Higher education professionals know that the marketing landscape has evolved significantly with the rise of online platforms and digital communication. In 2024, marketing professionals in academia need to be proactive and strategic in embracing emerging trends to stay ahead of the curve. In this blog post, we'll explore four key trends that are set to shape higher education marketing strategies in the coming year.

In October, we had the honor of documenting The Wall That Heals exhibit for Upper Providence Township. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) introduced this traveling replica of the iconic Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C in 1996. The purpose was to bring the solemnity and significance of the memorial to various communities across the United States. Since its inauguration, The Wall That Heals has journeyed to nearly 700 communities nationwide, extending the healing legacy of the original Memorial to millions.

So far in this life of mine, my proximity to mass spectrometers and other complex lab equipment was mostly from crime scene procedurals like CSI. And of course I’ve gotten to visit many college and university labs with a catalog of new and old equipment in my photography career. Lucky for me, Novatia reached out in hopes we could update their staff headshots and lab photos at their cutting-edge facility in Newtown, PA.

Branding can often feel like an vague term. The general idea is easy enough to grasp but when you dig down, it gets harder to wrap your head around. A lot of different things a business or organization or school does to stand out falls under the branding umbrella. One component of branding is photography, of course. But, just within photography, what you choose to photograph and how you organize and deploy those images can have huge impacts on the messages you’re sending to the world. One thing I love to tell anyone who is starting a new brand or considering a rebrand is: don’t sleep on lifestyle branding. 

One of the many reasons I love my job is because of the many ways that projects come together. My creativity often feeds off of the unpredictability of photo shoots — will the weather hold out? Will the subjects show? It’s a lot of nimble problem solving and thinking on my feet. It’s not unusual for me to be thinking about my next shot while I’m still clicking away at my current one.

Collaboration is at the core of my photography and business philosophies. No matter if I’m working with a new or returning client, a single person or a large business, it’s important to me to be a partner in the creative process. The team approach always produces the best results in my experience. When Ballinger reached out about working together a few weeks ago, it only took one look at their website for me to know we were a perfect match.

The beginning of August means a new school year is a mere couple of weeks away. While a lot of people (myself included) don’t want to acknowledge the fact that summer even has an end — or that that end is coming nearer — it is nonetheless true. So, in the spirit of collaboration and sharing of insights from my side of the table, I thought I’d broach a topic that often can get overlooked in the summer malaise: the benefits of planning your fall content calendar.

Students graduate, administrations change, and so do trends and campuses. Marketing images — for universities or other industries — need to stay fresh.

MAKE YOUR BUSINESS CONFERENCE STAND OUT AND HAVE ATTENDEES TALKING BY ADDING A HEADSHOT STATION TO YOUR CONFERENCE PLANNING CHECKLIST.