While the Backstory project was developed to showcase authentic student journeys, its potential extends far beyond one campus. Originally designed for a single business school, the approach offers valuable lessons for any college, university, or organization striving to build more meaningful connections through content. The idea behind Backstory, building strategy around real stories, amplifying authentic voices, and connecting every channel with one clear message, can reshape how institutions and marketers share their value. Whether you’re recruiting students, engaging alumni, or building a brand, this framework demonstrates that great storytelling isn’t about producing more content; it’s about creating connected content that resonates.
When the University of Pittsburgh's School of Business asked me to help attract students to their programs, I faced a familiar challenge: how do you cut through the noise in the crowded higher education marketplace? The answer wasn't in creating more content; it was in creating connected content that told one cohesive story across every touchpoint.
The result was a recruitment campaign that not only met enrollment quotas but earned two national awards and fundamentally changed how we approach content creation in our marketing office. Here's what I learned about building integrated content campaigns that actually work.
Start With Strategy, Not Tactics
Too often, content creation begins with the question: "What should we post on Instagram this week?" This backwards approach leads to disconnected content that confuses rather than converts your audience.
Pitt Business Backstory began with a fundamental insight about human behavior: everyone has told the story of their transition from high school to college repeatedly throughout their lives. This story gets retold differently each time, yet it remains central to personal identity. The journey from high school to college is a universal narrative that people return to again and again.
We realized that prospective undergraduate students weren't just choosing a degree; they were choosing their next chapter in life. They needed to see themselves in the story before they could commit to being part of it. More importantly, they needed to see how students like them navigated the same transitions they were facing.
This insight became our strategic foundation: showcase authentic student stories that revealed the transformations happening at Pitt Business. Every piece of content we created would stem from this core narrative strategy.
Listen to How Students Tell Stories
Before creating anything, we studied how our audience naturally consumed and shared stories. Students listen for five key elements: whether the speaker is interesting, points of relatability, familiarity, feeling, and change. They tell stories with intention, depth of feeling, power, creativity, and speed. And critically, they share stories visually, quickly, dynamically, broadly, and personally.
This understanding shaped everything we built. We weren't creating content for students; we were creating a platform where students could tell their own stories in their own voices, using their own content.
One Story, Many Expressions
The beauty of a strong content strategy is that it provides a framework for infinite executions. Our "backstory" concept could adapt to any channel while maintaining message consistency.
On the website, we built an immersive storytelling hub structured around a simple three-part narrative: Part One covered senior year of high school, Part Two explored the college decision and first-year experience, and Part Three chronicled study abroad experiences, internships, and graduation. Each student narrative unfolded through text, video, and interactive elements. These weren't superficial testimonials; they were substantive profiles exploring why students chose Pitt Business, how they navigated their programs, and where they were headed next.
In paid advertising, we extracted compelling quotes and key moments from these stories, creating Google search and display campaigns that spoke directly to prospect pain points. When someone searched "business degree Pittsburgh," they encountered a real student's story about discovering their passion for entrepreneurship or navigating their first internship.
Through email marketing, we used Salesforce Marketing Cloud to create multi-layered journeys. Geographic targeting meant a prospect interested in finance saw stories from finance BSBA students, while someone exploring marketing received relevant narratives. Each email didn't just share a story; it invited recipients deeper into the Pitt Business experience.
On social media, we transformed long-form narratives into snackable content: quote graphics, behind-the-scenes photos, short video clips. We serialized stories across multiple posts, adding dimension to our social presence. Different stories could be told on different platforms, and different aspects of the same story could be revealed in ways best suited to each medium.
But unlike random social posts, each piece connected back to the complete story on our website.
The Technical Execution Matters
Creating content is one thing. Creating content that performs across channels requires attention to technical details that many creatives overlook.
We developed a comprehensive asset library for each featured student: professional photography, multiple video formats (vertical for social, horizontal for web, square for paid ads), pull quotes formatted for various aspect ratios, and written narratives in three lengths (50 words, 150 words, 500+ words).
This upfront investment in production allowed us to deploy content efficiently. When we launched a new story, we could simultaneously update the website, schedule social posts, trigger email journeys, and activate paid campaigns, all drawing from the same asset pool but optimized for each platform's requirements.
Authenticity Above Everything
The content creation process prioritized student voice over production quality. Students curated their own images from their phones and social media. We didn't alter, re-crop, or manipulate these images beyond basic formatting. The images needed to be real and authentic, even if they weren't technically perfect.
