Blog Recap:
Nate is all about refreshing the communications strategy and integrating various media teams. He recently teamed up with a new senior director to breathe new life into their approach. They’re super into promoting podcast content, especially around events like Mental Health Month, which is such a cool way to keep things relevant and engaging.
Nate opened up about the challenges of data tracking in podcasting. It turns out, it’s quite the headache to measure direct impact due to user tracking preferences. Despite that, Ryan Morabito marveled at their strategic approach and its positive vibes on student retention and engagement.
Nate’s journey into leadership is super inspiring. He was driven by the need to secure his son’s future, which is so heartfelt. He also chatted about dealing with imposter syndrome and the importance of self-awareness in leadership. He’s a massive advocate for empathetic and self-aware folks stepping into leadership roles in higher ed.
One standout moment was Nate’s advice on applying for jobs. He had this wild story about 550 applications for one job, and all were qualified! Higher-ranking positions don’t attract as many applicants. His tip? Throw your hat in the ring and learn from the process. It’s all about gaining experience and feeling out the fit.
Ryan Morabito also jumped in on manager positions, stressing the need for a big talent pool. More applicants mean better competition and quality managers. Plus, a mix of diverse skills like data analysis and empathy can work wonders.
When it comes to interviews, Nate said it’s all about being memorable and impactful. Losing to a well-established candidate is okay as long as you make a strong impression. Ryan highlighted that memorable messaging is key in marketing too.
Interested in more details or career chats? Nate is all ears on LinkedIn. He’s really keen on helping others with career ideas and insecurities. Wrapping up, Nate revisited his past experiences, like working under Nick Saban, and reflected on his growth and regrets. He encourages students to explore different opportunities and take control of their decisions during college.
Miami University shines with its supportive community and cool opportunities for students, especially with research and entrepreneurship. They’ve even got this fab podcast run by students for students, called Major Insight. It’s evolved from explaining majors to broader student experiences and personal stories.
So, if you’re into marketing, leadership, or just need some career advice, give this episode a listen. You’ll come away with heaps of insights and perhaps a touch of inspiration for your own journey.
Read the transcription
Shiro [00:00:16]:
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Higher Ed Demand Gen podcast hosted by Concept 3 d. If you like our content, please follow and subscribe to us on Spotify, Apple, and Google. My name is Shiro Hattori, and I will be your host today. And we’ll be covering, a topic on launching a central marketing podcast and what it means to be a senior marketing leader. For the conversation, I’m really excited to have Nate Jorgensen joining us today. He is the senior director of marketing at Miami University, which is in Oxford, Ohio. Nate, welcome to the show.
Nate Jorgensen [00:00:52]:
Thank you so much, Cheryl. Great to be here.
Shiro [00:00:56]:
It’s great to have you, and it’s, it’s it’s awesome to have another person from Miami University joining us today. Shout out to Courtney O’Banion or Courtney Russell. She’s joined me on an episode probably over a year ago, to talk about social media marketing. So it’s it’s awesome to always circle back on the same institution and same team. So Courtney
Nate Jorgensen [00:01:15]:
is the best. Courtney answers all the important questions for me that then I go and answer and take credit for.
Shiro [00:01:22]:
That’s great. Okay. I do ask a icebreaker to all my guests, Nate, which is please tell me what you love about higher ed.
Nate Jorgensen [00:01:29]:
What I love about higher ed is that it can make such a big difference for a person. And I know that there have been ebbs and flows to the the public perception of higher ed, and that’s very much the case right now. Higher ed can change the trajectory of an entire family, of an entire family tree. I I worked previously in a college of engineering and that world in particular where we saw students coming in from historically excluded backgrounds, getting an engineering degree, going on to work at a high powered place like GE or an auto automotive, manufacturer, and that changes everything. The the I would imagine. I obvious I don’t know. I haven’t experienced it, but that is a fork in the road that sends them on an up upward trajectory. And if I can help in any way someone find that right fit that they, are comfort they’re comfortable at the school and that they get the most out of it as they can.
Nate Jorgensen [00:02:46]:
Not everyone can go to MIT. I certainly can’t. But can I find the right one that I can get the most out of to to to make those things happen? That that’s what I love about it.
Shiro [00:02:58]:
That’s awesome. And I I love the mission here. I know we’ll we’ll talk more about your mission driven component here in a bit, but can you tell me more about your current role and the things that you’re responsible for today at Miami?
Nate Jorgensen [00:03:11]:
Yes. So I’m the senior director of marketing. I’ve been in this role for about 6 months. Previously for 2 years, I was the senior director of academic marketing. In that role, I worked as more of a liaison with the colleges as we try to move everybody into a central marketing team. There’s a very difficult process if you could imagine. So that was great experience, but now what I’m doing is super fun, super exciting, running, setting up, strategizing all of our campaigns. I’m primarily on the brand side, not tied directly to did someone fill out a request for information or did someone end up applying who clicked on an ad, but can we get our advertising, our marketing out there in a way that grows the Miami U University brand? Because it’s not known well enough.
Nate Jorgensen [00:04:19]:
People who don’t know about it would be at the very least intrigued by it if they knew what it was. I would have been as a high school student. And so that is my job. And right now, we are putting together and trying to launch our campaigns for f y 25, which should have started a month ago to give you a bit of how it’s going right now. I’m a month behind and, really kind of just learning the steps in this role for how to get all of that accomplished. And, obviously, stumbling a bit along the way, I give myself grace and everyone around me grace, with that happening. There are a lot of changes at the university and a lot of new people. And, but going forward, I’m just so excited for what we can do.
Nate Jorgensen [00:05:13]:
The stories that we can tell that really show that brand of, you know, undergraduate focused education, a public university that seems like a private that you get undergraduate attention that you don’t necessarily get at a huge school, yet you have the resources to do so many of the big school things.
Shiro [00:05:37]:
I’m I’m having, like, an episode of deja vu right now because the po the episode I posted today, which was 99, was with Catherine, Tolleson, and, she’s from Texas A&M, and she actually did exactly what you did, more on a data capacity. But at Texas A&M, she helped bring data and analytics from all the different schools and colleges of within their system and trying to find a common goal at each of their, you know, separate school and college websites and trying to bring them all together and and being like sort of an internal consultant to make sure, like, the data was clean. We were trying to measure the right things. And then she now moved into a brand strategist role, like, a week ago, which is it’s just, I don’t know. It’s I was just having a crazy case of deja vu.
Nate Jorgensen [00:06:25]:
Well, then that is interesting too. It’s always interesting to go from that more of a specialist. Like, this is the thing that I do, and I know that I can do it. And then into a senior director where I what I didn’t mention is that I, oversee. I’m giving quotes. I I’m I try to help, the teams of the web team, everything that works on the website, social media, and the creative team. And those are very involve things in themselves. And, so it it it really is a a situation where you’re learning a lot on the fly and, just trying to do your best to not hold those people who already know what they’re doing in those roles to hold them up.
Nate Jorgensen [00:07:17]:
Mhmm. I just really try to to make myself available and personable to people, in a way that they can approach me anytime, and I’m gonna help them solve their problem. I’m not gonna, do anything in a negative way unless it were something just way, way out of control. No. That’s great. Well, I love I love to dig a little bit deeper,
Shiro [00:07:36]:
on how you, you know, are working with those separate 3 teams later. But, going back to our intro call again, I I love this. You you set this tone for the story of, like, why you do the job you do today. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nate Jorgensen [00:07:55]:
Yeah. It all starts with my college journey as a 17 18 year old. I was a varsity athlete, period, when I was 17 18 years old. That’s the only thing I identified as. So when that ended appropriately, there was no one interested in me playing outside of the high school ranks. I had a crisis of who am I and what do I do. And I think because of that because of that mindset and that insecurity and just not knowing, just the not knowing, I picked the biggest school, the the school with the best name recognition that I got into and, that was just huge and had a bunch of offerings there. That’s good in a lot of ways.
