how to create college student testimonials that captivate & inspire action

Show Notes:

• Verbatim text version of this episode is below for those that prefer to read. Made by a robot so probably only 80% accurate.

• Download: 3 Absolutely Crucial Components Every Compelling College Student Testimonial Needs. A simple framework for boosting enrollment through student testimonials that captivate and influence

• Nate Bargatze’s comedy bit on ordering Starbucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOm7Gr-1BUc

00:00:00:20 - 00:00:23:12

Speaker 1

Hey, thanks for tuning in. You are listening to the Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast. It is a podcast where we help higher ed marketers tell better stories and enroll more students. So thanks for being with us. My name is John Oseni. I'm the founder at Unveiled a video production company working specifically with higher ed to help you automate your storytelling and video content creation efforts.

00:00:23:13 - 00:00:50:18

Speaker 1

In today's episode, we're talking about student testimonials. Specifically, what makes a good student testimonial. A student who had a good experience with your program might be a good testimonial, but there's more to captivating your audience and giving them a reason to stick around and actually watch that whole video or read that whole article or read that whole email than just someone that gives you, you know, someone saying they, you know, they give your school five stars.

00:00:50:19 - 00:01:13:15

Speaker 1

So so let's dove in. Let's talk about that. What are my wife and I's favorite nighttime routines is? We set a timer for 5 minutes on Alexa. I have to say, Alexa really quiet. Or else she'll start asking me what I want her to play. We actually had a babysitter named Alexa at one point, and we had to change our Alexa's name to Echo Dot.

00:01:14:07 - 00:01:37:17

Speaker 1

Anyways, we will set a timer for 5 minutes and we will scroll through TikTok. Whoever finds the most hilarious video wins. It's very competitive. Our algorithms are very equally matched, though my algorithm sort of leans toward mom life memes because I share all that funny mom stuff with Laura because I know she can relate. And then TikTok just keeps giving me more of that.

00:01:37:17 - 00:02:03:14

Speaker 1

So if you want top notch mom content, you let me know. Tik Tok is the best. I have never made a TikTok video. I am just a lurker, but it's just such a great place to realize how insanely funny, normal, just normal people are. Like everyone can be a comedian without having to develop a whole stand up routine or get some sort of I don't know what comedians do publishing deal or get a Netflix special.

00:02:03:20 - 00:02:23:03

Speaker 1

Like, you can just be funny and people can be like, Wow, that that guy or that gal is really funny. That's awesome. And they can follow you and you can keep being funny. There doesn't have to be a deeper story they're telling, you know, with a joke. The joke is just about that little moment reaching a pump, a punch line, and that's it.

00:02:23:03 - 00:02:52:07

Speaker 1

It's funny. And we scroll on to the next video and it's, you know, it's like, okay, that was funny. And moving on, contrast that with stand up comedy because stand up comedy is something more carefully crafted, more calculated and where a bunch of small anecdotes are connected to a larger purpose. And if you've ever watched a standup comedian who's a good storyteller, they have the ability to take you on a journey through hilarious tangents, but all with some greater purpose.

00:02:52:07 - 00:03:16:17

Speaker 1

It's all connected, lots of little anecdotes. They're all connected. My favorite comedian is Nate Bart, Jesse. He does this hilarious bit about a miscommunication at Starbucks that illustrates how self-conscious he is about what people think about him along the way. He kind of like chronicles all the all the way Starbucks. The Starbucks ordering process makes him uncomfortable because he doesn't like to be the center of attention.

00:03:16:17 - 00:03:32:00

Speaker 1

Like when they ask you what you want before you're even up to the register and you have to like shout your order out. Anyway, I'll put a link to that little bit in there if you're in the, in the show notes, if you're interested. And he's a great storyteller and he's got a great way of just taking you on a journey.

00:03:32:00 - 00:03:57:02

Speaker 1

But the point I want to make is a good testimonial is one that strings the viewer along. It's one that captures attention, captivates your audience, and leaves them feeling some kind of positive way. At the end, it's one that has a deeper, underlying philosophical message that plays out, and all of those things work together to even make sure your audience gets to the end before this, you know, before they scroll on to something else.

