Impactful storytelling elevates marketing, but where do you start?

Actionable strategies for uncovering transformative higher ed stories to create powerful marketing campaigns that resonate and drive results.

3 minutes
By: John Azoni
featured-image

Here’s a quick challenge for you. You have two minutes to think of five compelling stories of transformation that illustrate the value of your institution. I don’t mean five stories of people saying, “I liked the school … five stars.” I mean real stories that begin somewhere other than talking about your school, where there is some personal thread that ties everything together. 

Can you think of any? If not, we’ve just identified a gap in your marketing strategy. Filling that gap could be transformational for bringing awareness to your brand and creating strong emotional connections and positive associations that may lead to increased enrollment.

The Untapped Power of Storytelling

The challenge many institutions face isn’t a lack of success stories—it’s knowing how to find and share them. Marketing teams often rely on anecdotal stories relayed by professors or department heads. These stories, although well-meaning, may not represent the most compelling narratives the institution has to offer.

To truly leverage the power of storytelling, higher education marketers need to seek and archive transformative narratives proactively. This requires a shift in strategy. Storytelling needs to become an integral part of the institution’s marketing culture. With a well-maintained collection of student and alumni stories, marketers can make informed decisions about which stories will resonate most in a particular campaign, whether for recruitment, retention or donor engagement.

Why Stories Are Hard to Find

Finding stories can be more challenging than it seems, and there are three key reasons why.

First, professors and department heads don’t always know what the marketing team needs. They lack a framework for what makes a compelling marketing story and will likely select students who are passionate about their fields of study or perhaps landed a good job after graduating. These are positive outcomes, but they may lack the personal depth that makes a story engaging.

Second, positive stories require effort to uncover. People are generally more inclined to share their negative experiences than their positive ones. 

Lastly, many students and alumni don’t perceive their experiences as “story-worthy.” They may view their academic journeys as routine. Yet, beneath the surface, lies a deeper narrative highlighting personal growth, resilience and transformation.

The Power of Meaningful Conversations

Higher education marketers need to conduct two types of conversations to unlock these hidden stories. 

  • Meaningful conversations with students and alumni. Thoughtful, well-structured interactions can reveal the kinds of experiences that resonate on an emotional level. For example, asking a business student why they chose their field of study might lead to the discovery that they saw firsthand how a business mindset can change entire communities in developing nations and wanted to learn how to make that kind of impact in the community they were raised in. Such stories provide a deeper, more emotional connection to the institution’s mission.
  • Intentional conversations with faculty and department heads. Providing these key individuals with a clear framework for identifying compelling stories will ensure genuine, emotionally rich narratives support the marketing efforts. Here’s a simple formula to share: Genuine passion for their field of study + personal connection to their field of study and/or struggles they’ve overcome + tangible and specific value they’ve received from your institution = compelling story.

Practical Steps Forward

You’ve identified a gap in your strategy, and now it’s time to take action. Here are three practical steps to improve your storytelling approach.

  • Set aside time. What would it do for your content efforts if you set aside one hour per week to interview your students and alumni? Use these interviews as a market research opportunity to discover what resonates and to identify areas where communications, messaging, and even programming can be improved. By engaging in these nuanced conversations, you can uncover novel and impactful stories while also learning to speak your audience’s language and address their specific needs, instead of relying on generic claims like “world-class professors” or “small class sizes.”
  • Engage in roadshows. Get out of the office regularly and do what Lauren Keane, vice president of communications at Southern New Hampshire University, calls an “internal roadshow.” Meet with faculty and department heads to explain what makes a great marketing story and offer them a framework for identifying and sharing these narratives.
  • Encourage submissions. Create an incentive for students and alumni to submit their own stories. Make it simple for them to share, whether through emailing a designated team member, uploading a video, or submitting a voice memo. The easier the process, the more stories you will receive. Just make sure you verify that the stories that are submitted are true. 

The more options you have in the stories you can use to market your institution, the more effective you will be at creating impactful content. The time to collect stories is not when you need them. Start today, and in six months, you’ll be glad you built this habit—and so will your leadership.

John Azoni

John Azoni

Contributor

John Azoni is a content creator and seasoned video producer channeling his many years of production and content marketing learnings into higher education. He is the founder and executive producer at Unveild, a video production company helping colleges and universities tell engaging human-centered stories.


Newsletter Sign up!

Stay current in digital strategy, brand amplification, design thinking and more.

Also in Marketing