Women in Higher Education: How to Capture Attention for Your Department

Last year, I responded to a request about higher education marketing and was interviewed for a piece by Donna Talarico. It appeared under Wiley's Online Library.

I have been the Sr. SEO Strategic Manager for University of Maryland Global Campus for a few years and an online adjunct with the school since 2010. My background is in K-12 education, as well as being a college professor for 20 years. Last year I got to be part of a video and photo shoot at UMGC, where every so often, I appear in a few of the marketing videos, many that share about our connection to the military and students.

In the interview, I was asked five questions about my experience as a marketer in higher education. I've copied the interview below to share.

Lisa Weinberger, search engine optimization (SEO) manager at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), began her career as a freelance writer and K–12 educator, where she spent many years helping learning disabled students. Due to an illness, Lisa made a career decision that took her into the world of digital marketing and freelance consulting.

Today, Lisa specializes in SEO and content strategy and how a multi-channel marketing approach brings in the correct traffic that converts into profit.

In addition to her SEO role at the university, she also serves as an adjunct
instructor for a variety of marketing and writing courses. We asked her a few questions about her day-to-day work and her overall experience in education and digital marketing.

Tell us about a recent paid or organic campaign you’re particularly proud of.
UMGC needed their academic program pages refreshed so prospective students who were looking for answers could get their questions answered. After reviewing,
researching, and testing, I proposed a plan to get our academic program pages updated in a format that brought in the qualified traffic and answered searcher’s queries.

Whether you’re on campus, remote, or hybrid, you likely use
a few resources to keep your team connected and on track. Could
you share a tool or two you use and why?
We use a few different Microsoft tools including Lists, Azure, Teams, and Conductor. All these tools allow us to communicate effectively, stay on track, share our results, and optimize our output.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing enrollment
marketers today?
The biggest challenge today is competition and individuals being able to create income without having a degree. If colleges teach helpful employment skills and offer value beyond a degree, I think this will help with enrollment
marketing.

What keeps you optimistic about and/or committed to working
in higher education marketing and communications?
I’ve been an educator for 25 years and love to teach. Effective communication to our student body is what keeps me optimistic about working in higher education. As long as we can clearly communicate our offerings and commitment to a student’s success, we’re good.

What’s your go-to source to keep up with higher education
and/or general marketing and communications news and trends?
Since I focus on SEO, I read the Google Webmaster journal, Search Engine Land, Content Marketing Institute, and The Chronicle. I’m also part of the Women in Tech SEO Slack group.

Bonus Question: How did you get into SEO marketing with a
background in K–12 education?
I started as a freelance writer while finishing up my master’s degree. Due to an illness, I had to find a way to continue to educate, so I began learning how to market myself to gain more clients. I began working remotely in the early 2000s, before we had all these tools to help us.

From that point, I built up my consultancy and got involved in online higher education teaching. My marketing career took off all from self-learning and experimenting on my own websites.

Thank you to Lisa for sharing her experience in transitioning from being an educator to marketing educational programs—and how she brings together both of those worlds in her current roles at UMGC.

Donna Talarico runs an independent content agency and is the founder/
publisher of Hippocampus Magazine and Books. She’s worked in marketing and communications for more than 20 years—in radio, e-commerce, and higher ed—and most recently as a director of communications at a small, private college. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.