00:03:58:19 - 00:04:34:02

Speaker 1

It's important stuff. In other words, a good testimonial is a good story. And maybe you're listening to this going, I'm not the one writing the stories or filming the stories. I'll leave that to someone else. Yes, but you might be the one choosing the stories. And that's why this episode is for you. That story chooser in order for your college to tell a great student success stories that captivate and motivate people to action, you have to start with a good story in the first place.

00:04:34:02 - 00:04:57:10

Speaker 1

Just because someone did well in one of your programs and is willing to be interviewed a writer for an article doesn't mean that that's a great story. It might reflect well on your school. It might be helpful to some people, but that doesn't mean it's a great story. And anecdotes are great, stories are great, but anecdotes are not the same as a good story.

00:04:58:00 - 00:05:30:20

Speaker 1

They're kind of in two different categories. One is a little bit shallow, the other has more depth and and adds just meaning to it. More oomph like so say you want to do a student testimonial for your college? Your college is like master's of business degree program. You're on the marketing team. You're, you know, you're you're not in the classroom learning alongside, you know, these these folks so so you ask, you know, maybe a department head for the business program or a professor.

00:05:30:20 - 00:05:51:20

Speaker 1

Hey, do you know any students whose stories stands out that were you know, you could profile for our website and they think about it and say, yes, I have a student who'll be great for that. And so they give you the student whose story is like, you know, she always wanted to do something in business. So she went to business school and is doing really great and getting good grades and is loving your experience.

00:05:51:20 - 00:06:14:08

Speaker 1

So far. And she hopes to get a good job someday when she graduates, yay, you know, blank college and and and that's not bad. It's I guess it's one that clearly reflects positively on the college in question. But let's take that structure and apply it to, say, the Lion King. And if you haven't seen the movie, I'm sorry if I spoiled it.

00:06:14:12 - 00:06:35:01

Speaker 1

You were going to have a date to watch The Lion King tonight with your significant other. And I am just ruining it for you. I am so sorry. Simba is going about his childhood with his cool dad and you know who's the king of the tribe and he always wanted to be king. So, you know, Simba always wanted to be king so he could be the one in charge for once.

00:06:35:01 - 00:06:54:05

Speaker 1

So he grows up and he gets to be the king and he meets Nala along the way. And she just likes him immediately. And they fall in love and there's no conflict there. And they just, they fall in love and he gets to be king. He enjoys being king. And the end, that's technically a story. It's a very positive story.

00:06:54:05 - 00:07:14:14

Speaker 1

It's a string of connected events with a beginning, middle and an end. It's it's just not going to sell many tickets, right? It's not going to leave a mark on people. It doesn't get any deeper than, you know, I wanted this thing and I got it. And my experience was good. Five stars, you know, it doesn't make you want to go like I wonder what's going to happen next.

00:07:14:19 - 00:07:39:09

Speaker 1

And that's that's the thing that gets people to watch all the way to the end. Is that what's going to happen next? The Real Lion King story, however, is much more profound. There's conflict. There's an element of that element of I wonder what's going to happen next. I wonder how this problem is is going to resolve. Simba is the lion, is the young lion cub growing up to be the heir of his father, who faces throne.

00:07:39:09 - 00:07:58:11

Speaker 1

But getting to the throne isn't that easy because there's scar the evil uncle. He wants to be king and he lures Mufasa into being killed so he can be king. And the Simba comes back with his friends to take back the throne. Boom. It's just like. And then, you know, they're up there on the top of the mountain, just like overlooking the kingdom and the music.

00:07:58:16 - 00:08:23:22

Speaker 1

Elton John's playing in the background. And and and it's a story about a young lion becoming king, but it's really a story about, like, the underdog having what it takes to triumph over greed. Okay, so that's deep stuff. I'm just kind of spitballing here. You know, your student testimonial doesn't have to be deeply philosophical like that. It doesn't even have to be about a lion, honestly.

00:08:23:22 - 00:08:43:16

Speaker 1

But really, when choosing a student to do a story on you want to be on the lookout for someone that has more depth to their experience than just, I came to this school and I liked it and here's the reasons why I liked it. You want someone ideally with some anecdotes that are engaging, but those anecdotes connect to a larger, more meaningful purpose.

