Maximizing the Impact of Alumni Profiles
- Jessica Smith
- Aug 22, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 23, 2024
A well-developed alumni profile can be the Swiss Army Knife of your content marketing tool kit.
Writing profiles is one of my favorite assignments. I relish not only interviewing people from different walks of life and learning what makes them tick, but also the strategy of crafting an authentic narrative that supports so many essential functions.
In higher education, a well-developed alumni profile has the potential to support:
Advancement: capture an emotional connection to the institution and re-connect alumni with its mission.
Marketing: inspire future and current students to consider and explore new paths.
Reputation: celebrate not only the individual’s accomplishments but also the excellence of the people that contributed to their success.
Career Development: promote early- and mid-career rising stars and help propel them to their next step.
Inclusion: shine a spotlight on a wide range of community members, including historically under-represented voices, and contribute to an environment that is welcoming to all.
Key to maximizing your return is an inclusive content creation and distribution process that seeks to create value at every point in the funnel—from awareness through recruitment, enrollment and alumni engagement—and allows for customized derivatives that serve different audiences and business goals. These might include:
magazine features
program testimonials for brochures and digital recruitment materials
hero images for program pages
e-newsletter spotlights
digital and print advertisements
tailored CTAs for different social channels
career fair content
By inviting input and keeping the different use cases in mind from the start, you can produce a piece that includes a rich variety of content for your teams to work with.
Here’s a selection of profiles I had the pleasure of writing this year. How many potential audiences and opportunities to support different essential functions can you identify in each? Hint: most could support at least three.
The veteran human resources executive turned social entrepreneur shares her philosophy on life, work and the transformative power of positivity.
The late professor was instrumental in shaping citizenship curriculum and impacted thousands of students in his more than 40 years on the faculty.
Zoe Tatum Best strives to make the most of every opportunity.
Five exceptional alumni and a milestone anniversary will be celebrated during an upcoming event in the heart of the nation.
Is your content planning and storytelling aligned across essential business functions—or are you writing in silos?
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