John Azoni is the founder of the Higher Ed Storytelling Podcast and Unveild, a video branding agency that helps colleges and universities tell compelling institutional stories.

In this solo episode, John addresses the challenge of top-of-funnel content drought in higher education marketing. He discusses the importance of top-of-funnel content in higher education marketing and strategies for creating engaging video content that resonates with prospective students before they're ready to be sold to.

Key Takeaways:

• Many colleges lack top-of-funnel content that engages audiences without directly selling

• Leadership often struggles to approve budget for content that doesn't have a direct sales component

• Top-of-funnel content helps warm up prospective students before they're ready to consider specific schools

• Marketing drives familiarity, and familiarity drives preference

• Two recommended approaches for short-form videos:

  • "Man on the street" videos asking engaging questions to students

  • Thought leadership content featuring faculty lectures and discussions

• Repurposing existing events and lectures into video content can be an efficient strategy

• Balancing content across different stages of the marketing funnel is crucial

Examples Mentioned:

• Central Michigan University's successful TikTok asking "Where does up north start?"

• Boston University's Valentine's Day video of students calling their partners

• Harvard Business School's viral classroom debate video

• University of Chicago's political discussion video

Strategies for Limited Resources:

• Create "man on the street" videos with engaging questions using just a smartphone

• Film interesting lectures or discussions and break them into shareable snippets

• Look for opportunities to repurpose existing campus events into video content

Takeaway: Investing in top-of-funnel content is crucial for higher ed marketing success, even if it doesn't directly sell the institution. These strategies can help engage potential students earlier in their college search process and build familiarity with your school.

Connect With John:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni

• Website: https://unveild.tv

• Newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter

John Azoni is the founder of the Higher Ed Storytelling Podcast and Unveild, a video branding agency that helps colleges and universities tell compelling institutional stories. In this solo episode, John discusses effective content creation strategies for higher education institutions. He covers several key points:

1. The Podcast Format Change John announces the podcast is moving to an every-other-week release schedule to allow more time to promote each episode. He encourages a "quality over quantity" mindset for content.

2. Upcoming Webinar with Rob Clark of "That Tall Family" John previews an upcoming webinar on June 27th with Rob Clark, the creator behind the popular "That Tall Family" accounts, on mastering short-form video content for higher ed.

3. Who is Your Content For? John emphasizes the importance of creating content that provides widespread benefit beyond just your existing students/alumni. Successful content resonates with and gets spread by a broader audience you want to attract.

4. Treat Your Platform Like a Business For platforms you want to prioritize, treat it like a business by studying what resonates with your audience, iterating, and delivering more of that content. Don't just use it as a hosting shelf.

5. Organic Reach Insights From researching higher ed video content, John found self-promotional "commercials" don't gain much organic traction. More successful are videos that entertain, inform, or cater to niche interests.

6. The "Who is This For?" Mindset Consistently ask yourself who you're creating a piece of content for. Is it genuinely exciting/beneficial for your target audience, or just for existing supporters like alumni?

7. Balance Promotion with Value While some straightforward promotional content is okay, the bulk should provide real value and interest for your desired audience. Experiment to find the right mix.

Key Takeaways:

• Focus content on benefiting your target audience, not just talking about yourself

• Study what content resonates organically and iterate to provide more of that

• Find the right balance of entertainment/information and self-promotion

• Consistently ask "who is this for?" when creating content

Connect With John:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni

• Website: https://unveild.tv

• Newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter

In this episode, Host John Azoni shares many tips for successful relationships with external videographers and as well as building in-house teams.

Key Takeaways:

• Hire good editors who can create a compelling story and vibe that draws viewers in. Editing is where a video can fall apart, so prioritize finding videographers who are skilled editors.

• Look for videographers who are collaborative partners, both creatively and logistically. They should take scheduling and coordination off your plate.

• Request that the videographer provide all the B-roll footage at no extra cost. This is a good sign they want to be a true partner.

