
Your School’s Distinctive Success Story: Why & How to Market It
By: Laura Sheehan

With thousands of colleges and universities in the U.S., students have plenty of options – so how can you get them to consider your institution? By identifying and marketing your school’s distinctive success story.
Doing so will:
- Make your institution memorable
- Set it apart from its competitors
- Attract right-fit students (those whose goals match your school’s success)
- Keep students engaged throughout the long admissions process
What It Is
A school’s success story reflects its true purpose: to educate and empower; to transform individuals and enhance communities.
It is built on research and (mostly) interviews with successful alumni, students, and faculty. It features personal stories and institutional highlights in a variety of forms. Most importantly, it should be featured in all marketing materials and in every phase of the admissions funnel.
How to Build It
To cultivate the story, start by asking:
- What does my school do particularly well?
- What distinguishes it from other institutions?
- What are its key value (or sales) points?
This will help you frame a brief narrative, 2-3 sentences that reflect the institution’s core. Next come the interviews, which are the heart of the success story. I will typically interview 50 people per institution, including:
- Successful alumni from a variety of academic programs
- Current students who are: active on campus, ethically, culturally, and academically diverse
- Faculty experts and directors of key programs
- Staff who oversee critical areas (Career Services, e.g.)
This will give me a body of marketing content (testimonials, statistics, profiles, social media posts, ad text, video, etc.) that will be used on the website and in all recruitment communications and materials.
What it Looks Like
Here are 3 samples of how success storytelling can work for recruitment.
- Transfer publication for CCSU: This brochure features a transfer student’s success story which was introduced on page 1 and continued throughout.
- Digital recruitment campaign for Wells College: As part of a comprehensive campaign, this ad showcases affordability through a students’ perspective.
- Yield email sent by University of Saint Francis: Designed to secure the student’s deposit, this email shows the success of a recent graduate.
Why it works
Success marketing works because:
- It is authentic, peer-to-peer marketing
- As humans, we naturally respond to inspirational stories
Want to do it but don’t have the time? Contact us for help.
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Archives
- Your School’s Distinctive Success Story: Why & How to Market It
- Inspiring Students throughout the Recruitment Process
- Part 2: Students Say Your Website Can Make or Break Their Enrollment Decision
- Part 1: Students Say Your Website Can Make or Break Their Enrollment Decision
- The #1 Thing You Can Do for Enrollment
- Finding a “Pocket of Potential” in Summer Enrollment
- How Small & Specific Digital Enrollment Campaigns Yield Timely Results
- An Enrollment Management Strategy to Offset the Federal Overtime Rule
- Community Colleges Offer Strong & Specific Value: Tell It & Sell It through Success Stories
- Inbound Inquiries are High Yielding Inquiries
- Is a High Bounce Rate Really Such a Bad Thing?
- Student Satisfaction and the Bottom Line
- Getting a Handle on Your University or College’s Social Media Strategy
- The Value of Content in a Higher Education Website
- Digital Advertising for Colleges and Universities: Don’t be Impressed by Impressions
- Enrollment-Driven Higher Ed Websites: A Recruitment Solution
- The Power of the Human Story: In Enrollment Campaigns & In Life
- Recruiting Adult Learners on Their Terms
- Community College Recruitment: Breaking old Stereotypes via Student Success Stories
- Part III: How an Enrollment-driven Website Can Serve Higher Ed Recruitment
- Part II: How an Enrollment-driven Website Can Serve Higher Ed Recruitment
- How an Enrollment-driven Website Can Serve Higher Ed Recruitment
- The 2016 Internet Trends Report: 4 Takeaways for Higher Ed Recruitment
- What Can Other Colleges Learn from Recent Closures? Staying Current in an Ever-Changing World
- From Enrollment Professional to Parent: My New Insights into the College Search Process
- Does your Higher Ed Website Work For or Against Enrollment? Three Tips to Assess its Recruitment Effectiveness
- Step Up Summer Enrollment: How a Digital Campaign Can Stem Summer Melt & Inspire New Applications
- Looking to Recruit Adult Students? Good News: They’re Telling Us How
- What Can Community Colleges do to Counteract Declining Enrollment? Turns Out Your Institutional Stories are your Best Ammunition
- 5 Tips to Celebrating — and Selling — the Value of the Humanities
- Recruiting a Shifting Demographic: Today’s Minority is Tomorrow’s Majority
- Sure, March Madness Brings an Admissions Bump — If You’re a Big Name DI University
- Higher Ed Recruitment: Can We Help Ease Students’ Stress?
- Countering the Decline: How to Sell Small Liberal Arts Colleges to Gen Z
- Put your Recruitment Eggs in the Basket-of-High-Returns
- Calculate’s Web Recruitment Strategy Recognized at Global Marketing Forum
- Digital Search: A New Way of Finding Right-Fit Students
- 6 Tips to Guide your Decision when Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm
- Content is the Driving Force Behind a Successful Higher Ed Website
- Your Website Isn’t a Project. It’s a Perpetual Work in Progress.
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