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Building Trust Through Accreditation: Why Credibility Matters More Than Ever in Higher Ed Marketing
55 Plays1 month ago
In this episode, we sit down with Josh Fischer, founder of The Progressus Companies, to explore the critical connection between accreditation and marketing in higher education. Josh shares his expertise on how schools can build trust with prospective students, design field-ready programs, and communicate their value in an increasingly competitive landscape where ROI has become the loudest conversation in the room.
Key Takeaways
- Accreditation is a trust signal, not just a checkbox – In an era of declining birth rates and AI-generated content, accreditation serves as third-party validation that helps institutions stand out. Students aren't just buying education anymore—they're buying career paths and outcomes.
- Design programs with the end user in mind, not the ivory tower – Institutions need to move beyond internal assumptions and actually listen to faculty feedback, conduct market research, and understand student requirements. Field-ready programming that connects students to employers and outcomes will always outperform outdated curriculum.
- Consistency and clear outcomes are non-negotiable – Prospective students need to see straightforward connections between courses and career outcomes, faculty expertise and program goals, and accreditation and real-world results. Mixed messaging across platforms destroys trust faster than anything else.
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Transcript
Introduction to Accreditation and Marketing
00:00:00
Speaker
All right, everyone. Well, I am so excited for this episode because we are talking all about the incredible importance of accreditation and how accreditation and marketing work together. And I have Josh Fisher on the podcast today. And Josh is the founder of Progressive Companies, and he works with colleges and universities to help them evaluate, plan, and launch online and hybrid programs with a practical and an institution-first approach. So what really sets his work apart and why it is so significant is he's helping schools not only launch these programs, but help determine whether an online program even makes sense for them. And if it does, how do they build them in a way that's sustainable, mission aligned and realistic with their internal capacity. So Josh, welcome to the show. So excited to be having this interview with you. Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Accreditation as a Trust Signal in Marketing
00:00:50
Speaker
Well, I've got some questions for you because I think you and I both know the higher ed landscape is changing drastically right now. There's so much happening and really since COVID institutions have really needed to figure out how are they gonna combat the enrollment cliff And how do they stay ahead? And I think what has become so important is we sell trust, like really as an institution that's going to be one of the number one differentiators from school to school when it comes to recruiting a student, they want to trust you. And so how does accreditation function as a trust signal in today's marketing landscape and just in general for schools? And why does it matter even more now than it did a few years ago?
00:01:33
Speaker
Well, accreditation doesn't make education great, but it definitely helps a school to be doing the right things. And as a result, then turns into, if they do it, if they go through the steps, it turns into something that can build that trust and it can help the the user of that education program really understand Well, they've gone through the paces. They've done some things that make them recognized by other schools.
00:02:05
Speaker
Okay, they're better than this one that I found on Facebook at two in the morning while I was doing scrolling. And that's that's a big deal in in today's. I mean, I don't know how many of those you've seen. um I've done a couple of them just because I was curious.
00:02:22
Speaker
And, you know, not to say that any of those are terrible but and they don't have value, but when you get something that has been marked by someone else, that someone else has looked over their shoulder and helped them design the systems that they need, ah that makes a big difference.
00:02:39
Speaker
i can I can tell you that I have seen a lot of programs and their curriculum and it's if if they're not doing the right things, they're not going to develop the right product for their and their end users, you know, and, um you know, students,
00:02:55
Speaker
today they don't often trust websites i know that um in the last week i've seen a number of stories and i get frustrated now with all of the stuff that's out there that's just ai generated yeah and there's less and less trust on sources unless that they are really taking the time to develop them well and so that accreditor gives them that mark um And when i go in and I see a school that is not accredited, or especially they've listed an accreditor that's not recognized by US Department of Education,
00:03:28
Speaker
I go, okay, there's a red flag for me.
Why Choose Accredited Programs?
00:03:31
Speaker
And they're trying to say something to beef themselves up when they're not really, they don't have that level of trust built and they don't have the good the good systems built in their programming. So accreditation goes a long way for establishing for the the end user that there is some value in what they're purchasing.
00:03:54
Speaker
I couldn't agree with you more. And I have the unique lens of looking at it through the marketing view because when at the end of the day, what is at stake? And like you said, there's so much AI slop out there. People are tired of seeing it. It all blends in there. But really the biggest and most important deciding factor for a student, I think in 2026 is trust.
