From new products and services to fresh approaches to old problems, entrepreneurs are often the force behind innovation and cultural change. Whether for good or bad, entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Billy Ingram & Walter Anderson, Henry Ford, and Steve Jobs have had global cultural impacts.
Incredibly, roughly 90% of startups fail. If 90% of people left a restaurant unhappy, we’d all stop going. If 90% of emails got lost, we’d all go back to sending letters. If 90% of parachutes failed to open, we’d rethink skydiving.
And yet, business school students, participants and candidates, resilient as they are, are continuously drawn to founding their own start-ups and becoming their own bosses.
Entrepreneurship can be at the heart of a business school. Often, business schools will have many examples of student startups they can pull from, and using these stories can be of great advantage to your PR... Why let these stories go to waste!?
What student-led start-ups can do for your PR
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Showcasing your focus on innovation and entrepreneurship
Promoting student-led start-ups as a central element of your business school’s culture demonstrates a proactive approach to education that goes beyond traditional studying and academia. Start-up culture is central to innovation, and engaging with student start-ups that exist in your business school highlights your part in that.
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Building your school’s reputation
In showcasing them, you then start to build or reinforce your business school’s reputation in this space. By cultivating and promoting a culture of entrepreneurship, schools can differentiate themselves from competitors and build a stronger, more dynamic public image. Building a reputation based on entrepreneurship, innovation, and enterprise is a long-term task, but will repay itself if successful, such as through increased media attention, as journalists begin to recognise your business school as a key resource and hub for entrepreneurial insights.
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Attracting prospective students and engaging with students.
A school’s reputation is critical for attracting top talent and resources, and active engagement with current and prospective students is crucial for sustaining and growing your student body. Promoting a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem can be a significant draw for both demographics. Prospective students want to see how they will be implementing their learnings in practice, and promoting success stories provides tangible examples of the type of education you’re providing and ROI your students are receiving. We’ve got so much more to say about using PR to boost your student recruitment...
How to go about this?
Your public relations strategy can be varied, and you may want to use your students across different mediums.
Pitching individual stories
For one, you may want to pitch out the stories of your entrepreneurs individually, focusing on their personal story, the business they’ve set up, how your school may have supported them, and how they are getting on. Curious about mastering the perfect pitch? We’ve got you covered.
We had the pleasure of collaborating with Maternia, an inspiring startup founded by three students from Vlerick Business School. Maternia is dedicated to developing affordable, low-tech devices that can monitor the heartbeat of unborn babies, allowing expectant parents to check their baby’s health without needing to visit a hospital. This innovation is especially crucial for developing countries facing high rates of stillbirth, offering a transformative solution.
Maternia’s compelling story led to their founders being featured in Study International, where the article highlighted their backgrounds and mission. This exposure not only garnered additional media attention for Maternia but also enhanced visibility for Vlerick Business School, and the increased media presence translated into a highly engaged response on LinkedIn, benefiting both Maternia and Vlerick. The school actively shares coverage of Maternia on their website and social media channels, showcasing the success of their students’ startup and reinforcing Vlerick's reputation for fostering entrepreneurial talent.
Group pitches
Worried that a single example might not be compelling enough? Don’t be. You might discover that there's strength in numbers. By grouping entrepreneurs from your business school, or even collaborating with entrepreneurs from other schools, you can craft a more powerful narrative. They could illustrate a significant trend in entrepreneurship or embody a movement of innovators challenging the status quo. While individually they might not attract significant PR attention, collectively, they can create a valuable story.
For instance, we successfully secured coverage for several women-led startups in Forbes for International Women’s Day. These startups, consisting of both students and alumni, demonstrate how combining efforts can achieve significant recognition. Similarly, your student startups can benefit from such coverage. Each startup’s exposure generates media attention (and often backlinks) that will provide long-term visibility.
Overall, highlighting student-led startups in your business school's PR showcases innovation, enhances reputation, and attracts top talent and engagement. If you want to learn more about how we can help you achieve your PR goals, contact BlueSky Education today.
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Having studied at top institutions including Sciences Po, City University of Hong Kong, Oxford Brookes University, KIMEP University and having completed his Masters at the University of St Andrews, Alex’s insider knowledge means that he genuinely understands the inner workings of universities and higher education institutions. Alex has won awards for his academic writing and is fluent in both English and French, and proficient in Spanish.
