med school, School of Pharmacy, 75 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:46.959 Dental School, you know, a different colleges when under Lomolanda University there's also 76 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:51.110 a major one of the larger hospitals in southern California that's a part of Lomland 77 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:57.430 University as well the healthcare side, and so making the shift from kind of 78 00:05:57.550 --> 00:06:00.870 this patient focus where you're helping people know that when the time is right, 79 00:06:00.949 --> 00:06:04.100 that they should come to the hospital or you're following up on that from a 80 00:06:04.180 --> 00:06:10.300 marketing standpoint, to then helping someone with the journey of going into higher education, 81 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:12.980 which for some, for a lot of people, is one of the 82 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:16.860 largest investments they'll ever make in their life and it's also an investment this many 83 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:21.410 times made, made through a lot of emotion. That plays into the discussions 84 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:25.970 and the conversations that we have, and so I'm just curious, you know, 85 00:06:26.050 --> 00:06:28.089 what are some of those skill sets that you were able to kind of 86 00:06:28.129 --> 00:06:31.129 bring into that that and and maybe there's a there's an example that we can 87 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:35.759 talk about to that kind of helped you kind of make that transition and learn 88 00:06:35.879 --> 00:06:44.079 those different things. You know, the interesting thing about higher d that is 89 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:49.230 different from healthcare is that it's harder. You have longer lead times on the 90 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:59.230 conversion from the time somebody expresses interest and you're actually doing a sales process different 91 00:06:59.269 --> 00:07:03.459 from healthcare. Right. The customer is going to give you a down payment 92 00:07:03.779 --> 00:07:08.100 on their twit, on their education. They're giving you a tuition payment. 93 00:07:08.819 --> 00:07:15.769 So I have drawn on my sales background from years ago and also how to 94 00:07:16.250 --> 00:07:21.610 communicate with people at every step of the buying behavior, the buying process right 95 00:07:21.850 --> 00:07:29.209 that that customers are making. I actually love how I'm able to really bring 96 00:07:29.410 --> 00:07:36.040 my whole marketing, communications and sales experience into full circle here from that perspective. 97 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:39.439 I think that's great. Anima, and I know that when you and 98 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.879 I first met, you were kind of hired to build this marketing team from 99 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.310 scratch. I mean there was there was no one there and the recommendation was 100 00:07:47.389 --> 00:07:53.350 to have a university focused, highered marketing team. You came and did that 101 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:56.629 and obviously, you know, we've been working together for a while and I've 102 00:07:56.670 --> 00:08:00.779 seen the success of what you've done over the course of time and you're continuing 103 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:03.660 to grow that team out and it's becoming bigger and more highers and it's an 104 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:07.060 excellent team. What do you kind of attribute some of the success to that, 105 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:11.459 especially as you related to the executive team? I mean you're reporting directly 106 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:15.930 to the executive many times on on your process because you were the team. 107 00:08:16.290 --> 00:08:20.449 Yeah, Bart, you know, as I think back on all the things 108 00:08:20.529 --> 00:08:24.930 that I've ever done in my life, it has prepared me for this and 109 00:08:26.810 --> 00:08:31.240 it may not necessarily be some marketing experience or something related to my job. 110 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:37.440 In fact, one of the skills that I draw upon here to answer your 111 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:43.750 question is the work that I've done spiritually and an attribute of the five mindfulness 112 00:08:43.789 --> 00:08:48.070 trainings that tick not Han has put together. Deep listening is one of them, 113 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:54.669 and I was very committed to listening to the executives, hearing them out 114 00:08:56.379 --> 00:09:03.700 while I was doing my initial discovery period to understand what the problems were so 115 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:07.259 that I could come back and give some practical advice off. You know, 116 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:13.649 in my experience growing up into marketing leadership, I you know realize that I 117 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:18.649 was talking too much, that I needed to listen more, and I think 118 00:09:18.730 --> 00:09:24.519 that really played out well for me here in this example, because the executives 119 00:09:24.559 --> 00:09:28.600 were telling me we need a branding campaign and my marketing mind is like no, 120 00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:33.559 we don't need to mark a branding campaign yet. We need to fix 121 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.360 the website, we need to fix the intake process, the urfi form and 122 00:09:37.710 --> 00:09:43.389 how we're converting leads and all of that, but my listening led me to 123 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:50.710 a compromise, and so that compromise turned out to be a campaign called heroes 124 00:09:50.830 --> 00:09:56.340 made here that we took to market. It was the first campaign in the 125 00:09:56.539 --> 00:10:00.620 institutions hundred and fifteen years at the time, the hundred and fifteen years in 126 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:05.860 existence, they had never done a branding campaign. And just as covid hit, 127 00:10:05.259 --> 00:10:09.129 I was hired. So we started to work with you, Bart on 128 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:16.330 the