As a business school or university, students are integral to the existence of your institution. After all, what is a school without the individuals who want to learn?
To ensure you are getting students through the door who you can teach and support to become the best thinkers, leaders, and doers of tomorrow, you need to make sure application numbers are filling classrooms. The competition to attract students can be fierce, and institutions must implement strategic efforts to ensure they continue to receive high-quality applications from prospective students.
A strong and dynamic PR strategy can make a significant difference in shaping the perception of your institution and what your institution can offer. Focusing on boosting applications should be incorporated into your PR strategy even over ‘quieter’ periods, such as the holidays.
There are a number of approaches you can take to encourage student applications, one such being sharing alumni success stories. But which stories should you use and when?
Success stories should be exactly that – stories that demonstrate the success alumni have achieved since graduating: The MBA graduate who went on to establish their own start-up or the Master’s graduate who quickly rose through the ranks at a well-known global firm, thanks to skills gained from their course. These stories serve as real-life testimonials that demonstrate the value of your programmes, calibre of your teaching staff, and the opportunities available to graduates.
The specific success stories you choose to use in PR and media work will depend on where exactly you want to boost application numbers.
Align with goals
When selecting alumni success stories, it’s crucial to align them with your institution’s strategic goals:
- What programmes need an applications boost?
- Are there specific demographics you are interested in attracting?
- Is there a particular industry or sector you want to reach?
Answering these questions will ensure you are selecting the right success stories to have the right effect.
Let’s take a closer at the specific types of success stories you can choose based on intended goals:
Gender balance
Having a good gender balance on programmes isn’t just beneficial for students, promoting diversity of thinking and experiences, and ensuring female voices are heard in male-dominated sectors (or male voices in female-dominated subjects). Some business and higher education rankings also consider gender balance and diversity in their methodology, such as Times Higher Education and Financial Times rankings.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that female applicants to your MBA programme have been declining and you want to rebalance the gender ratio. In this case, you’d want to promote the success stories of female MBA graduates, highlighting how the skills and knowledge they have learnt from their course have helped them in their career. This provides potential female applicants an example of the success they could also achieve through choosing your specific institution.
Specialised courses
Some courses will be tailored toward individuals involved in specific lines of work, particularly relevant for certain specialised courses. For example, if you have Master programmes specialised for management in healthcare, you will want to specifically target those working in that sector or those interested in doing so. In this instance, the success story you select should be from previous healthcare specialists who have graduate from the course, e.g., an experienced doctor who graduated from your course and the management and leadership skills they developed.
This example is of course specific to healthcare, but can be applied to other specialised courses, depending on the professional sector you are looking to boost applications from, whether finance, engineering, technology, etc.
Diverse classrooms
Diverse classes filled with students from all around the world enrich the learning experience, and allow students to challenge their own ways of thinking and doing. This can also help position your institution as not just a top school in your country, but a place students consider for their studies around the world.
If your classes aren’t looking very global, you might want to boost applications from different countries. If you are lucky enough to have had some successful graduates from those countries already, they can be the perfect choice for exemplifying how studying at your institution can benefit future international students from that particular country.
You must then ensure the success stories you have chosen are featured in the right media outlets that reach your chosen target population. If you want to boost applications from South America, there’s not much point in pitching your success story to outlets in Asia.
Be interesting
The more standout the story, the better.
Tell the story of the woman who travelled half-way across the globe to study their dream subject so they could develop the skills to found their own company. Or the young man studying remotely from Afghanistan, using their skills to develop and support women’s education in the region. Or the graduate who founded an app so successful he’s just expanded internationally for the first time. All of these graduates could speak on how studying at your institution allowed them to attain their goals, and achieve success.
No matter your specific goal when it comes to boosting applications, success stories should:
- Have a narrative showcasing where your alumni came from and where they are now
- Demonstrate tangible achievements
- Offer an emotional connection with authentic struggles, experiences, and triumphs
- Have a strong tie to your institution
Not every graduate will have a story that lands them on the front page of TIME magazine. But every school will have successful graduates with stories to tell that can reach the right audience and inspire potential students to submit an application.
Want to find out more about how we can help leverage your alumni success stories to boost applications? Get in touch today!
Kyle is experienced in working with leading institutions in far-flung corners of the globe, from London to Kazakhstan. His client list features the likes of the London School of Economics’ Department of Management, ESMT Berlin, BI Norwegian Business School, Nazarbayev University, and many more around the globe.