Nate Jorgensen [00:08:54]:
I am happy with that in a lot of ways. I went to Michigan State University, and they have a lot to offer. They are a good school. In the end, I can pretty confidently say that was not the right school for me. If I would have given it the attention that I should have given it had I not been, oh, poor me. I’m not getting my ankles taped anymore for a basketball game that 50 people are watching. I would have gone on every college tour. I was in the middle of Michigan just thinking about visiting Northern Michigan University up in the UP.
Nate Jorgensen [00:09:35]:
I didn’t do that. I didn’t visit Michigan Tech up in the UP. I didn’t visit, Central Michigan, and I should have visited beyond there. I think if I would have traveled down and seen Miami and felt comfortable that I could survive academically, which I which students can, if they work hard, I would have had this menu in front of me that I could have experienced better, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t even go on a visit. I had been at Michigan State a bunch of times, for sports camps and stuff like that because, of course, I’m a varsity athlete. That’s what I am. And didn’t go on a tour, sent in my application, got accepted, and signed it and said, see you in August.
Nate Jorgensen [00:10:27]:
And then even then, I I stayed. I I worked a job. I I worked as a student manager for the football team while I was there, and that was a really rough job in a lot of ways. It was a good experience, but it’s that’s obviously a very rough environment, and there are a lot of positives to to draw from that. I worked for Nick Saban for for 2 years for those of you who are who know sports. And I I’m really appreciative of that experience, yet knowing what I know now, if I if I were here, 44 year old Nate with a gray beard talking to 18 year old Nate, I would say after your 1st year where you experienced that, you should be done with that, and you should find things that interest you in other ways. And maybe that’s a different school. Maybe you should open up your, your mind a little bit to what that should be.
Nate Jorgensen [00:11:25]:
And so I just went with the flow. And sorry to go on for so long, but, you know, I I just on if I wasn’t studying, I was playing PlayStation back when NCAA football was first the the the thing to do, and it’s coming out again now. And so there was just so many wasted opportunities, and it’s all on me. Michigan State, you know, they’ve been in the news for different reasons, that are that are problematic, that I’m not proud of my alma mater for, and that’s a bit more complicating, to my mindset about there, but that’s the time when you need to start taking control of your life as a human being. It’s like your first adult decision. And, for the most part, within limitations and different circumstances, you’re deciding what that is. And, I did a poor job of that, and I want to help the next Nate and especially the next Nate or Sarah who doesn’t have the many privileges that I have. My parents went to college.
Nate Jorgensen [00:12:41]:
I had a relative who paid for my college as ridiculous as that is. Mhmm. I didn’t appreciate that at all. I was like, okay. Where’s where’s the check? Is is everything okay? Please don’t bother me with it. I I was insane. And and so, I needed a perspective, and I I hope that students find a way to get that perspective now that in a way that I didn’t.
Shiro [00:13:09]:
And and working in marketing, part of our roles, you know, whether you’re on the vendor space like I am or you’re working in in internally at an institution or college, like, that is part of your job is to get your brand out there. Tell prospective students more about, you know, what your school represents and what makes you unique, and I that’s what you do now. Right? Like, you’re help you’re helping to create that message and trying to reach out to students so that the may who is taking the easy route or not considering other options may see some other colors of light.
Nate Jorgensen [00:13:42]:
Absolutely. How can I disrupt that Yep? That Nate and and get them thinking something? Miami is such an interesting school, and I love it. And it, it has a reputation, as a very, established traditional school, and it is in some ways. But it has made so many strides over the, you know, last couple years or decades to really open up and really they had the tight campus community. We are 30 miles from from anywhere, and I say that in a good way. It’s outside of Cincinnati, but it takes some doing to get here. My my commute here in the morning from the from the populated air more populated area is 45 minutes every day with turns and twists and corn cornfields. There’s something interesting in that, and there’s something that happens when you’re in a quiet environment where you feel supported by the students around you who are motivated by the same things.
Nate Jorgensen [00:14:58]:
I think you you tend to find a a more serious student here than others other schools in our category across different measurements, and that that matters as well. Are you are you working on that that project with a student who’s phoning it in, or are you working on a project with a student who is just raring to go and can’t see can’t wait to see what the results of this data, turn out? We we have so many programs like that, and one in particular that I’ll just show as an example is the undergraduate research program. I’m gonna say this, and I’ll probably get in trouble for it, but I think it illustrates the point. Almost any undergraduate student at Miami can get experience in undergraduate education, And I think that’s an that’s a remarkable thing. I’ve worked at schools, very good schools, very inclusive schools that have touted the ability to do undergraduate education. And then kind of what you don’t say at the end of that is, you know, you cup your hand and say that’s for the top 2% of students that professors will take. Students can find a way. If they are interested in something for the most part, hedging hedging where I need to, you can find a way to be involved.
Nate Jorgensen [00:16:23]:
You’ll probably possibly find a way to have your name included on a published research, piece. That that is remarkable, and we have a huge undergraduate research forum that happens every year. That is my favorite event every year. Well, one of my favorites because I love several of them. And students get up and present their research, and I’m just blown blown away. And it’s because of that, like what I said before, the the students are passionate about what they’re doing. And I’ll just say, like, our our business school in particular, which has a a very good reputation, deservedly so, they are very, enthusiastic about business and about, what they can do to innovate in the business space, whether that’s entrepreneurship, accounting, marketing, what management, whatever it may be. That’s fun to be around more so than going through a poster session that you would, at a at maybe another student fair where students are just kinda clinging to their cork board and not stepping out.
Nate Jorgensen [00:17:38]:
Our students are stepping out, stopping you, engaging you, telling you their pitch about their research, and trying to get you interested. And I’m just like, yes. Like, this is this is what it is. Yes. You’re you’re getting it. Like, you’re this is gonna help you so much. So even if you fail, even if it completely fails, doing that, making that stuff, I hope that answers that question, but it’s just like kind of a whole ecosystem of that.
Shiro [00:18:05]:
Yeah. And and talking about, you know, something that was student driven and being open to new new ideas, on campus. Like, tell can you tell us more about the major insight podcast? I believe that was student driven to start. Right?
Nate Jorgensen [00:18:19]:
It was not, but it was very student involved. So it started several years ago. I’m gonna guess, and I’m gonna get yelled at for this too because I’m gonna get it wrong. But I’m gonna say 5 or 5 to 7 years ago, it started. And it started within our college of education. And they put together Aaron, who is the marketing director there, and, James Loy, who is the absolute genius behind the podcast. They, Aaron had the idea and James made it happen along with Aaron, and they just started having students interview other students. I think a student actually maybe brought the idea up first of all too.
Nate Jorgensen [00:19:04]:
So maybe maybe you’re correct. And they just said, go for it. And we wanna we wanna cut it up, we wanna polish it, and we wanna put it out there. So one what it kind of did originally was explain the major that you’re give me insight into your major. When you say kinesiology, as a 17 year old, I did not know what kinesiology means.
Shiro [00:19:27]:
Right.
Nate Jorgensen [00:19:27]:
I wouldn’t expect people to know what kinesiology means. So you have a kinesiology student on and have them talk through the amazing things that are being discovered in kinesiology that are helping millions of people and, making such a difference. And so it grew and evolved from there to then, including student experience, including if, being in the college of education, if you were a teacher, talking about your student teaching experience many times in in the heart of Cincinnati where it is a a different environment than than some students are used to and and having that rewarding experience of meeting new people and and just, exposure to different people. And then it still has kind of evolved further to where, yes, there is always that thing about the major. Why did you choose your major? Many of our students are double majors, double majors with concentrations, single majors with concentrations and minors. That’s one of the things that Miami does very well also. And just hearing their stories about what led them to be interested about that, and usually, there’s a really interesting story about that. That’s interesting.