00:04:13
Speaker
And so you look at the inflating costs of how much tuition has to go up and it needs to because our institutions need to be able to drive enrollment so that they have the revenue to continue to operate and have great faculty and to be able to grow. But at the end of the day, if I'm helping an institution go to market and you have a student and like you said, they're doom scrolling at 2 a.m. m because that's probably when they maybe got the bandit to be looking at these programs. And they are served two ads with two similar institutions that have similar goals and similar values. And one is accredited the correct way and one is not.
00:04:49
Speaker
who are they going to choose? And at the same, ah I mean, the really, the key indicator here is we all know that birth rates are declining and we are marketing to an increasingly, well, a decreasing pool of applicants, really. So it's, to in my mind, when you're selling trust and there's so much distrust, unfortunately, in the, just within higher education, that's really, that's really how we stand
Misunderstandings in Accreditation Processes
00:05:13
Speaker
out. So I just, I think it's so critical. Now, where do you see schools getting this wrong?
00:05:19
Speaker
Who is getting this wrong when it comes to not only the accreditation process, like whether or not it makes sense to start an online program, but then also like going through the wrong process. And then how can marketing teams align earlier as an institution is going through that process to help avoid mixed messaging or risky messaging?
00:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, you know, for a college that that has accreditation, sometimes they're short-sighted by their own agenda instead of doing what the field demands. And so, you know,
00:05:50
Speaker
the The old ivory tower moniker is like, we know better and we're telling you how it should be. Well, um unfortunately, some of those that have been in the ivory tower so long that they forget um that the the field has evolved, the field has updated in whatever their you know their subject matter is. And so they they try to tell you instead of going, well, I haven't updated my knowledge base for the last 30 years since I've been here teaching or developing in the programs.
Connecting Programs to Job Market Demands
00:06:21
Speaker
And so colleges sometimes will will develop to a target that's not really there anymore. And so institutions really need to be trying to get their programming very field ready and making sure that the i the the ah ROI is very clear.
00:06:38
Speaker
when when students understand that that connection that they've made, that they've won, they've gone to the field, they've looked to see what's out there, what's what's being done and how it should be done. And then connecting it with, if you go through this program that's very much focused on what the field is doing and you use the connections that we have helped helped make in our program, when they seek excuse me, when they see that connection to the return on investment, that makes a huge difference for for them. um You know, previous administrations talked about shovel ready jobs. Well, this is a field ready programming mindset that we need to have. How is what we're teaching helping their students to connect to the the field they're pursuing? How are we doing that?
00:07:27
Speaker
And so when a school does it right, they're connecting their students to the field for the job, for the information, helping them to to make the connections with employers, with user groups, whatever it is that they're trying to help a student understand well. And instead of just, okay, here is your diploma, here's your, you know,
00:07:52
Speaker
You've got the the degree now, go find your own job, go find your own thing. And, you know, unfortunately, sometimes their degree qualifies them to go get a job at McDonald's. Nothing against working at McDonald's. But if you paid, know, 40 to 100,000 $200,000 for your degree, ah you want to be very well connected in the field. Right.
Marketing's Role in Education Success
00:08:15
Speaker
You're inspiring me to want a case study or to create a case study because I couldn't agree more. And I think that's where an area, maybe an indicator where some institutions have fallen behind is we all love our institutions. We love our school. We're proud of our message and our mission. And so, so often i see a lot of institutions go to market with that.
00:08:34
Speaker
And I think there is a time and a place for it. But to your point, we have seen significantly higher, um, inquiry rates. And this is where I think higher education is catching up with the rest of the business market to where the education landscape is shifting to where it's no longer a rite of passage to go and get a degree. And it's more so what is the ah ROI just like in the business world that I will get from this program? What will it do for me if I'm going to pay $200,000 for my education? Will I make three or $400,000? Like how much will I make after that? And I think that's where to everything that you've said where we've lost edge
00:09:10
Speaker
in some institutions to where we have found profoundly more success when we can do two things. Number one, advertise specific programs based on what the student is looking for, but with the job that they're going to get, but the success studies are even higher if there are specific organizations, like you mentioned, or employers that are connected to that institution and that it's just such an easy on-ramp for a student to be able to intern there, to be hired there, or for those relationships. Because really, I think now people and prospective students aren't just buying an education.
