The Alumni Magazine Is Dead. Long Live the Alumni Podcast.
Your university prints an alumni magazine twice a year. Cost: $5-15 per copy, mailed to 100,000+ graduates. Read rate: unknown but declining.
You also send monthly email newsletters. Open rate: 22%. Click rate: 3%.
Your alumni care about the university. They just don’t consume alumni content in text form.
Alumni Communications as Audio
Turn university news into a podcast alumni listen to:
Research highlights: “A professor in the biology department just published a breakthrough on [X]. Two hosts discuss what it means and why it matters.”
Campus updates: “Construction on the new science building starts next month. Here’s the naming story and what it means for the university’s research capacity.”
Alumni stories: “Class of ‘08 graduate [Name] just [achievement]. Here’s her journey from the quad to [outcome].”
Athletics: “The football team is 6-2. Here’s what’s different this season.”
Fundraising context: “The capital campaign reached $500M. Here’s where the money is going and what’s still needed.”
Why This Matters for Universities
- Engagement — engaged alumni give more. A podcast creates a weekly touchpoint vs. a twice-yearly magazine.
- Fundraising — donors who feel connected to the university’s mission give more and more often.
- Cost savings — a printed magazine costs 1.5M per year for a large university. A podcast costs almost nothing to generate.
- Young alumni — recent graduates don’t read magazines. They listen to podcasts.
- International alumni — graduates in 50+ countries hear updates in their language. 100+ supported.
Cross-Language for Global Alumni Networks
Your university has alumni in 80 countries. English-only communications reach the English-speaking alumni. A podcast in Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Spanish, Arabic reaches everyone else.
The international alumni who give the least are often the ones who feel the most disconnected — because they can’t easily consume English communications. Audio in their language changes that.
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Your alumni want to stay connected. Meet them in their podcast app.