Nate Jorgensen [00:20:52]:
Yeah. I remember one student, in engineering, at at a couple years ago at a previous institution said, I wanna, keep anonymous, autonomous cars evolving. And it was because he had a relative who died in a car accident. How much more of a direct story could you possibly draw than that and and see the motivation for that? And so it’s grown and it’s become a little bit more fun, which is perfect, and talking about the college experience. And I came in, two and a half years ago, and it was really awkward because most of the things I do are awkward because I’m an awkward person. I came into my interview, and I had been studying for it because I really take presenting at an interview seriously. And I had started listening to the major insight podcast to I was like, I’m gonna get some tidbits from this to be like, hey. Like, this happened.
Nate Jorgensen [00:21:54]:
This is what I know Miami does. And, I I basically kind of chastised the entire room for not doing more with the podcast, which is really not a smart thing to do on an interview. Because of other reasons, I was very fortunate to get the job and then set out very blatantly and clearly to make this podcast bigger, better supported, and, just to see where it can go with the right resources. So from that point, when I first came here, they were using an old classroom that was echoey, and it sounded very good. James, that genius, you know, did a great job with sound engineering, but now we’re in a soundproof studio. Now we have a complete mixing board, and we’re getting cameras to have the the video aspect. And we have students who are helping it. We’re involving classes in it to where students can do projects that then end up being short segments within the podcast.
Nate Jorgensen [00:23:01]:
And just real quickly, the overall goal for it for us, we want to help prospective college students feel more at ease with their college choice, whatever that college choice ends up being. If a student is in Idaho and ends up deciding to go to UC Santa Cruz. And the reason they decided to do that is because they happen to find this podcast on on Apple Podcasts, and they they heard something that was interesting, and then they noticed UC Santa Cruz has that program. I’m ecstatic about that. I’ll take that, and I will brag about that. We’re gonna get enough attention from it, to to if it if it can spread the way that we would love it to. It’s won several awards. It just won another or as a finalist for another national award, a Reagan award.
Nate Jorgensen [00:24:01]:
And so it is very, very good, and we’re just constantly trying to grow it. And it’s it’s so much fun. I hope people will will check it out.
Shiro [00:24:09]:
That’s great. I I love that you’ve set a clear objective for the podcast, which is, you know, trying to reach prospective students, giving them a sense of belonging, community even before they ever set foot on campus. It’s fantastic. Looks like you’ve upgraded the systems too. Right? Which definitely is a big deal for it. I’d imagine this is still, like, a new thing for you. Right? You were maybe a year or 2 into it. I think I would believe that distribution is, like, a pretty new area to podcasting.
Shiro [00:24:41]:
Like, I think podcasters are still trying to figure this out. Like, what is your strategy in distributing content in order to reach your goal, and how does that play into the student journey?
Nate Jorgensen [00:24:50]:
Yeah. That’s a big part of it and something that we haven’t solved yet. And I haven’t solved yet, and we’ve tried several things that I think are great, and and it it probably just takes the right time to hit at the right time with the right person. Right. So I’m gonna start by giving a couple really good examples, but they’re anecdotal. We have heard from students or prospective students. One case where a student was, at home folding laundry, a prospective student. The mom of the student ended up hearing an episode of the podcast, came into the laundry room, slammed her phone down on the drying machine, and said, listen to this right now.
Nate Jorgensen [00:25:41]:
You need to learn from this right now because they’re talking exactly about the things that you’re worried about. I’m pretty much good if that’s the last thing that this podcast does is help that student, and there are several several stories of that. Mhmm. The way that we are trying to distribute it, one that we started out first with is taking those students within majors who are interviewed. Take an anthropology major student.
Shiro [00:26:14]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:26:14]:
And when we send out, emails to perspective anthropology students, we want that episode featured in some way. Usually, that is a single email saying, hi. We know you are an intending anthropology student.
Shiro [00:26:35]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:26:35]:
We just happen to publish this podcast that includes the student who’s studying anthropology, and they talk a lot about what it’s like here. We would love for you to listen to it and just to get the the truth about what it is and just to get a a feel for it. That’s one way that I think it gets right to the person, right to the the customer who you want it to get to, who is is near the bottom of the funnel and is valuable. And we do that in several other ways as well. We distribute it to students who come on tours, make sure that they’re aware of it. We leave, like, postcards in the book in the bags that they take away from that. You know, some of that is is kind of, old fashioned, and and I’m not I’m not apologizing for that.
Shiro [00:27:21]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:27:22]:
But, it’s another, thing that we do. We also distribute it on campus. Our upcoming host, choosing a host has been just the most exciting and scary process that I’ve done here so far. Because when I started here, we had an absolute all star as a host. His name was is Jason Magasi. He lives in Columbus. Last time I knew he’s graduated, I listened to him on the episodes before my interview, and I was like, we can’t do better than this. And we we need to hire this person immediately.
Nate Jorgensen [00:28:02]:
And then when I got here, he graduated and left. And then we got someone. Jason’s still amazing. This person was even better on top of him in in several ways. And now that person is leaving, and James is hiring, bringing in the new student, And they all just offer this different voice. You know, there’s kind of a cool and collected and calm interviewing style, and then there’s kind of an excited let’s let’s really talk about that and joke about that and make that funny. And each one of those makes it, like, an era of of the podcast, and that’s just super fun. And, so I would just say that.
Nate Jorgensen [00:28:49]:
And then we’ve just started recently. Oh, I’m sorry. What I what I was saying with that was that that new host came to us because she had found the podcast, and the podcast helped her. She was going through a rough time. She listened to an episode of the podcast and said, my goodness. This is what more people need to hear because this just helped this 20 minutes just really helped me feel more at ease. So she wanted to do more of that, and she ended up making making the the cut. And so the, we’d love for our current students and even current students at other universities to hear it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:29:30]:
And what we’ve just started now is is is also marketing it in a marketing way. We’re doing some Spotify ads. We’re doing some display ads, on websites, and that’s that’s slow going. I’m not doing a great job of that and trying to trying to find the right thing that works the right way to target that. So there’s there’s several things going on and at different stages with varying degrees of success.
Shiro [00:29:57]:
What about Social. Like, I mean, with these post podcast recordings, obviously, my audience isn’t, like, on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook for that matter. I post mostly on LinkedIn, but, like, that’s a huge, distribution channel for this podcast and the small video clips I I I get from them. I could imagine that could be pretty good content for your social teams as well.
Nate Jorgensen [00:30:21]:
Yes. And I for I forgot that, and then we we we do that. We we are in a process right now. We we just hired a new senior director of communications who came in and helped what was already happening here, which was a kind of a coming together of the social team, the the media team, and programs for lack of a better term like this. So we’re we’re getting ramped up and doing a much better job of here is a podcast episode that was just created. It touches on this, this, and this, and let’s say it’s mental health is is one of them. It happens to be mental health month this month. Let’s have that podcast episode planned scheduled to be promoted on Instagram on everything during that month and build out a a content calendar that way.
Nate Jorgensen [00:31:19]:
So that’s what we’re doing a a better job of, and it just kinda took us, you know, kind of just having some some fresh ideas and, a fresh personality in that way. So that also is super exciting because it’s just not something that we’ve necessarily purposely focused on before.
Shiro [00:31:41]:
I appreciate that. No. I I love this talk. I could talk about podcasts all day, literally.
Nate Jorgensen [00:31:45]:
I’ll keep going. I I have hours. No. So yeah.
Shiro [00:31:48]:
Yeah. I mean, I I love this. I love that you’ve you know, just to recap what I heard. I love that you’ve said a clear strategy. Right? You’re exciting. You’re building a lot of excitement internally too. Like, you you’re even having people come up to you and say, hey, I wanna I wanna host for this because it’s helped me in my life as a student. And so I think that’s a huge metric.
