NCMPR BLOG

by Jeff Ebbing
Southeastern Community College
West Burlington, Iowa

If you’re as terrible at maintaining your life and remembering what’s on your schedule as me, setting Outlook reminders is the best defense you have to keep your act together.

Last month when this alert. came up though, I did not like it. Not one bit.

If ever there was a reminder on my calendar I could snooze for another year, this was the one.

After 21 years, 11 months and 19 days, Elizabeth, my youngest, was off to the big university.

What does a marketing guy whose decades-long favorite pastime has been being a dad do when he’s faced with this cruel dose of parental reality?

Write a blog post, of course.

I’m just as excited for Elizabeth (Little E in dad parlance) to start this amazing chapter in her life as I am lamenting the ending of this amazing chapter in mine. To call it bittersweet would be an understatement.

I was lucky enough to get three bonus years with Elizabeth. After she graduated high school, she made the smart choice to attend SCC to earn her AA (Thank God for tuition reimbursement!).

I got to see her nearly every day. It was the best.

John Gaines Photography

Sometimes, she’d sneak into my office for the last pour from my coffee pot before heading to class. Sometimes, she’d bounce in, gleefully shoving a screenshot of a high grade in my face as I was deep in some forgettable project. And sometimes she’d show up with tears welling in her eyes, not knowing how she could possibly recover from a bombed test of a failed term paper (hint: she always did).

This past May, she walked across the stage, ready for what’s next.

How lucky we both were to be there for each other.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. “What does Jeff’s personal therapy blog post have to do with community college marketing?”

Easy.

Students need to be seen to feel seen.

This month, our collective halls will be filled with first-time students, each overflowing with this same emotional cocktail of excitement, apprehension, and uncertainty as Little E. And 99.999% of them will not have their dad just down the hall. Sadly, many may not have anyone to turn to for support and encouragement.

As higher ed marketers, what are we to do with the fragile emotional state of the very same students we’ve worked for years to convince to choose us as the setting for their next chapter?

Do what I did. Make them feel welcome. Celebrate their highs. Coach them through their lows. Show them that we believe in them. Give them a free coffee. Make sure they feel seen.

We all know that marketing to current students is an important step in retention. Even a small effort on your part can move mountains when they land at the right time. What does that look like?

-Schedule emails with support services info now so they hit right before and after midterms. A single visit with a tutor might be the thing that helps them dodge a failing grade and give up.

-Say yes when your student life staff asks for last-minute help promoting that campus mixer, even when you both know they should have come to you weeks ago. Someone may be desperately struggling to find a friend group or support community.

-Spotlight and celebrate as many students as you can on your socials. A fleeting hallway selfie with a bestie can show you’re in their corner.

You almost certainly have way better ideas than this. Whatever they are, don’t let them slide by because you’re focused on reeling in next year’s class. Forget to take care of the students right in front of you at your (and their) peril. You’ve earned their trust; don’t squander it.

Show your students you care and you, too, will be blessed with this same Outlook reminder. Then, as you sit at your keyboard alone in of your office on a Tuesday evening, you’ll reflect for a minute with a smile and a tear knowing that you did your job preparing them for what’s next.

You’ll dismiss the reminder and start all over again.

Have a great year.

Jeff Ebbing is the director of marketing and communications at Southeastern Community College in West Burlington, Iowa, and the past president of NCMPR.