00:08:44:00 - 00:09:04:20

Speaker 1

Think about it this way If the story was not allowed to be about a student or an alumni who had a great experience with your school, what would it be about? I mean, obviously like a student testimonial. That's the whole purpose of a testimonial, right? Is, you know, they had a great experience with your brand, but let's just say that that can't be the primary story.

00:09:05:05 - 00:09:27:02

Speaker 1

Someone couldn't watch that and be like, this was a story about how great the school is. It has to be a it has to be about something else. It has to be about something other, something deeper, something more engaging, something relatable that's going to suck people in and hold their attention. Right? So what if in your MBA program you cater to the working professional?

00:09:27:13 - 00:09:49:00

Speaker 1

You know, for instance, we are a college right now. We're working with on some videos currently that does this really well. And you find out you have a student who is a single mom with a couple of young kids and she's doing the best she can. She works full time, puts her kids in daycare, feels mom guilt because she can't be a stay at home mom like her friends.

00:09:49:20 - 00:10:25:11

Speaker 1

But she wants better for herself and her kids. And so she decides to go back to school. And because of your MBA program being designed around people like her who have lives, you know, they can't just put on hold to go to school. She's able to soak up all the time she needs with her kids, put them to bed all that, and work on her academic life after the kids are in bed or early in the morning, whatever, in those sort of fringe hours before they wake up or something and and then not feel like she has to choose between being a mom and having a career she's passionate about.

00:10:25:17 - 00:10:51:16

Speaker 1

So that's just off the cuff. So take that with a grain of salt, but it's like it's a story that illustrates an academic program designed to be flexible, and the story is about something other. The story's really more about the internal struggle of being a mom, trying to balance being there for your kids and also providing for your kids, not wanting to miss precious moments with them because they're they're only going to be this young once.

00:10:51:22 - 00:11:12:07

Speaker 1

You know, all moms can relate to that, right? I mean, men can relate to that, too. Men are parents, too. I don't know if you knew that. Even if we're not seeing it from a dads perspective, you're touching on a core human internal struggle of Am I enough? And you're making your audience feel something that's going to come around to a positive outcome.

00:11:13:06 - 00:11:34:00

Speaker 1

The resolve to that story is, Yes, you are enough in our flexible programs are built for people like you. So we're taking those feelings and like shining a light, shining a spotlight, you know, we're illuminating the brand with those feelings, just saying our programs are built for working professionals. And here's all the reasons why it's a good choice for you.

00:11:34:00 - 00:11:58:07

Speaker 1

For you is a fine message. It's fine. That's good. Hear me when I say you need to inform people. You do need to inform people. You can't just be touchy feely all the time because eventually people, you know, they they they become convinced to look deeper into what you have to offer because you made them feel something. And then and then they need, like, actual technical information.

00:11:58:07 - 00:12:46:06

Speaker 1

But just saying that is, is speaking the lot, speaking to the logical brain. And the logical brain is not our primary motivator of actions. People act more on emotions. Emotions are the pilot. Logic is the copilot. You need both. But I notice in the clients I've worked with on videos throughout my career, the tendency is to lean more towards pitching to students and appealing to their logical decision making brains, when instead they should be creating something that captivates their audience more and transports them into a story where they can come back changed and have, you know, different beliefs come back, having been impacted, having been, you know, something just something that made a dent in

00:12:46:06 - 00:13:14:22

Speaker 1

them. And like I said, it's okay to tell stories that are more along the lines of our school is great because we do a lot of those at Unveiled and I see a lot of articles that are, you know, videos and articles and stuff that are that are more along those lines and those are good. Like, if, you know it's good, someone's looking at your baking and pastry program or something like that, they're probably already going to they want to be a baker and they they they want to they want to study this stuff.

00:13:14:22 - 00:13:32:22

Speaker 1

They want to go to college. You know, they just want to know, like, really what makes you different than other schools? Like, those are those are videos where those are good to have for someone that's a little further down in that sort of sales funnel. Marketing funnel that's ready to actually kind of make decisions. Sometimes that's all you can get your hands on at that particular moment.

00:13:32:22 - 00:14:09:14

Speaker 1

You know, you, you know, it's better and it's better to tell those stories than to not tell stories at all because you're still putting content out there that serves as quality social proof. It functions like a review, like, here's this other person who who's a real person, not a paid actor who's had a great experience. So maybe I'll have a similar great experience, but if you had your pick of the litter and you had ten story subjects in front of you as options, I want to encourage you to really prioritize the ones whose stories have depth and are about much more than just love the school.

