University Marketing and Communications

How to gather Exceptional student/faculty testimonials

Content

  • Pre-screen students and faculty to find the best stories.
    • Choose a universal story that will resonate with the most people.
    • What are you trying to market? Research? Supportive faculty? Choose a story that illustrates that.
    • Show diversity.
  • Interview the subject.
    • You may want to give them the questions ahead of time.
    • Face-to-face interviews are optimal. Phone conversations are next best. Emails are a last resort. You get better responses when there’s conversation. It also allows you to immediately resolve unclear responses or ask follow ups.
    • Ask open-ended questions, not yes-or-no questions.
    • Get more material than you think you need. You can always re-purpose it.
    • Be sure to gather demographic information: name, major, year of intended graduation, title, etc.
  • Choose the best quote to illustrate your point.
    • When you’re using quotes for marketing purposes, it’s OK to string together quotes from different parts of your conversation and clean up grammar. People rarely talk in a linear fashion. You want to be as true to the actual words that the subject used as possible though.

 Testimonial examples

  • “Not only does UToledo’s engineering program give you field experience that sets you apart from graduates of other schools, but their medical program allows a fast track into medical school. They also offered generous scholarships that helped make me feel welcome even though I was coming from a different state.” 

  • "My time at UToledo has helped me to determine my path in life. Specifically, during my first years at UToledo, while enrolled in one of Dr. Todd Crail’s courses, I came to truly love and appreciate native plants. Since then, I have worked to implement as many native plants as possible into my own gardens."

  • “'It felt like The University of Toledo was going to support all aspects of my life. Faculty were able to understand that grad school is really important and being a graduate student is a big part of my life, but it’s not everything,' she said. 'I am a person who has many different priorities and responsibilities outside of being a student, and thankfully, my faculty were able to understand that and support me.'"

Photography

Last Updated: 7/15/24