heroes make here campaign as part of a manifestation of my deep listening and 129 00:10:16.769 --> 00:10:24.840 ability to compromise on what I would say would be a non starter from a 130 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:31.600 traditional marketing kind of theoretical or academic point of view. Yeah, and am 131 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:33.559 I I think that's your point. With the example of the heroes made here 132 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.509 campaign, I mean that what a what a fun campaign that was, and 133 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:39.789 I think it was quite timely. I mean I remember, I remember you 134 00:10:39.950 --> 00:10:45.309 and I first met in March and you kind of at that time said we've 135 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:46.789 got a campaign that we need to do, and so as we started working 136 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:50.419 on the campaign, you know, more and more started happening with Covid, 137 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:54.580 more and more started playing out, and I remember driving through my local town 138 00:10:56.500 --> 00:11:00.580 and and seeing something about, you know, a handwritten sign on a doctor's 139 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:03.409 officer on the hospital said, you know, healthcare heroes, and you know, 140 00:11:03.529 --> 00:11:07.049 that was kind of a lot of what was going on in the culture 141 00:11:07.049 --> 00:11:09.250 at the time was that, you know, no longer. I remember seeing 142 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:13.250 memes on Linkedin and twitter with, you know, all these superheroes bowing down 143 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:18.320 to the doctors and nurses walking by and and it just seemed like a natural 144 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:24.399 play that. Well, here's a university that produces doctors, pharmacist healthcare heroes. 145 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:30.360 I mean the entire Lomanlinda University is all about healthcare, and boy wouldn't 146 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:31.840 that be a way to kind of lean into that? And and our team 147 00:11:31.870 --> 00:11:35.789 obviously took a rand with that, both of our teams, and I think 148 00:11:35.870 --> 00:11:39.389 that it really played out well. And tell me a little bit about what 149 00:11:39.429 --> 00:11:41.909 that was like as you were leading that, because, I mean, the 150 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:46.190 size of your team transitioned over the course of that campaign. You were working 151 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:50.620 not only with your team but also a lot of support within the the the 152 00:11:50.820 --> 00:11:54.580 hospitals healthcare marketing team, and I'm sure that a lot of a lot of 153 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:58.460 those soft skills that you talked about with the with the listening and other things 154 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:01.169 had to play into that. Tell us a little bit about how that specifically 155 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:05.929 came into about Bart those those were very exciting times. That was a lot 156 00:12:05.970 --> 00:12:13.529 of fun and I remember having very specific conversations with every member of the executive 157 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:22.720 team around that particular slogan heroes made here, because as a faith based academic 158 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:30.309 services or Health Sciences Center, we don't think of ourselves as heroes. The 159 00:12:30.470 --> 00:12:37.309 only hero is Jesus Christ, and so it was a very interesting conversation to 160 00:12:37.870 --> 00:12:41.909 look at ourselves as heroes and in the end, the the work, the 161 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:48.940 story that we decided to tell about being available to patients in a way in 162 00:12:48.019 --> 00:12:54.379 their toughest moments, when their sickest and they needed us. That is what 163 00:12:54.779 --> 00:13:00.889 a hero meant to us in this campaign and we have since really helped that 164 00:13:01.850 --> 00:13:09.090 story come alive using our alumni and we've done several video stories now of our 165 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:15.759 alumni doing heroic work in our community and giving back in their service work. 166 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.799 That's great and I think that it goes back to what you said listening and 167 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:22.200 I remember having those conversations with you about how can we know there's a lot 168 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:26.870 of concerns that the the administration has the executive team has with with we don't 169 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:30.789 want to become, you know, prideful. We don't want to present ourselves 170 00:13:30.789 --> 00:13:33.750 as prideful. It goes against who we are and I totally agree and I 171 00:13:33.789 --> 00:13:37.429 think that the way that that was, your listening and your patients and the 172 00:13:37.509 --> 00:13:43.259 way that you kind of led that and led those conversations think really impacted a 173 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.659 lot and I think that it's we're working on some other things now and I 174 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:48.980 won't get into details of that, but it's set us up for a trajectory 175 00:13:50.059 --> 00:13:52.220 that I think is very strong and and I think it. I think that 176 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:58.090 branding campaign has made a big difference for Lomlanda University bar. As we're talking 177 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:01.730 now, you're reminding me that a week ago I was meeting with the officers 178 00:14:01.769 --> 00:14:07.330 and deeds and I announced that we were going to sun set the heroes made 179 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:13.279 here campaign and one of the officers said, wait, do we really want 180 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:18.919 to do that? It was so good. Are we sure? And so 181 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:22.399 that was a really sweet moment for me that, after all the hard