Stop Marketing. Start Communicating.

“Please stop sending me all this crap.”

— Romy, high school senior

Romy didn’t say it exactly like that, but she didn’t have to.

Like thousands of high school students across the country, she’s overwhelmed. She’s facing one of the biggest decisions of her life, with very little that feels helpful showing up in her inbox.

What she is getting from colleges is polished, templated, and indistinguishable. The same messages. The same visuals. The same empty promises. “We’re transformative.” “We’re community-driven.” “We care.”

But none of it feels real.

And if your communications don’t feel real, they don’t matter.

This is not a marketing problem. It’s a communication problem.

The institutions that will win the next generation aren’t the ones with better slogans, cooler logos, or catchier campaigns. They’re the ones that learn how to communicate with clarity, courage, and connection.

It’s not about volume. It’s about value.

It’s not about polish. It’s about presence.

It’s not about marketing at people. It’s about speaking with them.

So what does that look like?

1. Start with Listening, Not Taglines

As strategist Pete Mackey said on the Escape Velocity podcast:

“We’re not trying to create a message. We’re trying to reflect one.”

That reflection comes from deep listening—to students, faculty, alumni, staff. From the 30,000-foot view, colleges look the same. It’s only when you zoom in—on the people, the lives, the moments—that true differentiation appears.

Most brand work fails because it starts with what you want to say. Real communication starts with what people need to hear.

2. Dare to Tell the Truth

Brigid Lawler, a VP of Enrollment with 30 years of experience working in higher ed, put it simply:

“Sometimes it feels like we’re marketing things we’re not delivering. And students feel that. They know when it’s performative.”

Your students are the brand. If their lived experience doesn’t align with your messaging, you’re creating distrust. And Gen Z will call it out. Loudly.

Instead of over-promising, show your work. Share imperfect progress. Be honest about challenges. You will earn more trust than any glossy campaign can buy.

3. Think Like a Reader, Not a Marketer

Ashley Budd, Senior Marketing Director at Cornell University and author of Mailed It, puts it clearly:

“We insert our organization into our readers’ lives—not the other way around.”

Too many marketers are shouting from the mountaintop, hoping someone listens. Instead, ask:

• What season of life is your audience in?

• What are they stressed about? Curious about? Hopeful for?

• How can you show up helpfully, not just loudly?

This isn’t about personalization technology. It’s about relevance. And relevance starts with empathy.

4. Look Outside the Echo Chamber

You don’t get breakthrough thinking by copying your competitors. You don’t find differentiation by benchmarking your way to sameness.

Some of the clearest lessons in real communication come from outside higher ed.

Take Phase 3, a cannabis brand we created for our client SunMed. While the rest of the market was chasing high-THC strains and potency-driven positioning, we saw something different: an underserved audience that just wanted what they smoked in college. Lower potency, easier highs, less anxiety.

We built a brand that connected emotionally, and told a story. It was nostalgic, lighthearted, honest. It didn’t shout. It sang.

That brand is flying off the shelves. Consumers are specifically referencing the brand, the throw-back strains, the custom playlists. They are part of the story, and we welcomed them in through the communication we created for this brand.

Whether we’re launching a cannabis brand or repositioning a college, the work is the same:

• Listen deeper

• Speak human

• Stop assuming. Start connecting

5. Understand What’s at Stake

Higher ed is at a tipping point. Applications are down. Yield is down. Trust is down.

And the cost of blending in is no longer just reputational. It’s existential.

If you can’t connect meaningfully with your audience, if your website, emails, social channels, and campaigns feel like wallpaper, you will be ignored. Worse, you will be dismissed.

Meanwhile, someone else will show up with clarity, empathy, and truth. And that’s who they’ll listen to.

So here’s the assignment:

Stop marketing. Start communicating.

• Stop chasing volume. Start building resonance

• Stop over-polishing. Start getting real

• Stop playing it safe. Start saying something worth hearing

Your future students are listening.

Are you actually saying anything?

Want help making the shift?

adeo works with institutions ready to rethink how they show up, speak up, and stand out. Let’s talk.