The best brands engage their audiences with stories. Not “once-upon-a-time” stories, but stories that are personal and relatable. Stories that demonstrate how their brand products will solve your problem, make your life better, or, at the very least, prevent it from getting worse!

NSU brand storytelling should:

  • Clearly establish what our brand is all about – our purpose, core values, and mission.
  • Make a human connection that is both personal and widely relatable.
  • Be honest, concrete, and easy to understand.
  • Offer our audience more than just a tangible conclusion (a diploma or certificate), but rather show them a unique experience that will enhance their life, their career, or their community.
  • Motivate the audience to make that experience their own by being part of our brand.

Our Position is Our Premise

The NSU Edge: A Real Work/Real Life Advantage is the premise of every NSU brand story. That means everything about the story is internally consistent with our position. It should be easy to trace how the story relates back to this central premise.

Character Drives Our Stories

Our position only makes sense when attributed to a person. Who has The NSU Edge? Whether it’s through a photo, an example or a quote, giving our audiences a way to attribute The NSU Edge to a person makes our position relatable and understandable.

Similarly, facts and figures only go so far. By making the time to show the human benefit for our points of pride – like program accolades, workforce numbers or sports victories – we create a story that’s memorable and supports our position, even if the reader doesn’t remember the exact figures.

NSU has countless stories that showcase the edge we give students. Testimonials are often the easiest type of story for audiences to connect with.

NSU helped Robert Saunders move from a job in retail to a career in real estate development. After graduating from NSU’s Huizenga College with a Master of Science in Real Estate Development, Saunders was offered a job by one of his adjunct professors. ”Because I was one of the top in his class, he offered me an internship with his company, ESJ Capital Partners.” Within a month, the internship evolved into an employment opportunity. Robert continues to serve as a real estate investment analyst at the company.

Robert’s case demonstrates The NSU Edge. His professor was a working industry professional. That led to an internship where Robert proved his degree was more than just theory. The internship led him directly to his desired career.

His story is both personal and widely relatable. It’s something you could see yourself doing. Robert is the hero of the story, not NSU, but it proves our brand claim: that we provide an edge.

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