How Higher Ed Can Leverage Storytelling

Man is a storytelling animal. He is a teller of stories that aspire to truth.

—Alasdair Macintyre

The Hidden Stories Within

I was once talking with a client who had a particular marketing challenge for her institution.  She was working on a particular degree program that needed more students and was unsure about the approach to messaging and how that would translate to social media, the website, digital ads, and otherwise.  I asked her to tell me more about the program.

“We have these talented students who have sort of stumbled into it and really thrived once they’re enrolled.  One particular student, a young woman, found herself in the program after a friend shared it on Instagram.  She’d never considered the field but was intrigued and even though it was a bit daunting in the beginning for her, managed to find traction after only a few weeks.  Because we have this alignment with (a prominent employer), she had an internship after only her first semester and ultimately landed a full-time job with them once she graduated.  She’s a single mom and the benefits package alone has been life-changing for her.”  

My client wondered where she could find more student just like her.  “How’s it working out for the employer?” I inquired, sort of knowing the answer before I asked the question.  “They love it,” my client responded.  “They are asking for a pipeline of strong candidates with these specific skills we’re offering.  They have a new business unit that is just getting off the ground and they need to fill not only the initial roles but the managerial positions required for the next phase.  The county also loves it because there are paying incentives to [the employer] to create and keep the jobs here in town.  We just need more students.”

As I reflected on the marketing challenges in the context of what my client had just shared, the answer was fairly evident.  The website promoting the program sure enough shared the enrollment requirements and sample coursework in some tidy bullet points.  There were some nice photos of students engaged in a classroom setting as well as some quotes from graduates.  But there was something missing.  That something was the story.  My client had the stories but she just hadn’t decided to tell them yet.  A huge opportunity was before her.

The Science Behind Storytelling

When we think about the word storytelling, it harkens back to our childhood, when a parent, grandparent, or other adult in our lives entertained or taught us through stories. We don’t often associate storytelling with strategic marketing, but think about it the next time you catch yourself listening to a story that a friend or loved one is telling you. It feels different—either engaging, intimate, or otherwise emotional. 

For those reasons, there is a nostalgia—an ingrained positive feeling—associated with stories. Consider that the next time a friend or loved one begins a sentence with “I have to tell you a story.” Better yet, notice how engaged you become when a speaker at a podium leads with a story. If you’re like me, you will notice that it gets your juices flowing a bit more than facts or an ill-timed joke.

But science has gone further to give us a glimpse of how and why stories are such powerful communication devices. By measuring and analyzing brain activity, researchers have proven that we process facts and stories quite differently. For example, when someone tells a story about a concept and someone else recites facts, your brain handles the information differently and even uses different parts of the brain to do so. When one person tells a story to another, part of the phenomenon that occurs is the production of a chemical in the brain called oxytocin, the same substance that materializes when we are trusted and shown kindness. When we tell stories, we engender intimacy, trust, and positive feelings.

Beyond good feelings, we build true connections with others. Brain wave activity research by Princeton professor and neuroscientist Uri Hasson has proven that the brains of both the storyteller and listener actually “sync” during a story. “By simply telling a story,” Professor Hasson explains, “[a storyteller] can actually plant ideas, thoughts, and emotions into the listeners’ brains.”

A further, yet perhaps most important, effect of storytelling has to do with deep and profound recall. Listeners remember stories better than they do facts. While facts on a PowerPoint slide or handout are certainly clear and understandable, they’re tough for us to memorize or recall. Because storytelling activates a different part of our brains and a seemingly separate processing methodology, “great stories are easily recalled, due to the power of their sensory associations,” according to Johns Hopkins researcher and neuroscientist Robert Snyder. In other words, if you want someone to remember something more easily, package your point within a story.

Storytelling as a Marketing Device

Growing up, one of my favorite times of the year was when my maternal grandmother would visit us during the holidays. Before bed, she would always get the kids together and tell us stories. My siblings and I would hang on every word. There were stories of cops and robbers, ghost stories, and even a story about a school of porpoises saving her from a shark. To this day, more than thirty years later, I still remember many of them.

Stories can be fictional and stories can be factual. Either way, they’re powerful. Stories and oral tradition are how our cultures and societies have formed—long before pencil and paper, and certainly long before TikTok. Without story, we would have very little history.

Steve Jobs knew this. When asked to give a commencement address to the graduating class at Stanford University, he did it by simply telling three stories. If you haven’t already, you should watch his speech on YouTube. Trust me when I tell you that it’s worth your time.

Aside from the anecdotal evidence, research supports the notion that authentic storytelling (not my grandmother’s variety) helps consumers feel closer to a brand. According to research highlighted in Psychology Today, buyers prefer emotion to data and respond in greater magnitude in this respect. Said differently, stories about facts are more powerful than facts alone.

One example that comes to mind comes from a household name we all know well:  Fedex.  Fedex is known for some cool ads that are humorous, informative, and reinforcing.  Their partnership with the Professional Golf Association (PGA) in the form of its championship series, the Fedex Cup, comes with an abundance of media slots that keep their messages in front of weekend television viewers.  One tool that Fedex has used in these media slots is that of story.  

