For the upcoming Content Marketing Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 15, Link Journal writer Tim Nekritz asked event chair Carlos Ruiz, senior web developer at Vanderbilt University, about the upcoming summit and the key role of content marketing—which many of us might do without even realizing it.
Q: How do you define “content marketing” and, related, are a lot of people in higher ed actual content marketers without realizing it?
I think of content marketing as marketing performed by content creators and, yes, I think a lot of us are content marketers and do not realize it. At Vanderbilt, the people in our Marketing and Communications division represent many different disciplines—writing, design, videography, analytics, web development, strategy, social media, public relations—but we all work on the same projects with the same goals.
Q: What critical role does content marketing play in the success of our institutions and higher ed as a whole?
I am not a political expert, but it is easy to see that higher ed has come under attack in the past couple years. In my opinion, it is more important than ever to convey the benefits of education and research and how those benefits touch everyone.
“I think of content marketing as marketing performed by content creators and, yes, I think a lot of us are content marketers and do not realize it.”
Q: Can you talk a bit about your personal journey in this field and how you came to have this role for the conference?
I will try to keep this short, lol! I actually got my bachelor’s degree in music and began my career working in the marketing department for a record company, where I picked up some graphic-design skills. After that, I worked in the publishing industry doing page layout until my mom (a software developer) taught me some basic HTML, which helped me get into web design and development.
Along the way, I picked up some contract work for St John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and fell in love with higher ed. I ended up getting my master’s degree in communication and got my (current) job at Vanderbilt soon after that.
From there, I was introduced to HighEdWeb (Digital Collegium) and eventually served as Program Vice Chair for the AI and Analytics Summit in 2024. I guess I did a half-decent job with that (lol) and was asked to chair the Content Marketing Summit this year.
“I think that we all need to set aside our reservations concerning AI and focus on understanding how it can be used effectively as a tool in our work.”
Q: Who would benefit from attending this event?
Anyone that works in, or alongside, one of the disciplines that I mentioned above and whose job directly, or indirectly, affects the public-facing messaging at their institutions.
Q: What are you most looking forward to with the Content Marketing Summit?
I think that AI is on everyone’s mind right now, especially those of us whose job it is to create content, and several sessions will touch on that.
Again, I am not an expert or a prophet, but I think that we all need to set aside our reservations concerning AI and focus on understanding how it can be used effectively as a tool in our work.
Want to learn more?
Digital Collegium’s Content Marketing Summit will take place Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. For more information, to see the day’s schedule or to register, visit the Content Marketing Summit website.