• For lower budgets, look for generalist solo videographers used to doing a lot themselves. For bigger budgets and commercials, hire studios with specialized on-set roles.

• When hiring in-house videographers, manage expectations and clearly define priorities. One person can't do it all. Consider outside help for marketing storytelling.

• For small in-house video teams, an efficient duo is a producer/director/camera operator paired with a dedicated editor.

Join the newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter

Connect with John: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni/

On this episode, John Azoni was a guest on the Higher Ed Demand Gen podcast with Shiro Hatori. We talked about telling compelling student testimonials.

Key Takeaways:

• Higher ed provides ample opportunity for meaningful, transformational stories that don't exist in the same way in other contexts

• Strong student testimonials have an arc - an "old normal," a turning point, and a "new normal"

• Getting specific in student stories, especially around the turning point, allows prospects to relate on an emotional level

• Authentically communicating student mental health struggles and support services can be powerful storytelling

• Students crave specific content around day-to-day experience, dorm life, food, "day in the life" videos

• Consider leveraging student-generated content for relatability, not just official marketing videos

• Video length is less important than providing value and "resolving something in the viewer's brain"

• Hook the audience by conveying what they'll learn or how they'll relate vs. just introducing the subject

• Repurposing video content into shorter clips, stills, ads etc. can fuel years of content vs. one-off approach

Your audience sees your content far less than you think - don't be afraid to repurpose frequently

LINKS:

Check out the Higher Ed Demand Gen podcast: https://concept3d.com/higher-ed-demand-gen-podcast/

Check out Concept3D: https://concept3d.com

Today we are sharing with you an episode where host, John Azoni, was a guest on the Enrollify podcast. In this episode hosted by Zach Busekrus we talk about John's journey into storytelling through working with the unhoused population in Detroit, what higher ed gets wrong about storytelling, the Netflix show Love is Blind, and more.

In this solo episode, John talks about the power of using a "side door" approach when creating content that aims to draw audiences into your brand emotionally.

Key takeaways:

Front door content directly states brand values and goals, while side door content focuses more on storytelling.

Side door content takes audiences on a journey that immerses them in the emotions of a brand.

Great examples are Land Rover's video on a remote Nepali village dependent on classic Land Rovers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNXU1IR2LR8), P&G's "Thank You Mom" Olympic campaign focused on parental support (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQoJqDi8490), and Dove's recent anti-beauty filter initiative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EILCgNkv8hM).

Higher ed can also leverage cultural conversations and real-world problems to create content unrelated to recruitment, as seen in Purdue University's widely-viewed "What Can You Imagine?" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuF2WKjUNbc) or the viral story of communication technology developed at UC San Francisco (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTZ2N-HJbwA).

The litmus test: Could your content still stand without mentioning your brand? If so, you may have compelling side door content.

Connect with John:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni

Subscribe to the Higher Ed Storyteller’s Digest newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter

In this solo episode, John explores the true meaning of "storytelling" and how it differs from creative messaging in marketing. He discusses how the term has become diluted in higher ed, with many thinking creative messaging equals storytelling.

Key takeaways:

Marketing teams often claim to be telling stories when they are really just presenting information about their school in a creative, emotional way. This is creative messaging, not actual storytelling.

Actual stories have a narrative arc with plot, characters, and a sequence of events that happens to someone. Listeners imagine the events unfolding. This triggers specific brain chemistry related to empathy.

Creative messaging can still be impactful, but it does not provide the same emotional transportation and brand imprinting as a compelling narrative story.

We need to be careful about using “storytelling” loosely. Ask what someone means when they say they want to tell better stories. Do they want narrative storytelling? Or enhanced messaging?

Stories make sense for top-of-funnel brand awareness. Further down the funnel, creative info may be more relevant. Know when a story is appropriate.

Language evolves over time. “Storytelling” is used more loosely now in marketing. But we should still preserve the distinction between stories and messaging.

Connect with John:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnazoni

Learn more about UNVEILD: https://unveild.tv

Join The Newsletter: https://unveild.tv/newsletter