Shiro [00:32:07]:
Like, that’s not even that’s helping retention or, you know, student persistence, I would say. And then another element about data tracking that you talked about, I think, is really important. Like, I have a hard time, speaking to metrics on the podcast too because it’s not. It’s usually a stealth channel. Right? You can’t always attribute to it. But I the way I see podcasting and organic channels as a whole, like, if you have one, there’s a lot more that are not being traced because the whole goal of these platforms now and the way they’re moving is to not be traceable because they wanna protect user rights. And so I I liked your example that if you have a one, it means a lot because it typically means there’s a lot more there. People aren’t just coming to leave you a direct review that, you know, the attribution was from this or that.
Shiro [00:32:54]:
So
Nate Jorgensen [00:32:55]:
That’s a great point, and that that helps me actually in my job because I need to make a better point of that when I’m talking about it. I kinda give that excuse of this is anecdotal, like like we all do. Yeah. But, what I what I should also include at the very least is Mhmm. We’ve heard this from 4 people in the last 2 weeks. There’s there’s more that just don’t happen to be passing by the marketing office.
Shiro [00:33:19]:
Absolutely. And, like, statistically speaking, I think over half people now decline, tracking from their device now because they have iPhones. And that’s what we see on our website. So, like, even if you were to just double that number, that would be 8. Plus, you’re also not attributing for podcasts not being multichannel. So, like, you can probably multiply that number a few more times. So, yeah, it’s great. Anyways, I know I could go on forever.
Shiro [00:33:42]:
I do wanna switch gears to our other topic today, which is, you know, talking about higher ed leadership. So I really liked your take on what it the perfect fit for a leader is. Now it’s not usually what everyone makes it seem to be. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nate Jorgensen [00:33:59]:
Yes. I I would just say that, that is just, it’s incorrect to to to I’m not I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. There’s no perfect fit for leadership, and I I think I can say that because I was the last person to think that I could do this. And I don’t mind sharing personally, because it’s just a huge part of who I am. I’m a father of triplet boys who are who just turned 11. We’re going to Disney World next week, most importantly, but they were born at 25 weeks. We spent a lot of time in the hospital, and one of my sons is, functionally nonverbal autistic. And so what changed for me 11 years ago or then maybe after his diagnosis is that I need to take care of him after I’m dead again for a lack of sugarcoating it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:34:59]:
And so I loved, loved, loved being a web content specialist at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. I loved it. I would do work in the off time because I just loved it. I have an absolute responsibility to make sure that he’s taken care of, and I need to move up and just, again, bluntly need to make more money. I need to have more money available for him to take care of his needs after I’m dead. Sorry. Keep emphasizing that. So without giving it all of the thought and security attachment that I otherwise would have as the basket case that I usually am, I just went for it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:35:51]:
And I applied for a web manager position at a major university and ended up getting that at the University of Cincinnati. And then within several months there, I just got completely lucky. 3 people left unexpectedly, retired, went moved with someone else to a different job, and I got offered the interim marketing director for a major university in a major metropolitan area. I didn’t know if I was ready for it. I didn’t know if I could do it, and I probably thought for a minute about just saying no. I have too much on my plate. I have appointments for kids. I’m I’m the person that’s gonna come in and do my job and go home because that’s what I have to do.
Nate Jorgensen [00:36:39]:
And I took it, and I I just really did think, why not? If I fail at it, I would imagine they’ll put me right back in my web manager position, but Mhmm. It’s worth the chance either way. And what I found out is that I’m actually made made for it in my own unique way. I am, I I am an overthinker. I am, insecure. I have imposter syndrome. I never think I’m the most, important or smartest person in the room. And if you are honest with yourself about that and honest with others about that in whatever way is possible, I’m also saying that with, you know, having several privileges that allow me to easily do that without, other concerns.
Nate Jorgensen [00:37:32]:
I’ve it has worked. That personality has worked within a leadership role. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s as good as anyone’s, I would say. And I I always just tell I just spoke recently at a conference about this very subject that the bottom line is that nobody knows what they’re doing. Nobody. Everybody is doing a job for the first time in some respects, whether it’s the first time at a different institution or a con a new job. Someone’s been a CMO, and now they’re a CCO or, you know, whatever it may be. Nobody knows for sure, but when you’re when you’re in college and you’re going out into the workforce and you’re starting out, you see those people in leadership positions and you think, what what it what’s it like to know everything and to to be able to to do everything and to be in charge of everything and be so confident? They’re not.
Nate Jorgensen [00:38:34]:
They’re insecure. They make mistakes. They handle them well. That’s I think would be a big lesson to learn. And, so my call that I really wanna just get out to people is that we need good people in leadership roles in higher education. And I I almost go overboard perhaps with my emphasis on that, in the the the rush to make that happen. Because if it’s not someone who is a little uncertain of themselves at least and self aware, it’s gonna be a jerk. It’s gonna be a jerk who’s confident without without the background to back it up necessarily.
Nate Jorgensen [00:39:24]:
And maybe they do. Maybe they do have the background and they’re experts, but, nobody wants that jerk as their boss, and they’re not gonna lead higher education in a good direction. We need those middle people, for lack of a better phrase off the top of my head, seriously considering when they see an opening for a director, go for it. Go for it right now and just see how it goes. Get some experience interviewing. I think you’ll be surprised. The higher you go, and, again, for lack of a better term, the higher you go in the work world, there are fewer people. So when you’re starting out, you always hear those things like, we posted this job for a web specialist.
Nate Jorgensen [00:40:15]:
We got 550 applications because 550 people were well qualified for that job. When you the higher you go, the lesser that number gets. So if you throw your hat in the ring on a job, you have a much better chance of at least being contacted and having an experience and starting to learn about the process. And who knows? Maybe getting it, maybe going for it. And I think that the the the trust that people can have in being able to fall back on what they were doing before, of course, it’s a risk. Of course, you might be uprooting your family and all of that. Everybody has many variables that that I can’t answer, can address, but you can do it. I just wanna say that as emphatically as possible, and I really want people to try.
Shiro [00:41:14]:
No. I I really appreciate that piece of advice. And in your comment about moving higher ed forward. Right? Like, the more people who apply to manager positions, the bigger the talent pool, meaning is the managers are also gonna be better just by trade. That’s how sports work. Right? Usually, the sports with the most people trying it end up becoming like the Olympics are going on right now. So, like, typically, the countries with the best Olympic athletes are gonna be the ones with the most people trying that sport or playing that sport. And so people are applying to more manager positions, whether you’re not you don’t fit the typical personality trait that you think is a leader, like, you’re gonna better the industry because by just pure nature of more people applying to a manager position, they’re gonna have it’s gonna be more competitive, which is a good thing because it drives that manager to be the best person.
Shiro [00:42:05]:
And like you said, it doesn’t always have to be the super extroverted person or the person who can write well. Maybe they’re poor at writing, you’re poor at writing, and you but you’re really good with data and you’re really good with emotional empathy. That works for certain teams. And so I think this piece of advice is really big because I I I feel like in higher ed, yeah, like, the movement upwards is, like, is in a word, like, stereotypical. I don’t know I don’t know the right word, but, I I think, you made a really good point here. So I just I thought we’d cover it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:42:38]:
Yeah. And I’m sorry. I need to tack on a couple more there because you just made so many good points. One is that, there isn’t a single leader, especially in the higher ed enrollment, Marcom world, who can do everything. Ethan Braden, maybe. Okay. Besides Ethan Braden, nobody can do everything and Jamie Hunt. Other than them, we’re all in the same boat.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:03]:
There are there’s things you can’t do. I can’t do Illustrator. I can mess around with Photoshop. But so would I exclude myself from a job search because it says preferred creative cloud expertise? No. You absolutely should not. And that just goes on and on to everything within the job. I I think there are so many who just count themselves out because they look at that description and go, well, I don’t have that. I don’t have that masters.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:39]:
I don’t have these organizations need to hire the best person. And
Shiro [00:43:44]:
Right.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:44]:
I think if there’s one thing that, we we can all agree on is that they’re gonna hire the best person because it’s absolutely critical right now. They can’t make the wrong decision, and you and you need to be a choice in that. And, one last thing that I’ll say about it, and it’s just the way that I think about it. I personally say I will not be out presented at an interview. If there’s a presentation component to an interview, I will not be out presented. I’m gonna come in with something like yelling at people about a podcast that I don’t think they’re promoting enough. You’re gonna remember me, and I’m gonna have something that is just different that is gonna be my high point. If I lose because someone else has worked there for 20 years and has established a great, history of work, I completely accept that.