00:14:09:17 - 00:14:37:17

Speaker 1

Five Stars. So how do you find stories with depth from where you sit on the marketing team or the communications team or the PR team, whatever? Or maybe you're the director of Enrollment or Alumni Relations. Some position that's a bit removed from the ground level experience of individual students. I want to encourage you to go listen to episode two of this podcast, where I unpack a unique way of digging up stories that I honestly don't see a lot of schools doing yet.

00:14:38:10 - 00:15:07:07

Speaker 1

Go check that out. The bottom line is you want options, and the time to start collecting stories is not when you need them. You should start now. Today, start digging and keeping a database of of stories you can call on later. And and so check out episode two for one approach to doing that quickly and effectively. And so moral of the story is if you want to tell stories, you want to be you know, if you want your college to be really putting out quality stories, you have to start with quality stories, right?

00:15:07:16 - 00:15:28:23

Speaker 1

Like you're making if you're if you're going to make a great meal, you have to start with quality ingredients. Like you have to start with stuff that actually tastes good in the first place. Like, have you ever had like a really good strawberry? And you know the difference because like strawberries are, are they're bred to be to withstand shipment and so they're not bred for flavor.

00:15:29:18 - 00:15:59:01

Speaker 1

But you can totally taste the difference between a strawberry that's just big and fat and, you know, isn't bruised but doesn't really taste like much or a strawberry, maybe that's smaller, but just juicy and sugary and and delicious. You can make two strawberry pies and they would not taste the same. One would be significantly better because you started with better ingredients.

00:15:59:17 - 00:16:34:05

Speaker 1

And so with storytelling, same thing. So three things I want to tell you now. Number one, I have a free gift for you. It's a new resource. It's called three absolutely crucial components every compelling college student testimonial needs. And look, that's an insanely long title. I totally get it. I am told by the Internet that longer headlines do perform better than short ones, so I told them it's a revamped version of my previous storytelling resource, the unendurable college enrollment video.

00:16:34:15 - 00:16:52:11

Speaker 1

But it's aimed more specifically at marketers who want to do testimonials specifically. And it's it's it's a broader story. So like, if you're not trying to make videos, but you do just want to tell stories, like you want to write better emails, you want to give better presentations. It's for you too. I mean, it's got some new stuff in it.

00:16:52:11 - 00:17:16:23

Speaker 1

So, so go to unveil dot TVs, slash student testimonials. Second thing I want to tell you is if storytelling if storytelling is something you want to do more of at your college, we at Unveiled have a unique way of getting that done and making it super easy for you to put out a lot of great video content. We're video focused, lot of great video content every month on autopilot like clockwork.

00:17:17:06 - 00:17:44:07

Speaker 1

It's with our student testimonial subscription. For a flat monthly fee, we'll deliver 1 to 3 minute student success story every month, plus a 32nd cut down of that 15/2 cut down and then eight topical videos. So just extra videos that come from interviewing that student that you can use to promote your school. And this could be a current student, could be alumni, could be a faculty staff member, the janitor, it could be any, you know, any anyone that you want to profile anywhere in the country.

00:17:44:07 - 00:18:06:17

Speaker 1

You can live in Alaska and we'll get this done for you. And the cool thing is, it's not just an investment in these, you know, 12 or so stories. It's an investment in building a library of really quality, cinematic B-roll that you're marketing team can pull from anytime, anywhere on your own. Don't have to use any third party vendors for it.

00:18:06:22 - 00:18:26:17

Speaker 1

It's all yours. We shoot all year long stuff that you can use to market your school and. And we give you all that footage. If you want to learn more about that book, call with with me on our website at Unveiled dot TV. That's you and VII l d that TV you have to spell unveiled wrong or else you're going to get the website run.

00:18:26:21 - 00:18:46:16

Speaker 1

And then number three, would you be so kind as to leave a review for this podcast if you're digging it? That helps us out a lot. And just just know that when you leave a review, you occupy a special place in my heart forever. Unless it's a one star review, then that's not so special. Thank you so much for listening.

00:18:46:16 - 00:21:31:06

Speaker 1

I'm John Oseni and you have been listening to the Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast. Thanks.