Recruiting new students, faculty or staff requires strong public relations methods and a university promotional video delivers a range of benefits. A promotional video for your school offers a powerful medium for developing a strong marketing message. While each school’s approach to video will differ, several common factors go into creating a successful video and Route 3 Films can make the process fun and stress-free!
The Advantages of University Promotional Video
Video delivers the benefits of both audio and video to create a story. The medium allows institutions of higher education to convey a school’s energy and pride. At minimum, a school can outline the advantages offered by its campus, programs and faculty.
University promotional video provides a quick and engaging method to convey a lot of information. The use of real people in documentary-style interviews convey real world experiences. Strong interview content cleverly edited with cinematic shots of a campus make video an information packed and attractive medium.
Promotional video improves the recognition of a university’s brand and helps promote trust and confidence in the school’s reputation.
Finally, universities can combine promotional video with other video resources like Glide-cam tours of specific buildings and facilities to provide a well-rounded presentation for prospective students, faculty or staff.
Key Components of Effective University Promotional Video
The successful promotional video in higher education requires clean execution of several components. Administrators should avoid focusing on what interests them and construct a message that speaks to prospective students, faculty or staff.
School administrators should never exclude the student experience when developing a university promotional video. Because the audience is prospective students, using current students and their experiences in each video helps communicate the school’s mission from the student’s perspective.
At minimum, videos designed to attract new students should include information on campus life, academics and the university experience. The most successful videos anticipate prospective student questions and answer them in a creative way.
Successful videos also deliver a straightforward and factual look at how current students are faring at the school. In addition, the videos and supporting resources deliver a wealth of information that helps students and their parents select an appropriate school or program.
For example, some schools choose to mix interesting music, student testimonials and school facts. Videos also include historical accounts of the school, how the school’s location supports specific programs and extracurricular activities. Ultimately, the goal of the university promotional video is to assist a prospective student with visualizing how they fit in.
Finally, universities can supplement promotional videos with additional resources. For example, videos for specific programs can work together with microsites that provide additional detail and information. As well as extended interviews with professors and students that gave a great interview.
Creating a University Promotional Video
While some schools have the on-campus resources to produce in-house videos—including audio/visual departments or film students—many benefit from professional video services. Video service companies provide everything required to create compelling video, including pre- and post-production service, trained staff and cutting-edge equipment.
Education administrators should consider the tone of the video. The video can range from inspirational piece, to a factual or even a unique and creative tone. The quality of the production delivers a tailored “feel” to the video. Finally, deciding on scripted or unscripted interviews and interactions determines the authenticity of the production.
Other considerations include narrated, testimonial or “talking head” genres. Choosing the appropriate combination of production styles determines how the audience perceives the video and affects the university’s message.
Promotional videos provide institutions of higher education a solid method for recruiting students and talent. Combined with other resources, video delivers a strong source of information about campus life, history and academics. Designing a video campaign is a fun and interesting process and a professional production company can make it simple. Institutions of higher education should consider university promotional video for their marketing, recruitment and information delivery methods.