Higher Education Expertise
Simply being smart doesn’t cut it anymore.
Today’s students have more choices than ever when it comes to getting their education. Cutting through the clutter and showing your school’s true value requires authenticity, empathy and ingenuity.
In the three examples below, we demonstrate how to introduce a school to a brand-new audience, breathe new life into a brand students are familiar with, and chart a path to enhancing a school’s reputation and ranking using highly targeted tactics.
WGU Texas: By Texas. For Texas.
Western Governor’s University is an online, non-profit university that exists by gubernatorial decree in the states in which they operate. And despite decades of success in places like Oregon, Colorado and Washington, when it came time to open their virtual doors in Texas they found themselves an unknown player in an increasingly noisy category thanks to competitors like University of Phoenix.
Step 1: We developed a strategy and tone of voice that reassured prospective students that WGU Texas was created by the state of Texas, for Texans and wasn’t some opportunistic out-of-towner.
Step 2: Since success was measured on the number of leads and applications, we mined multiple data sources to create heat maps down to the zip code level of areas with folks more predisposed to adult learning and seeking their degree. These were segmented further with divisions between undergraduate and graduate interest. This rich data and information allowed us to implement a unique and highly-targeted media plan with very little waste and a high degree of engagement.
Step 3: Launch the creative and speak to prospective students in manner that motivates them and relates to their Texas-ness.
Everything’s bigger in Texas. Even the results.
WGU’s launch in Texas was their most successful state-wide opening to date.
- The day the campaign launched, the response was so overwhelming that the number of web leads coming in far exceeded both expectations and capacity and crashed their servers. Keep in mind that this is an online university.
- In just two months, the campaign generated 50% of their annual lead gen goal.
- By the end of year one, WGU Texas had significantly outperformed other WGU state schools.
Texas Wesleyan University: Smaller. Smarter.
A small university with big ambitions, Texas Wesleyan was committed to leveraging its accessible size as its biggest strength. While the university had been around for many years and familiar to the community, the “Smaller. Smarter.” campaign gave a relevant and engaging voice to the school and was immediately embraced by faculty, students and prospects. The key was using creative that spoke to prospects in a way that was smart, witty and hammered home the tangible difference a smaller, more focused environment can have on their futures.
Bigger, better results.
The goal of this campaign was certainly to increase the number of applications, but also to increase their admissions numbers and grow the university with quality applicants.
- First year of the campaign saw a +58% increase in applications, and an +11.5% rise in admissions.
- Second year saw an almost +17% increase in applications and an incredible +22.4% rise in admissions.
- Overall, there was an increase in the quality of both applicants and admissions from students with higher grades and test scores. This secondary goal helped to greatly enhance the universities reputation among future prospects.
Rice Business.
How do you rename and raise the profile and reputation of a business school, and thereby increase enrollment, on a very limited budget? That’s the challenge put before us by the new president of Rice Jones Graduate School of Business. Solving this riddle required a significant amount of counter-intuitive, convention-challenging thinking and execution. We weren’t going to be able to leverage any paid media other than a bit of hard-working digital display. That meant repurposing owned channels, and leaning heavily into thought leadership content, native placements and influencers.
First up was to shorten and rebrand “Rice Jones Graduate School of Business” to simply Rice Business and begin applying it across the board.
Next up was the goal of getting Rice Business into the top 10 on Bloomberg’s annual business school ranking. Beyond being a source of pride and a huge reputation boost, schools in the top 10 enjoy a significant advantage when it comes to leads and applications, and Rice Business currently sat at #18. Traditional advertising won’t help here, but demonstrating thought leadership to both prospective students and influencers is highly effective.
Rice Business Wisdom.
What we needed was a platform, and we found one in an existing property that was currently focused on faculty research and publication. We gave it a new name, a makeover and broadened its purview to become the hub of our thought leadership content. Content that we were then able to spread throughout our native and social media channels. We were also able to target, engage and interview influencers, faculty and former students to broaden our reach and spread the word.
Non-traditional tactics, impressive results.
Unlike our other education success stories, this one doesn’t have a much in the way of fancy commercials or highly visible outdoor and radio. Those avenues weren’t open to us for this one. However, we were able to hit on three major success metrics.
Our approach, and the results, are hard to ignore.
- The rebranding to Rice Business was a huge success and was greeted with enthusiasm among faculty and students.
- Remarkably, we were able to help the school rise an amazing 10 spots on Bloomberg’s rankings to land at #8 a year later.
- As a result, Rice Business saw both leads and applications jump significantly despite not employing any traditional lead gen media tactics.