00:09:45
Speaker
They're buying a career path. And the question is, when you go to market, like and you're getting accredited, and you're starting these programs, does it support that? Yeah.
Designing Student-Centric Programs
00:09:53
Speaker
And I would say right now, the the cry of the ii ROI, as I say, right, you know, that is louder than it's ever been in my entire career.
00:10:03
Speaker
It's always been a conversation point, but it has come to a crux right now that people are going, is this worth it? And so if you're going to show that to your students, you need to do it well.
00:10:15
Speaker
I couldn't agree more. Something that you said that I think was so important, and it kind of prefaces my next question, is that so many institutions do sit in their ivory tower of of what worked years ago. And so what I'm wondering to get out of that, how do you think starting with marketing and audience demand can inform program design? And do you have use cases where you've seen that?
00:10:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm a quality management guy. And one of the things that we're always looking at is what are our customer requirements? And so as much as i have some things that I feel like are important, um a big piece is what is it that the student, our customer,
00:10:57
Speaker
requires of us, what is it that they're wanting to do? And so with those parameters in place, we can then design, we can really go, okay, the student needs to have a user-friendly experience. They need to have one that's gonna work around their lifestyle. One of the greatest commercials I've ever seen in higher ed was done by University of Phoenix, and it's probably eight or 10 years ago now, I i think.
00:11:24
Speaker
And it shows this lady who's, she's in an office setting and um she's sitting there looking at the time. It's getting close to the end of the day. And her boss comes in and stacks this, you know, foot high stack of papers on her desk and, you know, for her to take care of that night, she gets it done and she races to class and she gets to the door and the door is locked.
00:11:46
Speaker
And um she looks in the window and the the the professor taps his watch and goes, Like, well, that doesn't meet the student requirements.
00:11:56
Speaker
That student required a different um a different acceptance of their own real life going on. And so when we look at how do we develop our program, we have to design with the end user in mind. and And if we don't, we're missing it and we're going to turn students away. And so rather than trying to think through what it is we always feel important, we've got to look at the end user, the student, and consider their life, consider what they need. I mean, one of the things that we're looking at right now is the attention span of the student who has has been so focused on using their their cell phone.
00:12:38
Speaker
um one of them One of my clients just did a switch where they took, instead of having their students in fewer classes, they added a class day specifically because they recognized their students would sit at a lunch table in the lunchroom, five of them around the table, not a word was being spoken. They're all on their phones texting back and forth across the table. And so they were trying to do something to help them develop their interaction abilities outside that that was something they recognized that it was a deficiency in their practice of the student. And so always thinking in terms of what they need and what they want is very, very, very important.
00:13:19
Speaker
I think it's so important and I have a thought, but that is such a great example. How do you think that institution was able to bake that into their process as far as making that observation and what can institutions do? Because what you've said, I think is a mispractice is we get so focused internally in meetings and just going about our day that it can be hard to be on the lookout to, like you said, what is happening for that end user? What are they doing?
00:13:43
Speaker
What are some simple ways potentially you think that institutions can bake looking out for things like you've just mentioned or being aware of them. Because I mean, and maybe, maybe it's not even awareness, but how do we get enough buy-in to realize is there is a problem? We're missing something with our student clearly that we need to adjust our process to. What are maybe some simple ways that institutions can be looking out for this?
Faculty Feedback and Student Retention
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose part of it is the focus on the teaching institution rather than the research institution. So i'm not I'm not even going to speak to the research institution. Let's just talk about the teaching institution. um When you are engaged with your faculty really well, they're seeing the students firsthand. They're the ones interacting with them. I, as an administrator, I'm not necessarily in the classroom on a day-to-day basis, but I am doing my very, very best to listen to what the faculty are are saying to me about what's going on and providing them the resources and tools. That doesn't have to be, I will say the one that I'm talking about, they don't have a big budget.
