Education Marketing Leader with Chris Rapozo

About Education Marketing Leader with Chris Rapozo

🎙️ Welcome to The Education Marketing Leader Podcast Hosted by Chris Rapozo, this podcast delivers actionable insights and proven strategies specifically for higher ed marketers. Each episode explores the challenges and opportunities in education marketing, providing you with tools to refine your campaigns, elevate your institution’s brand, and engage your audiences effectively. Learn how to create impactful content strategies, leverage personalization, optimize social media, and tackle challenges unique to higher education marketing. This podcast is designed to help you stay competitive and drive measurable results. 👉 Subscribe now to gain practical strategies and fresh ideas tailored to higher ed marketing. Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/education-marketing-leader-with-chris-rapozo/id1679184846) Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/6R3GSqqA249MggcvxLOYEg) YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@EducationMarketingLeader) Have insights to share? 👉 Contact us to be a guest. Get the insights you need to grow your impact as a higher ed marketer!

Publisher

Chris Rapozo

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

25 Mar 2023

Latest episode

23 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

154 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Sept 2026

   Beyond the Recruitment Funnel: Are We Delivering the Belonging We Market? | Dr. Andre Richburg

   Higher education marketers talk constantly about belonging, community, and inclusion. But what happens when students arrive on campus and the experience doesn’t match the promise? In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader (https://educationmarketingleader.com/), Chris Rapozo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherrapozo/) sits down with Dr. Andre Richburg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrerichburg/), Vice President for Strategic Enrollment at Methodist University (https://www.methodist.edu/), to explore what it means to move beyond recruitment and create an institution where students actually feel supported, connected, and positioned to succeed. Drawing from more than 20 years in higher education and his doctoral research on Black male students transferring from community colleges to predominantly white four-year institutions, Dr. Richburg shares what institutions often overlook in the transfer experience. Chris and Dr. Richburg discuss the difference between marketing belonging and delivering it, why retention should be part of enrollment strategy from the beginning, and how representation among faculty, staff, and institutional leaders can influence a student’s sense of connection. They also explore the experiences of students navigating culture shock, microaggressions, code-switching, and the challenge of finding community after transferring to a new institution. In this episode: • Why transfer students need a different approach to onboarding and financial support • What Dr. Richburg learned from Black male transfer students through his doctoral research • Why representation among faculty, staff, and leadership matters • How colleges can communicate support and community before a student ever enrolls • The role of code-switching and microaggressions in the student experience • Why retention belongs in strategic enrollment management from day one • How students can recognize the difference between authentic belonging and marketing “window dressing” • What four-year institutions can learn from community colleges about making students feel seen and supported For enrollment and marketing leaders, the challenge is bigger than getting students through the recruitment funnel. The experience students encounter after enrolling has to live up to what they were promised before they arrived. Listen today.

2. 

   10 Sept 2026

   How UF Expands Into New Markets | Jeff Holeman on Brand, Awareness & Enrollment

   What does it take to successfully bring a university brand into a new market? In this episode of The Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Jeff Holeman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsholeman/), Chief Marketing Officer at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business (https://warrington.ufl.edu/), to explore how UF approached its expansion into Jacksonville and Miami. While the University of Florida already has tremendous brand recognition, Jeff explains why awareness alone isn’t enough. Universities still have to build local relevance, understand the competitive landscape, earn trust, and connect their programs to what students and employers in each market actually need. Chris and Jeff discuss: • How to evaluate a new market before launching • Finding “white space” in competitive higher education markets • Why Jacksonville and Miami required different marketing strategies • The relationship between brand awareness and enrollment performance • Why brand marketing and enrollment marketing shouldn’t operate separately • How to measure the signals that happen before an inquiry or application • The changing student journey and whether the traditional enrollment funnel still exists • LinkedIn’s role in graduate business school marketing • Removing friction from the graduate enrollment experience • The challenges of marketing within a nationally recognized university brand • What institutions should do before expanding into a new city or region One of Jeff’s central arguments: awareness and performance aren’t competing priorities. Brand interactions help create the conditions that eventually lead prospective students to inquire, apply, deposit, and enroll. And for institutions considering expansion, Jeff offers a simple starting point: “Don’t start with the campus. Start with the market.” ABOUT THE EDUCATION MARKETING LEADER The Education Marketing Leader features conversations with marketing and enrollment leaders about the strategies, ideas, and challenges shaping education marketing today. Subscribe for more conversations with leaders across higher education marketing, enrollment, branding, digital strategy, and communications. #HigherEducation #HigherEdMarketing #EnrollmentMarketing #MarketingStrategy #UniversityMarketing #EducationMarketing

3. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Leading With Joy During Higher-Ed's Tough Seasons | Donald Egle, Ph.D.

   What does it mean to lead with joy when the circumstances around you are anything but joyful? In this episode of the Education Marketing Leader, Chris Rapozo sits down with Donald Egle, Ph.D., Founder & Managing Director of The Kyer Group, to explore the research behind joyful leadership and what it means for leaders navigating uncertainty, pressure, and change in higher education. Drawing from his doctoral research, Joyful Leadership Amidst Tragedy and Triumph, Don explains why joy and happiness are fundamentally different. Happiness often depends on circumstances. Joy can become a consistent way of living and leading, even when the work is difficult. Chris and Don discuss what joyful leadership looks like when enrollment pressures are mounting, teams are stretched, and institutions are facing decisions without easy answers. In this episode, you'll hear about: - Why leadership can be viewed as a privilege and a joy - The difference between joy and happiness - Why choosing joy before adversity hits matters - How higher ed leaders can respond to the enrollment cliff with - The role faith has played in Don's approach to joyful leadership One of Don's central challenges to higher education leaders is to recognize the privilege of being in a position where you can contribute to the solution. Hard seasons will come. Your choices will be tested. But leaders who consistently show up with purpose, courage, authenticity, and joy can give their teams and institutions a better chance to thrive. About Donald Egle, Ph.D. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/donegle/) Donald Egle is the Founder & Managing Director of The Kyer Group. After more than two decades working with leaders and nationally recognized universities, Don now helps leaders and organizations create the conditions to win by addressing gaps between vision, strategy, execution, and culture. Connect with Don and learn more about The Kyer Group through the links in the episode description. https://thekyergroup.com/ (https://thekyergroup.com/)

Who has been a guest on Education Marketing Leader with Chris Rapozo

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Beth Jendro Noël
• Mike Barzacchini
• Laura Rudolph
• Jamie Hunt

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 50 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

60

Contact Education Marketing Leader with Chris Rapozo

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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