Creating unforgettable student testimonial videos For higher education: The Complete Guide For Marcom Leaders
Have you ever watched an infomercial you’ll never forget?
Maybe it’s the George Foreman grill, or ShamWow, or ThighMaster.
For me, it’s Flex Tape. The first time I saw spokesperson Phil Swift cut the bottom out of a rowboat, cover the hole with tape, and then go for a boat ride in shark-infested water, I was hooked. And guess what? When my kitchen pipe sprung a leak a short time later, do you think I called a plumber? No. I put my shoes on, drove to Home Depot and bought some Flex Tape.
Good storytelling tosses vague platitudes to the wind and transports us into the scene to show us the impact. If you can harness the key elements that make for a truly compelling story, your college or university stands a chance of being like Flex Tape in people’s minds. Sticky.
Why most student and alumni testimonials fall flat
When it comes to producing powerful student testimonials for higher education, a lot of institutions seem to be okay with just having someone communicate forgettable information that could be said about any school in existence, and giving a positive review of their experience. Or maybe they are telling actual stories, but those stories are generic. It’s the student who wanted to help people, so they went to nursing school, and now they’re enjoying learning to become a nurse. It’s the alumni who was always interested in figuring out how things work, so they went to engineering school, and now they’re working as an engineer.
Neither of those examples are harmful to your marketing efforts. It’s just that very few videos like these excel at being remarkable. A good testimonial video should leave a lasting impression. After all, your prospective students will watch your video and likely go on to consume dozens more pieces of video content before their head hits the pillow at night, many of which are inherently more interesting and entertaining than a college video.
So while there is a place here and there for communicating basic information and saying nice things about the school, you can’t afford for that to be your default mode of operation.
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The One Quality All Great Stories Have
Picture the movie Forrest Gump, but let’s make it really boring.
Imagine Forrest is a neurotypical male with no physical, mental, or social barriers who just happens to like running for no particular reason. He’s popular in school so when he gets on the school bus, everyone wants to sit with him. He decides to sit with Jenny, they fall in love, and eventually grow up and get married. In this world, Forrest’s mother never dies, there’s no conflict in the world so there’s no occasion for him to go fight in the Vietnam war, therefore he never meets Bubba or Lieutenant Dan. He runs across the country just because he enjoys the exercise and his popularity only increases because of this as he gains lots of friends along the way. The end.
If the movie played out this way, Forrest Gump would have stood zero chance of winning 6 Academy Awards and being one of the highest-grossing films of its time.
Great testimonials are about transformation. As higher ed marcom leaders I think we understand this in theory, but in practice we tend to tell stories with a goal of “selling” a particular program, and in these stories, everything’s great. Nothing bad ever happens, no struggles occurred, and nothing was overcome, because we don’t want to be Debbie Downers. We’d prefer to keep thing everything positive.
But if we’re trying to get our audience to relate to the story, what prospective student’s life is so perfect where they could relate to everything going their way all the time?
In order for transformation to be felt by the viewer, there has to be something to transform from. There has to be challenges in play to overcome, and the higher the stakes of those challenges, the greater the transformation is felt.
Example: Assistant Police Chief Fulfills a Lifelong Promise To His Late Mother
This is a story we produced at Unveild for Cleary University about Assistant Chief of the Detroit Police Department, Eric Ewing.
Cleary has a unique program for first responders to provide a streamlined pathway to completing a degree amidst very busy and unpredictable schedules. In this example, Eric wanted to fulfill his late mother’s desires for him to be the first in his family to get a degree - a commitment that was over 30 years in the making.
This is a story that has challenges, stakes, and transformation in addition to helpful information about Cleary’s program.
How to Find Compelling Stories for Your College Videos
So how do you find these hidden narrative gems within your midst? It starts with asking the right questions. Reach out to your faculty, department heads, or student organizations and ask them to identify students who have experienced significant transformations. Look for stories where students overcame obstacles, faced tough decisions, or found unexpected inspiration. These are the narratives that add depth and authenticity to your higher education marketing strategy.