Nate Jorgensen [00:44:47]:
And and that and that’s just you can’t do anything about that. Like, ours is in the trying, the rest is none of our business. Try just try it and, start going for opportunities like that.
Shiro [00:45:01]:
Alright. Man, I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and that’s just the marketing 101. Right? With messaging or any marketing, it’s making it remarkable and memorable, and that that’s your first hook. Well, this has been great, Nate. I’m wondering where our listeners could follow-up with you to learn all the great things you’re doing at Miami University.
Nate Jorgensen [00:45:20]:
Yeah. Thanks. I’m on LinkedIn, just at at Nate Jorgensen. It’s usually pretty easily found. Miamioh dotedu is our website where you can see what’s happening. Our our social team is great. So I I really encourage people to to check out our our social team. They’ve they’ve grown our TikTok to, like, University of Texas levels as a as a quote, unquote mid major.
Nate Jorgensen [00:45:49]:
So interesting stuff going on here, building a centralized team, going through all those struggles, and I would just be more than happy to talk to anyone about ideas or insecurities they’re having in their career. It’s just a real real passion point of mine.
Shiro [00:46:09]:
Amazing. Well, thank you again so much, Nate, for joining, and thanks for our listeners for tuning in.an make such a big difference for a person. And I know that there have been ebbs and flows to the the public perception of higher ed, and that’s very much the case right now. Higher ed can change the trajectory of an entire family, of an entire family tree. I I worked previously in a college of engineering and that world in particular where we saw students coming in from historically excluded backgrounds, getting an engineering degree, going on to work at a high powered place like GE or an auto automotive, manufacturer, and that changes everything. The the I would imagine. I obvious I don’t know. I haven’t experienced it, but that is a fork in the road that sends them on an up upward trajectory. And if I can help in any way someone find that right fit that they, are comfort they’re comfortable at the school and that they get the most out of it as they can.
Nate Jorgensen [00:02:46]:
Not everyone can go to MIT. I certainly can’t. But can I find the right one that I can get the most out of to to to make those things happen? That that’s what I love about it.
Ryan Morabito [00:02:58]:
That’s awesome. And I I love the mission here. I know we’ll we’ll talk more about your mission driven component here in a bit, but can you tell me more about your current role and the things that you’re responsible for today at Miami?
Nate Jorgensen [00:03:11]:
Yes. So I’m the senior director of marketing. I’ve been in this role for about 6 months. Previously for 2 years, I was the senior director of academic marketing. In that role, I worked as more of a liaison with the colleges as we try to move everybody into a central marketing team. There’s a very difficult process if you could imagine. So that was great experience, but now what I’m doing is super fun, super exciting, running, setting up, strategizing all of our campaigns. I’m primarily on the brand side, not tied directly to did someone fill out a request for information or did someone end up applying who clicked on an ad, but can we get our advertising, our marketing out there in a way that grows the Miami U University brand? Because it’s not known well enough.
Nate Jorgensen [00:04:19]:
People who don’t know about it would be at the very least intrigued by it if they knew what it was. I would have been as a high school student. And so that is my job. And right now, we are putting together and trying to launch our campaigns for f y 25, which should have started a month ago to give you a bit of how it’s going right now. I’m a month behind and, really kind of just learning the steps in this role for how to get all of that accomplished. And, obviously, stumbling a bit along the way, I give myself grace and everyone around me grace, with that happening. There are a lot of changes at the university and a lot of new people. And, but going forward, I’m just so excited for what we can do.
Nate Jorgensen [00:05:13]:
The stories that we can tell that really show that brand of, you know, undergraduate focused education, a public university that seems like a private that you get undergraduate attention that you don’t necessarily get at a huge school, yet you have the resources to do so many of the big school things.
Ryan Morabito [00:05:37]:
I’m I’m having, like, an episode of deja vu right now because the po the episode I posted today, which was 99, was with Catherine, Tolleson, and, she’s from Texas A&M, and she actually did exactly what you did, more on a data capacity. But at Texas A&M, she helped bring data and analytics from all the different schools and colleges of within their system and trying to find a common goal at each of their, you know, separate school and college websites and trying to bring them all together and and being like sort of an internal consultant to make sure, like, the data was clean. We were trying to measure the right things. And then she now moved into a brand strategist role, like, a week ago, which is it’s just, I don’t know. It’s I was just having a crazy case of deja vu.
Nate Jorgensen [00:06:25]:
Well, then that is interesting too. It’s always interesting to go from that more of a specialist. Like, this is the thing that I do, and I know that I can do it. And then into a senior director where I what I didn’t mention is that I, oversee. I’m giving quotes. I I’m I try to help, the teams of the web team, everything that works on the website, social media, and the creative team. And those are very involve things in themselves. And, so it it it really is a a situation where you’re learning a lot on the fly and, just trying to do your best to not hold those people who already know what they’re doing in those roles to hold them up.
Nate Jorgensen [00:07:17]:
Mhmm. I just really try to to make myself available and personable to people, in a way that they can approach me anytime, and I’m gonna help them solve their problem. I’m not gonna, do anything in a negative way unless it were something just way, way out of control. No. That’s great. Well, I love I love to dig a little bit deeper,
Ryan Morabito [00:07:36]:
on how you, you know, are working with those separate 3 teams later. But, going back to our intro call again, I I love this. You you set this tone for the story of, like, why you do the job you do today. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nate Jorgensen [00:07:55]:
Yeah. It all starts with my college journey as a 17 18 year old. I was a varsity athlete, period, when I was 17 18 years old. That’s the only thing I identified as. So when that ended appropriately, there was no one interested in me playing outside of the high school ranks. I had a crisis of who am I and what do I do. And I think because of that because of that mindset and that insecurity and just not knowing, just the not knowing, I picked the biggest school, the the school with the best name recognition that I got into and, that was just huge and had a bunch of offerings there. That’s good in a lot of ways.
Nate Jorgensen [00:08:54]:
I am happy with that in a lot of ways. I went to Michigan State University, and they have a lot to offer. They are a good school. In the end, I can pretty confidently say that was not the right school for me. If I would have given it the attention that I should have given it had I not been, oh, poor me. I’m not getting my ankles taped anymore for a basketball game that 50 people are watching. I would have gone on every college tour. I was in the middle of Michigan just thinking about visiting Northern Michigan University up in the UP.
Nate Jorgensen [00:09:35]:
I didn’t do that. I didn’t visit Michigan Tech up in the UP. I didn’t visit, Central Michigan, and I should have visited beyond there. I think if I would have traveled down and seen Miami and felt comfortable that I could survive academically, which I which students can, if they work hard, I would have had this menu in front of me that I could have experienced better, and I didn’t do that. I didn’t even go on a visit. I had been at Michigan State a bunch of times, for sports camps and stuff like that because, of course, I’m a varsity athlete. That’s what I am. And didn’t go on a tour, sent in my application, got accepted, and signed it and said, see you in August.
Nate Jorgensen [00:10:27]:
And then even then, I I stayed. I I worked a job. I I worked as a student manager for the football team while I was there, and that was a really rough job in a lot of ways. It was a good experience, but it’s that’s obviously a very rough environment, and there are a lot of positives to to draw from that. I worked for Nick Saban for for 2 years for those of you who are who know sports. And I I’m really appreciative of that experience, yet knowing what I know now, if I if I were here, 44 year old Nate with a gray beard talking to 18 year old Nate, I would say after your 1st year where you experienced that, you should be done with that, and you should find things that interest you in other ways. And maybe that’s a different school. Maybe you should open up your, your mind a little bit to what that should be.
