telling your school's story with student testimonials
DESCRIPTION
What is the purpose of your college or university's website? A good website's strategy is to develop and nurture relationships with a variety of stakeholders by communicating and supporting a strong, unified institutional image.TRANSCRIPT
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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1. Develop written testimonials for skimmers 2. Embed videos throughout your site3. Testimonials for international recruitment
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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One approach is to have current students and recent alumni respond to:
interview questions about what they like about your program, school and location
Include also an open-ended section to encourage unexpected insights that might not
otherwise be revealed.
1. Develop written testimonials for skimmers
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Testimonials that focus on a student's individual experience rather than general comments about an institution as a whole tend to be perceived as more credible to prospects.
Use the students' own words but feature only the most relevant and engaging content.
1. Develop written testimonials for skimmers
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Testimonials can be presented in a consistent format throughout your website:
Homepage Relevant program pages Separate “Testimonials" section that more completely
presents the student's story
1. Develop written testimonials for skimmers
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Continuously strive to develop a bank of feedback condensed to its essential points.
Include relevant details about the student, such as: program graduation year home country
Pictures, typography, and tasteful color contrast will make the content more readable and attractive.
1. Develop written testimonials for skimmers
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Example: Columbia College features large student pictures with clear typography and design on a separate Testimonials page
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Example: Brock University provides a summarizing subtitle with each testimonial to emphasize their key selling points
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Example: Concordia University features a series of student profiles in their Undergraduate Admissions section, with:- Photo- concise description- brief interview answering
questions about choosing the school and program
- favourite class- tips for new students - future plans
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Video continues to grow in importance in student marketing and is a top application for mobile users.
Personal experiences from students and alumni might be better told in brief video vignettes.
Since not everybody wants to watch videos, make sure there remain plenty of highly visible written testimonials.
2. Embed videos throughout your site
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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When determining the format your videos will take, think about the message you want viewers to take away about both the student experience and your overall brand image.
Prospective students want to get a feel for the true experience so unscripted authenticity is essential.
2. Embed videos throughout your site
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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High production quality isn't necessary but videos can be a good opportunity to show: student projects the campus AND answer questions about why students chose your
school.
Keep them under two minutes for maximum impact and feel free to embed them strategically throughout your site.
2. Embed videos throughout your site
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Example: American College of Technology turns its testimonials into students’ success stories.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Testimonials are particularly effective for international recruitment.
Applying to college or university is a huge decision for any student but international recruitment signifies even more excitement and angst.
These applicants are unlikely to have a chance to visit your school before enrolling and need to know what it's like to study there.
3. Testimonials for international recruitment
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Video and written testimonials are particularly important to:
answer common concerns establish the trust that you are who you say you are.
3. Testimonials for international recruitment
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Example: Algonquin College features this video testimonial of an international student in both English and Turkish, keeping it brief while showing a little of the campus and some of the student's projects
Source: Higher Education Marketing – Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
Telling Your School’s Story With Student Testimonials
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Questions?1.514.312.3968 [email protected]
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