EPISODE · May 27, 2026 · 42 MIN
#109 - "May 1st Is Halftime, Not the Finish Line": A Yield and Melt Survival Guide w/ Rita Winthrop
from Higher Ed Storytelling University · host John Azoni
If your school just came off a yield season that didn't go the way you hoped — or if you're staring down summer melt and wondering what to actually do about it — this episode is for you.Rita Winthrop is a marketing consultant with 15 years in higher ed and edtech who helps institutions and brands build content that actually moves people. She runs Rita Winthrop Consulting out of Newport, Rhode Island, specializing in enrollment email campaigns, LinkedIn ghostwriting for higher ed executives, and content strategy that doesn't just fill a calendar. She also has a lot of feelings about yield season — which is exactly why I wanted to get her on the show.Rita has a rare background: she was both an admissions counselor and the person writing the MarCom for her team at the same time. That dual perspective shapes everything she talks about in this episode — why the disconnect between admissions and MarCom is so damaging, what actually moves students from accepted to enrolled, and why May 1st is halftime, not the finish line.In this episode:Why the personalized experience students get with their admissions counselor so often evaporates the moment they deposit — and what a good handoff actually looks likeWhat bad yield communication strategy looks like in practice: too much volume, too many CTAs, and content that forgets it's talking to a 17-year-old making the biggest financial decision of their lifeWhy parent communications deserve their own dedicated strategy with its own tone, cadence, and content — and why most schools treat parents as an afterthoughtWhat you can still do right now if you didn't make your class — including how to re-engage fence sitters without looking desperateWhy silence is the biggest driver of summer melt, and what a smart anti-melt campaign looks like from May through AugustTransfer students as an underutilized population — why they should be a year-round conversation, not a backup planWhat EdTech vendors consistently get wrong about the people they're selling to (and why cold emailing admissions counselors in April will get you yelled at)Resources mentioned:Mailed It! by Day Kibilds and Ashley Budd:https://emailbook.co/ Connect with Rita:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rita-winthrop/Website: https://ritawinthrop.comConnect with John:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoniWebsite: https://unveild.tvNewsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter
What this episode covers
If your school just came off a yield season that didn't go the way you hoped — or if you're staring down summer melt and wondering what to actually do about it — this episode is for you.Rita Winthrop is a marketing consultant with 15 years in higher ed and edtech who helps institutions and brands build content that actually moves people. She runs Rita Winthrop Consulting out of Newport, Rhode Island, specializing in enrollment email campaigns, LinkedIn ghostwriting for higher ed executives, and content strategy that doesn't just fill a calendar. She also has a lot of feelings about yield season — which is exactly why I wanted to get her on the show.Rita has a rare background: she was both an admissions counselor and the person writing the MarCom for her team at the same time. That dual perspective shapes everything she talks about in this episode — why the disconnect between admissions and MarCom is so damaging, what actually moves students from accepted to enrolled, and why May 1st is halftime, not the finish line.In this episode:Why the personalized experience students get with their admissions counselor so often evaporates the moment they deposit — and what a good handoff actually looks likeWhat bad yield communication strategy looks like in practice: too much volume, too many CTAs, and content that forgets it's talking to a 17-year-old making the biggest financial decision of their lifeWhy parent communications deserve their own dedicated strategy with its own tone, cadence, and content — and why most schools treat parents as an afterthoughtWhat you can still do right now if you didn't make your class — including how to re-engage fence sitters without looking desperateWhy silence is the biggest driver of summer melt, and what a smart anti-melt campaign looks like from May through AugustTransfer students as an underutilized population — why they should be a year-round conversation, not a backup planWhat EdTech vendors consistently get wrong about the people they're selling to (and why cold emailing admissions counselors in April will get you yelled at)Resources mentioned:Mailed It! by Day Kibilds and Ashley Budd:https://emailbook.co/ Connect with Rita:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/rita-winthrop/Website: https://ritawinthrop.comConnect with John:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoniWebsite: https://unveild.tvNewsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter
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#109 - "May 1st Is Halftime, Not the Finish Line": A Yield and Melt Survival Guide w/ Rita Winthrop
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