The Hard Truth
Along with brand awareness concerns, high withdrawal rates by working adults enrolled in Bachelors and Master’s Degree programs were concerning our client. After a survey of potential students within a 200 mile radius of university found that 54% were not aware of the brand, it validated that awareness, enrollment, and retention needed to be the top priorities.
Strategy
- Business and healthcare programs were identified as growth areas for the university based on the demand they were seeing.
- Online classes were used as a way to maximize enrollment outside of the immediate geography, and offer a benefit to those with proximity to the brick and mortar location.
- General branding materials were concentrated on prospective students within 100 miles of the university.
- Specific targets of Associates Degree completion maximized the retention strategy and built new audiences with similar attributes.
- Interest-based messaging was targeted at individuals with clear MBA intention behaviors.
- High frequency re-messaging was deployed for the university’s website and, more specifically, by targeted programs pages.
The Objective:
To increase degree completion enrollment to 950 and double graduate program enrollment to 310 (both by FY20).

Results
The strategy is paying off and the university is already seeing results.