Why? Because when viewers see stories told through images the student storyteller selects, they need to be so real that the viewer relives their own experiences. Polished stock photography can't accomplish this. Only authentic, unfiltered moments can trigger that emotional connection.
Similarly, students wrote their own stories in their own voices. We edited for clarity and structure, but we never changed the fundamental voice or perspective. This authenticity extended to how we acknowledged the people who influenced these students; teachers, guidance counselors, coaches, and mentors were named and celebrated. This "pride by proxy" strategy meant influencers shared stories featuring their students, dramatically extending our organic reach.
Measurement Beyond Vanity Metrics
The real power of integrated content creation reveals itself in the analytics. We didn't just track website visits or social engagement in isolation; we mapped the complete prospect journey.
Our marketing analytics framework showed us that prospects typically encountered our content three to seven times before applying. A Google ad might drive the first touchpoint. An email featuring a relevant student story deepened engagement. A social media post reminded them we existed. Finally, returning directly to our website, they'd explore multiple stories before submitting an application.
This understanding transformed how we allocated budget and created content. We stopped asking "which channel performs best?" and started asking "how do our channels work together?"
Content as Recruitment Strategy
One of the most powerful aspects of Backstory was how it functioned beyond simple awareness building. By identifying where featured students came from and celebrating their high schools and hometowns, we created opportunities for relationship building.
A single Backstory entry could speak to parents, influencers, siblings, family, neighbors, schools, and communities. As a recruitment tool, it allowed our associate dean to advise business-related programming at featured high schools, develop extracurricular business programs, guest lecture, provide mentorship, offer resources, and develop direct high school-to-university pipelines. All through a single story.
We also created content variations that told different aspects of the same story in slightly different ways. A Study Abroad-focused version of the Backstory template used the same visual language and structure but emphasized global experiences. This model modification allowed us to create new conversations within the same story world, maintaining brand consistency while addressing different prospect interests.
Lessons for Integrated Marketers
First, invest time in strategy before production. The clearer your core message is, the easier it becomes to adapt content across channels. Pitt Business Backstory worked because we knew exactly what story we were telling; everything else was execution.
Second, think in systems, not individual pieces. Every content asset you create should serve multiple purposes across multiple platforms. This isn't about efficiency alone; it's about message reinforcement. When prospects encounter consistent stories across their journey, trust builds faster.
Third, optimize for each platform without compromising the core narrative. A 60-second Instagram video and a 2,000-word website article can tell the same story differently. Understanding platform-specific best practices isn't about dumbing down content; it's about meeting audiences where they are with what they need. Serialize stories across social media. Use unaltered candids and dynamic images. Incorporate authentic, improvised video in quick bites. Format content appropriately for each platform.
Fourth, prioritize authenticity over polish. Students know their idealized self-concept best. They curate their own content and write their story their way. Let them. More students than ever are competing for work and looking to stand out. Their stories must maintain authenticity by being told in their own voice with their own content.
Finally, measure the journey, not just the destination. Attribution modeling and comprehensive analytics frameworks reveal how content actually influences decisions. Most marketing doesn't convert on first touch; it builds awareness, consideration, and preference over time.
Your Turn
As you develop integrated marketing campaigns in your careers, remember this: content creation isn't about filling channels with noise. It's about crafting strategic narratives that connect across every touchpoint your audience encounters.
The Backstory formula combines engaging and diverse student subjects, captivating visual aesthetics with variety, elegant and simple user experience, serialized social media and email-based distribution, and comprehensive backend data capture to create perpetual original, creative, and fresh storytelling.
The campaign succeeded because we created a system where every piece of content worked together to tell one compelling story. We built a framework where strategy informed creative, where creative fed analytics, and where analytics refined strategy in a continuous cycle of improvement.
That's the discipline of integrated marketing communications. That's the difference between content creation and content strategy. And that's exactly what today's marketing landscape demands from professionals who want to drive real results.
Your challenge now is to take these principles and apply them to whatever industry, audience, or objective you encounter. The channels will change. The platforms will evolve. But the fundamental truth remains: great content creation starts with great strategy, executes with respect for authentic voice, and proves its value through measurable impact across interconnected touchpoints.
Be inclusive. Understand the heartbeat of the stories you tell. Keep parts short and sweet. Use authentic visuals that tell more than words can. Tell stories in parsed segments across platforms, formatting appropriately for each. And remember: if you're not having fun creating the content, your audience won't have fun consuming it.
Make every piece of content count. Make every channel connect.
Make your story impossible to ignore.