In their Tall Tales of True Deliveries series, Fedex has moved from simply advertising to storytelling.  In one installment of this series, one of their drivers tells a story (set as a background track to a unique animated sequence) of making a routine delivery to a residence near the water.  When he goes to leisurely drop off the package he notices a handwritten sign on the door asking the delivery driver to bring the box to the nearby beach because a wedding was about to occur.   The driver, as it turns out, was holding the wedding rings in his the Fedex box in his hands.  The sequence then takes a superhero-like turn when the driver hustles to the beach with the package and delivers the package just in time.  The wedding went off without a hitch.

As a marketer, Fedex could very easily just put these facets on a web page or in a brochure and call it a day: “Fedex goes the extra mile for its customers.” But that would be lazy and boring, and it would look just like all its competitors. In this campaign, the company says very little about itself—about how it is committed to customer service or making sure the job is done well. It simply tells stories that reflect these attributes and leave it to the customers to decide for themselves.

What’s Your Story?

Your university’s brand undoubtedly has stories to tell. And in order to connect, build goodwill, and foster memorability, a higher education marketer can learn what they are and decide how tell them.

Telling a story doesn’t imply that the message is fictional—although many great stories are. Story simply involves communicating something that happened in a way that is interesting, exciting, and engaging. Great stories often have common structure and elements. As you contemplate your brand’s stories, you can leverage these components to ensure that your story truly resonates with the listener. While no two stories have the exact same structure, some of those common elements are as follows:

Setting—To tell a story that resonates, you have to set the stage. The content of your story is important, but the setting provides context, which helps to frame and shape your story’s events and message. As you begin to describe your story, shape the scene so listeners can relate. Tell us where the story takes place, what the weather was like, and the time and era with respect to historical events. Explain the mood of the environment and other general details to help listeners visualize and truly understand the backdrop.

Characters—Great stories have character profiles that are interesting, developed, and multidimensional. Think about and illuminate characters by describing personality, physical appearance, tendencies, histories, and anything else that makes them unique. Characters represent people, and listeners connect and bond unknowingly with them. Also, we often find ourselves rooting for or against particular characters, based on their dispositions or their relationships with us.

Conflict—Stories that resonate with us have characters or circumstances that create drama, tension, or a sense that diametric forces are colliding. The conflict itself can also generate an emotional feeling within us when we listen to it unfold. Conflict can make us bury our faces in our hands, jump in our seats, or cringe and look away. That emotional reaction creates a feeling within us that is hard to forget and often makes the stories memorable. Your story should describe the conflict(s) you or your customers have faced.

Connection—A brand story with impact also connects with the audience. This element helps the listener to empathize, because he or she can insert him- or herself into the storyline in some way. Connection is “the bridge between the audience and your organization,” according to nonprofit storytelling expert Christopher Davenport, author of Nonprofit Storytelling for Board Members. He encourages nonprofits to appeal to listener desires for things like “a clean environment to live in, safe neighborhoods, loving, families,” etc. “When we engage the audience on basic levels, they are saying, ‘I have that same want/desire/need.’”

Memorable moments—Great stories that we remember or find ourselves repeating often have aspects or dynamics that are funny, scary, or fantastic in some way. These can be funny quotes, odd behavior, or unbelievable circumstances. Nike founder Phil Knight described how his partner and Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman used to experiment with soles of shoes by pouring liquid rubber into his wife’s waffle iron to create the patterns he envisioned. Farmers Insurance tells true stories of claims they have received and satisfied that are truly remarkable. Its “hall of claims” features a homeowner who improperly installed a water heater, which became so pressurized, it rocketed through the roof and landed on a car parked in front of the home. If your story had some incredible details, make sure they are recorded and included.

Vulnerability—As you think about telling a story about your brand, you will likely feel compelled to describe characters and events in a positive light. After all, you want listeners to think positively about your brand and see it as a hero and a victor. While this is certainly natural, it is key that you convey an air of vulnerability, so you properly frame a success or triumph. Every Rocky movie, for example, features a victory at the end, but only after a series of prior failures on the part of the protagonist. Vulnerability is not weakness or fallibility—it’s a way to make a story genuine. In the words of storytelling expert and genre advocate Catherine Burns, “the number one quality of great storytellers is their willingness to be vulnerable, their ability to tell on themselves.”

These and other elements can help you form good stories that truly connect and help your message to travel. You can choose to tell all types of stories about your institution. For starters, tell the stories of your students reflective of your mission, values, and positioning.  Share and reinforce stories that speak to the heart of your right-fit-students. You can also tell stories about the employers that hire your students and the triumphs in partnership with you. They speak to the outcomes that prospective students are so interested in and examining so closely as they contemplate your school’s value proposition.

One of the best ways to communicate what’s at the core of your brand—to describe the engine that drives you—is by telling stories. Stories can come in all forms and facets, make you laugh or bring you to tears, and communicate why it is you do what you do. And thriving institutions collect and repeat stories to others to showcase what they do and why they do it in ways that build connections with prospective students, help them remember, and position them to tell others. So tell your story truthfully and layer in some vulnerability to make it stick. You’ll soon discover that the stories you tell can have far more impact than the cleverest of ads.