What Actually Drives Student Interest

Описание: Higher education is competing for attention in a more crowded, fragmented landscape than ever before. As enrollment pressure rises and traditional advantages fade, institutions face a critical leadership question: how do you grow without losing focus, credibility, or mission?

In this episode of Radical Cooperation, Dr. Michael Horowitz speaks with Brook Shepard, Founder and CEO of Mason Interactive, about what higher education leaders often misunderstand about marketing, enrollment, and growth. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience working with colleges, universities, and mission-driven organizations, Brook reframes marketing not as a set of tactics, but as an institutional capability that requires alignment, patience, and shared responsibility.

In this episode:
• Why higher education often measures marketing the wrong way
• How short-term efficiency can undermine long-term enrollment growth
• What alignment between marketing, admissions, and leadership really requires
• Why awareness is a prerequisite for demand, not a luxury
• How institutions can build shared accountability instead of siloed blame

0:00 Introduction
1:21 About Mason Interactive
3:31 Marketing for Non-Medallion Universities
5:43 Lessons from Fashion Brands
6:51 Creative Iteration and Testing
8:09 Digital Marketing Origins
11:52 Lessons from ITT Tech
14:11 Collaboration Challenges in Higher Ed
17:01 The Attention Economy
22:34 Creative Formats and Attention Spans
25:51 Data-Driven Marketing
27:19 Top vs Bottom of Funnel Strategy
33:10 Attribution Models
36:53 Ghosting and Student Melt
39:53 Closing