This is probably the biggest thing. Marcom leaders typically default to sourcing stories through faculty and department heads but they skip the step of teaching those people what makes a good marketing story that benefits the institution. Doing this tends to result in selecting students who perhaps are doing an interesting research project or who are just standout students with a passion for their field of study, or dare we say, who fit diversity profiles. Or in the case of alumni, who have a job at a notable company that the university would like to highlight.
There is nothing wrong with any of those qualifiers, but without a personal thread that has a level of vulnerability to it, they’re missing the element of transformation.
Take for example the video below we produced for Miami University’s Nutrition and Dietetics program. Madelyn struggled with health issues and fluctuating weight in adolescence which eventually led her to discover a new relationship with food in the field of nutrition. It would still be a nice story if you removed her personal struggles, it would just be more generic and forgettable.
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Here are some other things you can do to find compelling stories.
Don’t wait until you need stories: Regularly gather stories from different departments, professors, and students, even when you don't need them immediately. Having a backlog ensures you have options to select the most impactful narratives when it's time to create content.
Understand That Positive Stories Aren’t Shared Easily: People are more likely to share negative experiences than positive ones. Be proactive in reaching out to students and alumni to uncover their success stories, as they often won’t volunteer them.
Ask the Right Questions: Dig deeper by asking questions about meaningful college experiences, challenges faced, or specific moments of growth. This helps unearth stories with depth, rather than just surface-level achievements.
Build Relationships for Deeper Insights: Engage in intentional conversations with students and alumni to truly understand their journeys. This helps you uncover the emotions, struggles, and triumphs that make for engaging storytelling.
Create a Storytelling Concierge Team: Assemble a team to conduct market research calls with students, dividing the workload to uncover multiple stories in a short time. This approach helps you find compelling narratives more efficiently and build a database of powerful stories while also discovering really helpful insights that can inform your marketing efforts.
Asking Thoughtful Questions That Elicit Authentic Student Experiences
Boring questions equal boring videos. In order to get below the surface and uncover vulnerability and transformation, we need to ask students deeper questions than, “Why should someone come to [school]?” or “Who were your favorite professors, and why?”
Here are some questions to keep in your back pocket for when you’re talking to a student or alumni and want to get beneath the surface of their experience.
“Forget about your college experience for a moment. Was there a turning point in your life where you were never the same after?”
"Looking back, what’s one challenge you faced before or during college that changed how you see the world?"
"Tell me about a moment in college when you felt truly seen or understood—what made it stand out?"
"What’s a belief or value you held strongly before college that has evolved or shifted since starting here?"
"Was there a moment where you realized what you were passionate about or what direction you wanted your life to take?"
"Can you share an experience that pushed you outside your comfort zone but left you feeling proud or transformed?"
Maximizing the reach of your student testimonial videos
If you’re going to put all this effort into a storytelling campaign, you’ll obviously want to get the most mileage possible out of each video. This is where a solid distribution strategy comes into play.
It’s not enough to just upload a video to Youtube, post it to Facebook, maybe send it out in an email or two, and hope it goes viral. Don’t put all your trust in the algorithms to distribute your content. You need to do the work of getting eyeballs on your videos in as many places and formats as possible.
Here are some tips:
Make shorter versions: If you have a 2-3 minute testimonial video, make a 30-second version and a 15-second version and use these for paid social ads. Link to the full length version for people who want to see more. Maybe even create a landing page on your website dedicated to this one person’s story where you curate additional helpful information about that particular program so visitors don’t have to go digging for the info they need if they’re inspired to learn more.
Make topical videos: Take individual thoughts that the student shared and break those off into their own short videos. For example, here is a short video of Madelyn from Miami University mentioned above talking about the idea of food as medicine. Someone searching about this topic may come across this video and want to learn more about Madelyn’s story or Miami’s program.
Make vertical videos: In order for the algorithms to prioritize your videos, you need to play their game. Don’t take a horizontal video and upload it to Tiktok or Instagram Reels. You need to format it into a vertical video. Consider adding captions and a blurb of text on screen that tells scrollers what the video is about.
Share behind the scenes content: During the filming process, take pictures and vertical videos that you can use on social media to promote this story. You could create a simple montage of a few behind the scenes clips from the production for a Youtube Short or a Facebook Reel and tease the upcoming story, and additionally post a batch of pictures to Linkedin or create an Instagram carousel for people to swipe through.