work 182 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:28.789 we did with deep listening and understanding what the executives were trying to achieve eve 183 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:35.029 and using the creativity of marketers to really represent the brand in the right way. 184 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:39.620 We nailed it. We hit a home run, so congratulations to us. 185 00:14:41.299 --> 00:14:45.500 That's right, that's great, very good, and am I addoring our 186 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:50.860 conversation. You referred to that you have a vast background in marketing sales, 187 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:56.929 also outside of hire it within medicals. So, as I ask you the 188 00:14:56.049 --> 00:15:03.490 question that we usually ask, if there's a a recommendation that marketers could glean 189 00:15:03.649 --> 00:15:07.559 from you, whether it's an idea that's current or maybe from that vast background, 190 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:13.000 of something that could they could implement immediately that you've had success with or 191 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:18.279 believe they could have success with, what would that recommendation be? Troy, 192 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:26.549 the thing I would suggest is that people start talking less and listening more. 193 00:15:26.429 --> 00:15:35.230 I learned this very valuable lesson when I went into six sigma lean training, 194 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:41.620 and there's a book I'd like to recommend everyone to read. It's called the 195 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:48.259 coaching habit. Say Less, ask more and change the way you lead forever 196 00:15:48.220 --> 00:15:54.210 and Amiya. Thank you very much for that book recommendation and also thank you 197 00:15:54.330 --> 00:16:00.690 very much for being so present with us and bringing not only tangible recommendations but 198 00:16:00.889 --> 00:16:07.519 also your very transparent spirits to the highed marketer podcast. Bart. Do you 199 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:11.519 have any final thoughts before we wind up this episode? Yeah, Troy, 200 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.360 thank you. I just really appreciate Animia and her, as you kind of 201 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.750 pointed out, just the transparency and in the authenticity that she brought to the 202 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:22.309 show. I think that a lot of us as highed marketers, whether we're 203 00:16:22.350 --> 00:16:29.549 transitioning from outside careers into highreed or if you've transitioned over from the Advancement Department 204 00:16:29.590 --> 00:16:33.460 to marketing, there's a lot of different things it's that we can take away 205 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:36.980 from this. There's certainly skills that you'll need to learn and you know, 206 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:40.299 I'm hoping that this podcast provides you a lot of those as you listen to 207 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:42.059 the different episodes. But I think that one of the things I really want 208 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:45.620 to take away from our conversation today with Annimia as the fact that one of 209 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.210 the a lot of the soft skills that you need are just being able to 210 00:16:48.289 --> 00:16:53.049 slow down, to listen, to be able to understand other people, that 211 00:16:53.250 --> 00:16:56.769 that idea of empathy. We've talked about that and several other podcasts. I 212 00:16:56.850 --> 00:17:03.000 know that when we spoke with Courtney Cannon on an episode just a couple episodes 213 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:06.960 earlier than this one, she was helping us as a deaf person herself, 214 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:12.440 helping us understand how to better market to that audience who might need accessible and 215 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:18.950 additional help with with the marketing and and I think that she really came down 216 00:17:18.950 --> 00:17:19.869 to if you remember, Troy, at the very end of the episode, 217 00:17:19.910 --> 00:17:23.349 she was talking about how empathy was the number one skill set that you needed. 218 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:26.710 Yeah, and I think that that's so true and a lot of what 219 00:17:26.869 --> 00:17:30.900 Anima has talked about today was the idea of listening and talking less. It 220 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:34.339 comes down to empathy and comes down understanding and really putting yourself in the in 221 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:37.819 the seat of the shoes of the other people, whether it's executive team, 222 00:17:37.859 --> 00:17:41.779 whether it's other members on your marketing team or whether it's actually those perspective students 223 00:17:41.819 --> 00:17:47.490 that were marketing to. So I just really enjoyed our conversation today and I 224 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:51.250 really think that it's been a real blessing to be able to have this conversation. 225 00:17:51.410 --> 00:17:53.210 So thank you Ademia, thank you bart, thank you, troy. 226 00:17:53.769 --> 00:17:59.680 It's our pleasure. The High Ed Marketer podcast is sponsored by Taylor solutions and 227 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:04.119 education, marketing and branding agency and by Think, patented, a Marketing Execution 228 00:18:04.279 --> 00:18:11.359 Company specialize in in printing and mailing solutions for Higher Ed institutions. On behalf 229 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:14.950 of my cohost Bart Kaylor. My name is troy singer. Thank you for 230 00:18:14.990 --> 00:18:21.309 joining us. You've been listening to the Higher Ed Marketer. To ensure that 231 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:25.390 you never miss an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. 232 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:29.500 If you're listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a 233 00:18:29.539 --> 00:18:33.059 quick rating of the show. Simply tap the number of stars you think the 234 00:18:33.099 --> 00:18:34.579 podcast deserves. Until next time,