Protecting & Promoting One of the Premiere Colleges in the US with UT Austin CMO, Emily Reagan

Being a part of a University is such an interesting world. You’re essentially part of building and running a small city. Sometimes it can be hard to know what direction to take things. Do you treat it like a typical direct to consumer business? Do you treat it like B2B? And how do you really know who the target customer is? 

These are all things we are going to explore with today’s guest, Emily Reagan the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the University of Texas.

Emily joined UT right at the beginning of the pandemic and during one of the worst winter storms Texas has ever seen. But despite those challenges, she knew that the best way to start her tenure at UT was by focusing on the foundation to all great marketing - relationships. 

“Relationships are really, really important. And, um, and marketing, the role of marketing in organizations is, is, is typically not the one calling the shots on the strategies or what we're doing or what we're not doing. Um, but they are critical in, in, you know, in smart companies, they're obviously at the table at part of those conversations, but they're, they're not necessarily the lead. They're often a partner, they're an influencer. And particularly in a B2B organization, they're very much a, an influencer and a partner to the sales team. And, um, and I really enjoyed that. And I enjoyed, um, the, the relationship building with the sales team and kind of understanding their world a little bit better. I had been doing a lot of work consumer marketing prior to that.

So I hadn't really worked with a, you know, a software sales team. Mm. And so that was kind of a new experience. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, but I think, and the thing there is, is, is, you know, do what you said you were gonna do and, and build relationships. And because those are, you know, that's who you're really to help kind of make their job easier. And so I think that's just a really important thing regardless of what function that you're in sure is to understand who your, your internal customer is. Mm-hmm , and, and really being clear about what, how you can work together and how you can build trust and build relationship.”

She shares so much insight on this episode. Not just about the university, but also her experience working with other industries prior to joining UT.

You guys are going to get so much from this episode. Let’s get to it!

Main Takeaways

• Relationships are key. You should be building a relationship with the community around you. Your sales team, your stakeholders, and your consumers. The goal of marketing is to make everyone’s life easier through trust, understanding, and solid communication.
• Watch UT for innovations. They are on the forefront of Web 3, AI, and the Metaverse. Tune in to find out their plans for thse new tech, and what you might be able to apply to your own organization.
• Look internal for team members. Although it is helpful to find people from outside your organization - there’s likely untapped talent within your group already. Promoting within will also help inspire and motivate the team, knowing that their potential is being looked at.

Key Quotes

“I think it's important at the intersection to take a moment daily just recapping, where did I win today? What do I want to do better? And really just being happy with the wins because they're usually hard fought.”

“Relationships are really, really important. The role of marketing in organizations is typically not the one calling the shots on the strategies in smart companies, they're obviously at the table at part of those conversations, but they're, they're not necessarily the lead. They're often a partner, they're an influencer to the sales team. And I enjoyed the relationship building with the sales team and kind of understanding their world a little bit better… That's who you're really to help make their job easier. And so I think that's just a really important thing regardless of what function that you're in sure is to understand who your, your internal customer is. and really being clear about what, how you can work together and how you can build trust and build relationships.” 

“UT is going to be, from a research and an impact perspective, at the forefront of [Web 3 and the Metaverse]. And that's really where the story is with UT, in our research and our innovation and the things that we're commercializing and working with businesses on. We have centers around AI and blockchain and all of that type of innovation that's happening. And so we are the hub of that. We are wanting to connect more with our Austin community and the Texas community again. To be partners and to share and to innovate together. That's a huge part of what we're doing at the university and as a marketing communications team, it's our job to tell those stories.”

Bio

Emily Reagan was appointed the first Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer  for the University of Texas at Austin in November of 2020. In this role, she drives the overall strategy,  vision and direction of the UT brand, leads university marketing and communications efforts, and  delivers a consistent narrative and in support of the university's mission, brand, strategic goals and  objectives and reputation management. Emily first joined UT Austin as McCombs School of Business’ first Chief Marketing Officer in 2018. As an active alum, she has brought fresh perspective, passion for  building both the UT Austin and McCombs brands, and deep integrated marketing expertise to her alma  mater.  

Prior to McCombs, Emily was SVP, Integrated Marketing at Bazaarvoice, a marketing services company based in Austin. In this role she was responsible for brand management and thought leadership as well  as managing paid, earned, and owned marketing channels to drive awareness and demand for the  global business. During her 6-year tenure at Bazaarvoice she was also VP, Lifecycle Marketing and  Director, Demand Generation.  

She began her career in Dallas in a Public Relations role at EDS (now an HP company) and proceeded to  grow her responsibilities in marketing communications and sales support before heading to graduate  school. Following her MBA, she worked in Los Angeles and San Francisco as a senior strategy consultant  for Viant, an e-business consultancy, working with clients such as Sony Pictures and Kinkos to build and  execute their digital strategy. She then held numerous leadership roles in marketing at TXU Energy,  RadioShack, and Guitar Center, Inc. Emily was also SVP, Group Account Director and VP of Strategy and  Insights for WPP-owned agency Wunderman DC, where she led accounts such as AARP, Audi of America,  and Procter and Gamble.  

Emily earned her MBA from The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and a BA in  Journalism from Southern Methodist University. Emily is also former chair of the McCombs MBA  Advisory Board and of Hands on DC, an all-volunteer organization committed to improving the physical  learning environment in Washington, DC’s public schools. She served three years on the selection  committee for Austin Woman Magazine’s Women’s Way Awards and was honored in 2021 as a finalist  for Austin Business Journal’s Profiles in Power.

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