Nate Jorgensen [00:11:25]:
And so I just went with the flow. And sorry to go on for so long, but, you know, I I just on if I wasn’t studying, I was playing PlayStation back when NCAA football was first the the the thing to do, and it’s coming out again now. And so there was just so many wasted opportunities, and it’s all on me. Michigan State, you know, they’ve been in the news for different reasons, that are that are problematic, that I’m not proud of my alma mater for, and that’s a bit more complicating, to my mindset about there, but that’s the time when you need to start taking control of your life as a human being. It’s like your first adult decision. And, for the most part, within limitations and different circumstances, you’re deciding what that is. And, I did a poor job of that, and I want to help the next Nate and especially the next Nate or Sarah who doesn’t have the many privileges that I have. My parents went to college.
Nate Jorgensen [00:12:41]:
I had a relative who paid for my college as ridiculous as that is. Mhmm. I didn’t appreciate that at all. I was like, okay. Where’s where’s the check? Is is everything okay? Please don’t bother me with it. I I was insane. And and so, I needed a perspective, and I I hope that students find a way to get that perspective now that in a way that I didn’t.
Ryan Morabito [00:13:09]:
And and working in marketing, part of our roles, you know, whether you’re on the vendor space like I am or you’re working in in internally at an institution or college, like, that is part of your job is to get your brand out there. Tell prospective students more about, you know, what your school represents and what makes you unique, and I that’s what you do now. Right? Like, you’re help you’re helping to create that message and trying to reach out to students so that the may who is taking the easy route or not considering other options may see some other colors of light.
Nate Jorgensen [00:13:42]:
Absolutely. How can I disrupt that Yep? That Nate and and get them thinking something? Miami is such an interesting school, and I love it. And it, it has a reputation, as a very, established traditional school, and it is in some ways. But it has made so many strides over the, you know, last couple years or decades to really open up and really they had the tight campus community. We are 30 miles from from anywhere, and I say that in a good way. It’s outside of Cincinnati, but it takes some doing to get here. My my commute here in the morning from the from the populated air more populated area is 45 minutes every day with turns and twists and corn cornfields. There’s something interesting in that, and there’s something that happens when you’re in a quiet environment where you feel supported by the students around you who are motivated by the same things.
Nate Jorgensen [00:14:58]:
I think you you tend to find a a more serious student here than others other schools in our category across different measurements, and that that matters as well. Are you are you working on that that project with a student who’s phoning it in, or are you working on a project with a student who is just raring to go and can’t see can’t wait to see what the results of this data, turn out? We we have so many programs like that, and one in particular that I’ll just show as an example is the undergraduate research program. I’m gonna say this, and I’ll probably get in trouble for it, but I think it illustrates the point. Almost any undergraduate student at Miami can get experience in undergraduate education, And I think that’s an that’s a remarkable thing. I’ve worked at schools, very good schools, very inclusive schools that have touted the ability to do undergraduate education. And then kind of what you don’t say at the end of that is, you know, you cup your hand and say that’s for the top 2% of students that professors will take. Students can find a way. If they are interested in something for the most part, hedging hedging where I need to, you can find a way to be involved.
Nate Jorgensen [00:16:23]:
You’ll probably possibly find a way to have your name included on a published research, piece. That that is remarkable, and we have a huge undergraduate research forum that happens every year. That is my favorite event every year. Well, one of my favorites because I love several of them. And students get up and present their research, and I’m just blown blown away. And it’s because of that, like what I said before, the the students are passionate about what they’re doing. And I’ll just say, like, our our business school in particular, which has a a very good reputation, deservedly so, they are very, enthusiastic about business and about, what they can do to innovate in the business space, whether that’s entrepreneurship, accounting, marketing, what management, whatever it may be. That’s fun to be around more so than going through a poster session that you would, at a at maybe another student fair where students are just kinda clinging to their cork board and not stepping out.
Nate Jorgensen [00:17:38]:
Our students are stepping out, stopping you, engaging you, telling you their pitch about their research, and trying to get you interested. And I’m just like, yes. Like, this is this is what it is. Yes. You’re you’re getting it. Like, you’re this is gonna help you so much. So even if you fail, even if it completely fails, doing that, making that stuff, I hope that answers that question, but it’s just like kind of a whole ecosystem of that.
Ryan Morabito [00:18:05]:
Yeah. And and talking about, you know, something that was student driven and being open to new new ideas, on campus. Like, tell can you tell us more about the major insight podcast? I believe that was student driven to start. Right?
Nate Jorgensen [00:18:19]:
It was not, but it was very student involved. So it started several years ago. I’m gonna guess, and I’m gonna get yelled at for this too because I’m gonna get it wrong. But I’m gonna say 5 or 5 to 7 years ago, it started. And it started within our college of education. And they put together Aaron, who is the marketing director there, and, James Loy, who is the absolute genius behind the podcast. They, Aaron had the idea and James made it happen along with Aaron, and they just started having students interview other students. I think a student actually maybe brought the idea up first of all too.
Nate Jorgensen [00:19:04]:
So maybe maybe you’re correct. And they just said, go for it. And we wanna we wanna cut it up, we wanna polish it, and we wanna put it out there. So one what it kind of did originally was explain the major that you’re give me insight into your major. When you say kinesiology, as a 17 year old, I did not know what kinesiology means.
Ryan Morabito [00:19:27]:
Right.
Nate Jorgensen [00:19:27]:
I wouldn’t expect people to know what kinesiology means. So you have a kinesiology student on and have them talk through the amazing things that are being discovered in kinesiology that are helping millions of people and, making such a difference. And so it grew and evolved from there to then, including student experience, including if, being in the college of education, if you were a teacher, talking about your student teaching experience many times in in the heart of Cincinnati where it is a a different environment than than some students are used to and and having that rewarding experience of meeting new people and and just, exposure to different people. And then it still has kind of evolved further to where, yes, there is always that thing about the major. Why did you choose your major? Many of our students are double majors, double majors with concentrations, single majors with concentrations and minors. That’s one of the things that Miami does very well also. And just hearing their stories about what led them to be interested about that, and usually, there’s a really interesting story about that. That’s interesting.
Nate Jorgensen [00:20:52]:
Yeah. I remember one student, in engineering, at at a couple years ago at a previous institution said, I wanna, keep anonymous, autonomous cars evolving. And it was because he had a relative who died in a car accident. How much more of a direct story could you possibly draw than that and and see the motivation for that? And so it’s grown and it’s become a little bit more fun, which is perfect, and talking about the college experience. And I came in, two and a half years ago, and it was really awkward because most of the things I do are awkward because I’m an awkward person. I came into my interview, and I had been studying for it because I really take presenting at an interview seriously. And I had started listening to the major insight podcast to I was like, I’m gonna get some tidbits from this to be like, hey. Like, this happened.
Nate Jorgensen [00:21:54]:
This is what I know Miami does. And, I I basically kind of chastised the entire room for not doing more with the podcast, which is really not a smart thing to do on an interview. Because of other reasons, I was very fortunate to get the job and then set out very blatantly and clearly to make this podcast bigger, better supported, and, just to see where it can go with the right resources. So from that point, when I first came here, they were using an old classroom that was echoey, and it sounded very good. James, that genius, you know, did a great job with sound engineering, but now we’re in a soundproof studio. Now we have a complete mixing board, and we’re getting cameras to have the the video aspect. And we have students who are helping it. We’re involving classes in it to where students can do projects that then end up being short segments within the podcast.
Nate Jorgensen [00:23:01]:
And just real quickly, the overall goal for it for us, we want to help prospective college students feel more at ease with their college choice, whatever that college choice ends up being. If a student is in Idaho and ends up deciding to go to UC Santa Cruz. And the reason they decided to do that is because they happen to find this podcast on on Apple Podcasts, and they they heard something that was interesting, and then they noticed UC Santa Cruz has that program. I’m ecstatic about that. I’ll take that, and I will brag about that. We’re gonna get enough attention from it, to to if it if it can spread the way that we would love it to. It’s won several awards. It just won another or as a finalist for another national award, a Reagan award.
