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The stories waiting to be told are your most valuable asset The world’s sharpest companies are scrambling to hire people who can do what your institution already has the raw material for. EDUNAKHO has been connecting these storytellers with the medium best placed to reach their peers for over a decade. We work closely with the likes of Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Harvard Business School, UC Berkeley Haas, the University of St Gallen, Rotterdam School of Management, Chicago Booth, the University of Cambridge, CEIBS, HEC Paris, EDHEC, ESSEC, plus many more around the globe. On the MBATUBE platform, expert video teams capture the stories of current students, alumni, faculty, deans and directors who can tell their stories from anywhere in the world. On MBAGRADSCHOOLS.com, live interviews are transformed into inclusive, immersive and inspirational windows into the living heart of an institution. This creates third-party evidence of a school’s story without the marketing spin – storytelling in its purest form. The students who chose your institution, who struggled and grew and went on to do remarkable things; their stories are waiting to be told. In a market drowning in AI‑generated mediocrity, human truth is your most powerful differentiator. The secret weapon in higher education marketing isn’t a new platform or a bigger budget. It’s the stories you haven’t told yet. EDUNAKHO can help your students tell your story.
• What keywords should you rank for organically? • Which candidates in your recruitment funnel are not addressed with your current content? • What candidate questions (and therefore LLMs) are you not answering right now? Build a story bank • Proactively collect testimonials, video stories and case studies across every school, course and student demographic (especially alumni), not just at graduation • Determine what can be accomplished internally. Where do you need external support? • House all great content on one platform – make it easy to browse, store and share Empower student content creators • Give students the tools and trust to tell their own stories on the channels they already use • Create editorial content and short-form video for students to share and create channels for them to be creative and tell your story for you Measure what matters • Engagement depth, not just reach; are the right students stopping, watching and enquiring? • Measure success in influence and trust, not just clicks and conversions • Take a wider look at your mentions across the internet: AI citations, LinkedIn shares, time on page and visitors to your YouTube channel • Clicks on branded content and traditional reach no longer tell the full story; look further • A holistic approach to brand engagement across all sources takes the user from visibility to familiarity to preference
The institutions that will stand out are those that invest in finding, curating and amplifying those specific human stories, resisting the temptation to sand them down into brand‑safe blandness. Making it actionable: where to start There are some practical steps Higher Ed marketers can take immediately. Audit your current content library • How much of it features your institutional voice vs student/alumni voice? • Are you checking in with your alumni around the world? • Do you capture their success stories? Map stories to funnel stages • Top of funnel: Aspirational content for early brand awareness - make SEO-aligned stories that answer informational search intent, such as Reasons to study in x country • Middle of funnel: Inspire with specificity and practical programme outcomes for further consideration, eg The ROI on an MBA in 2026 for later-stage conversion. Highlight career outcomes, industry opportunities and thematic expertise • Bottom of funnel: Give practical reassurance and create urgency to incite decision or conversion. Highlight examples of exceptional career support, high post-graduate salaries and well-matched employment, as illustrated through success stories
Use your audit to find content gaps • What content is missing in each voice?
Author
Vanya Maplestone Vanya is the Editor in Chief at EDUNAKHO. She believes storytelling is the most powerful tool in a marketer’s kit. Let her tell your story: editor@edunakho.com
Ambition • ISSUE 3 • 2026 17
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