00:14:51
Speaker
And so they're not, I'm not saying I'm dumping lots of money into it, but what I am doing is we're We met this morning and we had a conversation about, okay, this is a project that we're working on. We've been doing this this study hall model and it has some benefits, but we need to make some adjustments. So listening to what they have to say and making sure that um you're always trying to hear them and hear what the students are saying. So being very open on that um and and being having it less about quote unquote shared governance, but all of us pitching in to do the job and get it done and help our students. That's very, very key. I know there's the politics of higher ed, but that big piece of of really listening to each other is it's simple, but it works. That's what you have to do is have that open conversation.
00:15:46
Speaker
I couldn't agree more. And just getting that feedback from the student, from, like you said, the end user, who is going through this process? What is their experience like? And I think that is almost something that it's so easy to lose sight of. And it's so simple that it often gets overlooked, but you're right. It's critical because retention too. I mean, so often we're focused as an institution on new student acquisition and it's great and it's critical,
00:16:10
Speaker
But what about retention? How do we get them to stay? How do we keep them there? And that, I think, is the part that's so overlooked so that we're not when we're not getting feedback, hearing those stories, and surveying even – like surveying our existing students, number one, it helps us figure out and support recruitment. But number two, we need to keep them there. And I think that's another ah key area that can really easily be overlooked if we're not careful. Yeah, just sure. For sure.
00:16:34
Speaker
For sure.
Market Research in Program Design
00:16:36
Speaker
The other piece with that too that I think is just so important to hone in on that people forget kind of is that market research piece. And that's one gap that I see in marketing too is so often I notice with institutions that we partner with, a lot of our marketing, um depending on the institution, like can be very focused on marketing.
00:16:54
Speaker
internal discussions of hypotheticals of how the school sees themselves and i think that's the other piece not only with retention but student acquisition is again what are those insights how do our students talk about us how do they talk about our programs what programs are leading not the ones that the board or that adjunct faculty want to support but what programs are actually fueling enrollment year after year why are students retaining and what outcomes are they seeing? And then can we pair that into not only our marketing, but into when we're shaping and designing programs into that as well?
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Well, my I don't know if there is a way for us to, as a, as a, as a field to update our thinking on that, but it it is one of those pieces that, um,
00:17:42
Speaker
It's almost an afterthought. Oh, I guess we should have that market research. Oh, I guess we should maybe do some some thinking on, you know, or study of that. But I have have often seen clients, and I don't often do their market research. I've done it a couple of times when a client has actually asked for it, but it is something that it should be done. It should be taken care of as a first step, not as an afterthought.
00:18:07
Speaker
Agreed. i couldn't agree
Communicating Institutional Value
00:18:09
Speaker
more. Well, my last question for you, what do you feel like are the non-negotiables that really institutions have to get right to communicate their value, their outcomes, and their credibility for prospective students? If we have to boil it down to a simple framework, what are the things that we cannot we absolutely cannot afford to miscommunicate or not clearly articulate?
00:18:33
Speaker
Yeah. you know I think – um i having the clear very clear outcomes of what your graduates are going to be able to do having proof of alignment with where your courses to your outcomes your assessments to your outcomes faculty expertise to the outcomes accreditation to the outcome making sure all of those pieces are just very very straightforward and and having very honest discussions of how your modality, you know everything from online is going to do this, on site is going to do this, making sure it's flexible and engaging and dynamic, for changing needs when fields change, when conversations in the field change, all those sorts of things.
00:19:19
Speaker
and And really putting together um you know third parties that support where you're going. developing that model that has a ah clear distinction of god these people that are good at what they do, support what we do and vice versa.
00:19:38
Speaker
Having those pieces of you know very trust ah signals of of who we are and what we're doing, what we're about, very, very important.
00:19:50
Speaker
And then just frankly being consistent across everything you're doing. Don't say one thing over here and then do the exact opposite over over in this other area. Make sure that your messages are the same across the board.
00:20:05
Speaker
Incredible. Well, I am so grateful, Josh. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your expertise. Where can everyone listening find you and what's the best way to stay in touch with you?
00:20:18
Speaker
I'm certainly on LinkedIn and you can find me there. And then our our main website, progresisco.com is probably the easiest. And then you can find all of our other companies connected there.
00:20:30
Speaker
Amazing. We will link that description in and your LinkedIn in the show notes, but thank you again for such a great conversation and your time. Thanks very much.