Nate Jorgensen [00:24:01]:
And so it is very, very good, and we’re just constantly trying to grow it. And it’s it’s so much fun. I hope people will will check it out.
Ryan Morabito [00:24:09]:
That’s great. I I love that you’ve set a clear objective for the podcast, which is, you know, trying to reach prospective students, giving them a sense of belonging, community even before they ever set foot on campus. It’s fantastic. Looks like you’ve upgraded the systems too. Right? Which definitely is a big deal for it. I’d imagine this is still, like, a new thing for you. Right? You were maybe a year or 2 into it. I think I would believe that distribution is, like, a pretty new area to podcasting.
Ryan Morabito [00:24:41]:
Like, I think podcasters are still trying to figure this out. Like, what is your strategy in distributing content in order to reach your goal, and how does that play into the student journey?
Nate Jorgensen [00:24:50]:
Yeah. That’s a big part of it and something that we haven’t solved yet. And I haven’t solved yet, and we’ve tried several things that I think are great, and and it it probably just takes the right time to hit at the right time with the right person. Right. So I’m gonna start by giving a couple really good examples, but they’re anecdotal. We have heard from students or prospective students. One case where a student was, at home folding laundry, a prospective student. The mom of the student ended up hearing an episode of the podcast, came into the laundry room, slammed her phone down on the drying machine, and said, listen to this right now.
Nate Jorgensen [00:25:41]:
You need to learn from this right now because they’re talking exactly about the things that you’re worried about. I’m pretty much good if that’s the last thing that this podcast does is help that student, and there are several several stories of that. Mhmm. The way that we are trying to distribute it, one that we started out first with is taking those students within majors who are interviewed. Take an anthropology major student.
Ryan Morabito [00:26:14]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:26:14]:
And when we send out, emails to perspective anthropology students, we want that episode featured in some way. Usually, that is a single email saying, hi. We know you are an intending anthropology student.
Ryan Morabito [00:26:35]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:26:35]:
We just happen to publish this podcast that includes the student who’s studying anthropology, and they talk a lot about what it’s like here. We would love for you to listen to it and just to get the the truth about what it is and just to get a a feel for it. That’s one way that I think it gets right to the person, right to the the customer who you want it to get to, who is is near the bottom of the funnel and is valuable. And we do that in several other ways as well. We distribute it to students who come on tours, make sure that they’re aware of it. We leave, like, postcards in the book in the bags that they take away from that. You know, some of that is is kind of, old fashioned, and and I’m not I’m not apologizing for that.
Ryan Morabito [00:27:21]:
Mhmm.
Nate Jorgensen [00:27:22]:
But, it’s another, thing that we do. We also distribute it on campus. Our upcoming host, choosing a host has been just the most exciting and scary process that I’ve done here so far. Because when I started here, we had an absolute all star as a host. His name was is Jason Magasi. He lives in Columbus. Last time I knew he’s graduated, I listened to him on the episodes before my interview, and I was like, we can’t do better than this. And we we need to hire this person immediately.
Nate Jorgensen [00:28:02]:
And then when I got here, he graduated and left. And then we got someone. Jason’s still amazing. This person was even better on top of him in in several ways. And now that person is leaving, and James is hiring, bringing in the new student, And they all just offer this different voice. You know, there’s kind of a cool and collected and calm interviewing style, and then there’s kind of an excited let’s let’s really talk about that and joke about that and make that funny. And each one of those makes it, like, an era of of the podcast, and that’s just super fun. And, so I would just say that.
Nate Jorgensen [00:28:49]:
And then we’ve just started recently. Oh, I’m sorry. What I what I was saying with that was that that new host came to us because she had found the podcast, and the podcast helped her. She was going through a rough time. She listened to an episode of the podcast and said, my goodness. This is what more people need to hear because this just helped this 20 minutes just really helped me feel more at ease. So she wanted to do more of that, and she ended up making making the the cut. And so the, we’d love for our current students and even current students at other universities to hear it.
Ryan Morabito [00:29:57]:
What about Social. Like, I mean, with these post podcast recordings, obviously, my audience isn’t, like, on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook for that matter. I post mostly on LinkedIn, but, like, that’s a huge, distribution channel for this podcast and the small video clips I I I get from them. I could imagine that could be pretty good content for your social teams as well.
Nate Jorgensen [00:30:21]:
Yes. And I for I forgot that, and then we we we do that. We we are in a process right now. We we just hired a new senior director of communications who came in and helped what was already happening here, which was a kind of a coming together of the social team, the the media team, and programs for lack of a better term like this. So we’re we’re getting ramped up and doing a much better job of here is a podcast episode that was just created. It touches on this, this, and this, and let’s say it’s mental health is is one of them. It happens to be mental health month this month. Let’s have that podcast episode planned scheduled to be promoted on Instagram on everything during that month and build out a a content calendar that way.
Nate Jorgensen [00:31:19]:
So that’s what we’re doing a a better job of, and it just kinda took us, you know, kind of just having some some fresh ideas and, a fresh personality in that way. So that also is super exciting because it’s just not something that we’ve necessarily purposely focused on before.
Ryan Morabito [00:31:41]:
I appreciate that. No. I I love this talk. I could talk about podcasts all day, literally.
Nate Jorgensen [00:31:45]:
I’ll keep going. I I have hours. No. So yeah.
Ryan Morabito [00:31:48]:
Yeah. I mean, I I love this. I love that you’ve you know, just to recap what I heard. I love that you’ve said a clear strategy. Right? You’re exciting. You’re building a lot of excitement internally too. Like, you you’re even having people come up to you and say, hey, I wanna I wanna host for this because it’s helped me in my life as a student. And so I think that’s a huge metric.
Ryan Morabito [00:32:07]:
Like, that’s not even that’s helping retention or, you know, student persistence, I would say. And then another element about data tracking that you talked about, I think, is really important. Like, I have a hard time, speaking to metrics on the podcast too because it’s not. It’s usually a stealth channel. Right? You can’t always attribute to it. But I the way I see podcasting and organic channels as a whole, like, if you have one, there’s a lot more that are not being traced because the whole goal of these platforms now and the way they’re moving is to not be traceable because they wanna protect user rights. And so I I liked your example that if you have a one, it means a lot because it typically means there’s a lot more there. People aren’t just coming to leave you a direct review that, you know, the attribution was from this or that.
Ryan Morabito [00:32:54]:
So
Nate Jorgensen [00:32:55]:
That’s a great point, and that that helps me actually in my job because I need to make a better point of that when I’m talking about it. I kinda give that excuse of this is anecdotal, like like we all do. Yeah. But, what I what I should also include at the very least is Mhmm. We’ve heard this from 4 people in the last 2 weeks. There’s there’s more that just don’t happen to be passing by the marketing office.
Ryan Morabito [00:33:19]:
Absolutely. And, like, statistically speaking, I think over half people now decline, tracking from their device now because they have iPhones. And that’s what we see on our website. So, like, even if you were to just double that number, that would be 8. Plus, you’re also not attributing for podcasts not being multichannel. So, like, you can probably multiply that number a few more times. So, yeah, it’s great. Anyways, I know I could go on forever.