Repurpose the video to text formats: Not everyone wants to watch a video. Some people would just prefer to read. So send the video out in some email campaigns, but make sure that if all your recipients did was read the text blurb about the video, they’d get all that value you want them to get from the story. Also, create a transcript of the video (there are many platforms available, just Google “ai transcription from video”) and then upload that transcript to ChatGPT and have it write you an outline for a blog article. Here is a prompt you can copy and paste:
“This is a transcript from a student testimonial for [school]. Write me an outline for a 500-600 word blog article that highlights the emotional aspects of this story as well as persuasive information about the program. Make sure the student’s transformation comes through strongly. Give me 5 options for article titles, and also in the outline suggest copy for section headers. Utilize these keywords in the outline [list keywords].”
If you are comfortable using AI for the actual writing of the content you can take this a step further with this prompt instead:
“This is a transcript from a student testimonial for [school]. Write me a 500-600 word blog article that highlights the emotional aspects of this story, the student’s transformation, as well as persuasive information about the program. Make sure the article has a strong emotional hook that isn’t generic like ‘in the ever-changing landscape of…’ Make the article highly skimmable with H2 headers utilizing the following keywords [list keywords]. Also give me 5 options for article titles incorporating at least one of those keywords.”
Obviously you’ll want to edit the content it returns before publishing, but that should get you off to a good start.
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An Easy Hack For producing a quantity of Compelling student testimonial videos
When it comes to producing a high volume of student testimonial videos, Unveild’s subscription service offers a solution that saves you time, effort, and budget, while delivering high-quality, emotionally resonant content.
Here’s how it works: Instead of wrangling in-house staff or trying to piece together testimonial videos on your own, Unveild manages the entire process from start to finish. From vetting compelling student stories to scheduling and coordinating filming, Unveild takes the weight off your shoulders, allowing you to focus on your marketing strategy without the logistical headaches.
The subscription model means you receive a consistent flow of professionally produced videos each month, building a growing library of content that can be repurposed across your website, social media, and email campaigns. This consistent content flow ensures you never fall behind on your video needs while keeping your messaging fresh and relevant. Plus, with access to all the raw footage and b-roll, you can reuse and reformat content to stretch your budget even further.
For more information, see our pricing page and if you’d like to chat further you can book a call.
Should You Outsource Video Production or Bring It In-House?
When deciding whether to hire in-house videographers or outsource video production, it's important to consider key factors like cost, flexibility, and long-term strategy. In-house teams offer agility and deeper brand familiarity but come with hidden expenses, including equipment, benefits, and management costs that could put more strain on your budget than outsourcing.
Outsourcing can provide fresh perspectives, higher-quality content, and a more strategic focus but may lack the flexibility of having someone on staff for quick-turnaround projects. The ideal solution may involve a combination of both approaches, using in-house staff for day-to-day content and outside partners for larger, more polished projects.
For a deeper dive into this topic, including a detailed breakdown of pros and cons, check out our full article on hiring in-house vs. outsourcing video production.
Making Video Content Creation for Higher Education Work for You
Incorporating content creation into your higher ed marketing strategy isn’t just about creating more videos; it’s about creating the right videos. Thoughtful, engaging content that speaks to the real experiences of your students will stand out. When you highlight genuine struggles, triumphs, and growth, your videos will become more than just testimonials—they’ll become stories that prospective students see themselves in.
It’s also about distribution. You should be spending as much if not more time distributing the content your team creates than you do making the content. It’s that important. You need to give your content the best chance possible to thrive, so repurpose, repurpose, repurpose!
The Bottom Line
A compelling student testimonial is more than just a student speaking positively about your institution. It’s an opportunity to tell a story that resonates, inspires, and drives action. By focusing on authentic storytelling, incorporating emotional elements, and working with experts in video production, you can create a video marketing strategy that not only differentiates your institution but also leaves a lasting impression.
By implementing these tips, you'll be well on your way to creating powerful, engaging video content that captures the hearts and minds of prospective students, alumni, and everyone in between.
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