Ryan Morabito [00:33:42]:
I do wanna switch gears to our other topic today, which is, you know, talking about higher ed leadership. So I really liked your take on what it the perfect fit for a leader is. Now it’s not usually what everyone makes it seem to be. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Nate Jorgensen [00:33:59]:
Yes. I I would just say that, that is just, it’s incorrect to to to I’m not I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. There’s no perfect fit for leadership, and I I think I can say that because I was the last person to think that I could do this. And I don’t mind sharing personally, because it’s just a huge part of who I am. I’m a father of triplet boys who are who just turned 11. We’re going to Disney World next week, most importantly, but they were born at 25 weeks. We spent a lot of time in the hospital, and one of my sons is, functionally nonverbal autistic. And so what changed for me 11 years ago or then maybe after his diagnosis is that I need to take care of him after I’m dead again for a lack of sugarcoating it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:34:59]:
And so I loved, loved, loved being a web content specialist at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. I loved it. I would do work in the off time because I just loved it. I have an absolute responsibility to make sure that he’s taken care of, and I need to move up and just, again, bluntly need to make more money. I need to have more money available for him to take care of his needs after I’m dead. Sorry. Keep emphasizing that. So without giving it all of the thought and security attachment that I otherwise would have as the basket case that I usually am, I just went for it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:35:51]:
And I applied for a web manager position at a major university and ended up getting that at the University of Cincinnati. And then within several months there, I just got completely lucky. 3 people left unexpectedly, retired, went moved with someone else to a different job, and I got offered the interim marketing director for a major university in a major metropolitan area. I didn’t know if I was ready for it. I didn’t know if I could do it, and I probably thought for a minute about just saying no. I have too much on my plate. I have appointments for kids. I’m I’m the person that’s gonna come in and do my job and go home because that’s what I have to do.
Nate Jorgensen [00:36:39]:
And I took it, and I I just really did think, why not? If I fail at it, I would imagine they’ll put me right back in my web manager position, but Mhmm. It’s worth the chance either way. And what I found out is that I’m actually made made for it in my own unique way. I am, I I am an overthinker. I am, insecure. I have imposter syndrome. I never think I’m the most, important or smartest person in the room. And if you are honest with yourself about that and honest with others about that in whatever way is possible, I’m also saying that with, you know, having several privileges that allow me to easily do that without, other concerns.
Nate Jorgensen [00:37:32]:
I’ve it has worked. That personality has worked within a leadership role. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s as good as anyone’s, I would say. And I I always just tell I just spoke recently at a conference about this very subject that the bottom line is that nobody knows what they’re doing. Nobody. Everybody is doing a job for the first time in some respects, whether it’s the first time at a different institution or a con a new job. Someone’s been a CMO, and now they’re a CCO or, you know, whatever it may be. Nobody knows for sure, but when you’re when you’re in college and you’re going out into the workforce and you’re starting out, you see those people in leadership positions and you think, what what it what’s it like to know everything and to to be able to to do everything and to be in charge of everything and be so confident? They’re not.
Nate Jorgensen [00:38:34]:
They’re insecure. They make mistakes. They handle them well. That’s I think would be a big lesson to learn. And, so my call that I really wanna just get out to people is that we need good people in leadership roles in higher education. And I I almost go overboard perhaps with my emphasis on that, in the the the rush to make that happen. Because if it’s not someone who is a little uncertain of themselves at least and self aware, it’s gonna be a jerk. It’s gonna be a jerk who’s confident without without the background to back it up necessarily.
Nate Jorgensen [00:39:24]:
And maybe they do. Maybe they do have the background and they’re experts, but, nobody wants that jerk as their boss, and they’re not gonna lead higher education in a good direction. We need those middle people, for lack of a better phrase off the top of my head, seriously considering when they see an opening for a director, go for it. Go for it right now and just see how it goes. Get some experience interviewing. I think you’ll be surprised. The higher you go, and, again, for lack of a better term, the higher you go in the work world, there are fewer people. So when you’re starting out, you always hear those things like, we posted this job for a web specialist.
Nate Jorgensen [00:40:15]:
We got 550 applications because 550 people were well qualified for that job. When you the higher you go, the lesser that number gets. So if you throw your hat in the ring on a job, you have a much better chance of at least being contacted and having an experience and starting to learn about the process. And who knows? Maybe getting it, maybe going for it. And I think that the the the trust that people can have in being able to fall back on what they were doing before, of course, it’s a risk. Of course, you might be uprooting your family and all of that. Everybody has many variables that that I can’t answer, can address, but you can do it. I just wanna say that as emphatically as possible, and I really want people to try.
Ryan Morabito [00:41:14]:
No. I I really appreciate that piece of advice. And in your comment about moving higher ed forward. Right? Like, the more people who apply to manager positions, the bigger the talent pool, meaning is the managers are also gonna be better just by trade. That’s how sports work. Right? Usually, the sports with the most people trying it end up becoming like the Olympics are going on right now. So, like, typically, the countries with the best Olympic athletes are gonna be the ones with the most people trying that sport or playing that sport. And so people are applying to more manager positions, whether you’re not you don’t fit the typical personality trait that you think is a leader, like, you’re gonna better the industry because by just pure nature of more people applying to a manager position, they’re gonna have it’s gonna be more competitive, which is a good thing because it drives that manager to be the best person.
Ryan Morabito [00:42:05]:
And like you said, it doesn’t always have to be the super extroverted person or the person who can write well. Maybe they’re poor at writing, you’re poor at writing, and you but you’re really good with data and you’re really good with emotional empathy. That works for certain teams. And so I think this piece of advice is really big because I I I feel like in higher ed, yeah, like, the movement upwards is, like, is in a word, like, stereotypical. I don’t know I don’t know the right word, but, I I think, you made a really good point here. So I just I thought we’d cover it.
Nate Jorgensen [00:42:38]:
Yeah. And I’m sorry. I need to tack on a couple more there because you just made so many good points. One is that, there isn’t a single leader, especially in the higher ed enrollment, Marcom world, who can do everything. Ethan Braden, maybe. Okay. Besides Ethan Braden, nobody can do everything and Jamie Hunt. Other than them, we’re all in the same boat.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:03]:
There are there’s things you can’t do. I can’t do Illustrator. I can mess around with Photoshop. But so would I exclude myself from a job search because it says preferred creative cloud expertise? No. You absolutely should not. And that just goes on and on to everything within the job. I I think there are so many who just count themselves out because they look at that description and go, well, I don’t have that. I don’t have that masters.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:39]:
I don’t have these organizations need to hire the best person. And
Ryan Morabito [00:43:44]:
Right.
Nate Jorgensen [00:43:44]:
I think if there’s one thing that, we we can all agree on is that they’re gonna hire the best person because it’s absolutely critical right now. They can’t make the wrong decision, and you and you need to be a choice in that. And, one last thing that I’ll say about it, and it’s just the way that I think about it. I personally say I will not be out presented at an interview. If there’s a presentation component to an interview, I will not be out presented. I’m gonna come in with something like yelling at people about a podcast that I don’t think they’re promoting enough. You’re gonna remember me, and I’m gonna have something that is just different that is gonna be my high point. If I lose because someone else has worked there for 20 years and has established a great, history of work, I completely accept that.
Nate Jorgensen [00:44:47]:
And and that and that’s just you can’t do anything about that. Like, ours is in the trying, the rest is none of our business. Try just try it and, start going for opportunities like that.
Ryan Morabito [00:45:01]:
Alright. Man, I’ve really enjoyed this conversation, and that’s just the marketing 101. Right? With messaging or any marketing, it’s making it remarkable and memorable, and that that’s your first hook. Well, this has been great, Nate. I’m wondering where our listeners could follow-up with you to learn all the great things you’re doing at Miami University.
Nate Jorgensen [00:45:20]:
Yeah. Thanks. I’m on LinkedIn, just at at Nate Jorgensen. It’s usually pretty easily found. Miamioh dotedu is our website where you can see what’s happening. Our our social team is great. So I I really encourage people to to check out our our social team. They’ve they’ve grown our TikTok to, like, University of Texas levels as a as a quote, unquote mid major.
Nate Jorgensen [00:45:49]:
So interesting stuff going on here, building a centralized team, going through all those struggles, and I would just be more than happy to talk to anyone about ideas or insecurities they’re having in their career. It’s just a real real passion point of mine.
Ryan Morabito [00:46:09]:
Amazing. Well, thank you again so much, Nate, for joining, and thanks for our listeners for tuning in.
