Powering Enrollment Marketing
In higher education, it’s not enough to be a great marketer. Prospective students are literally drowning in information and options. To succeed, you not only have to connect with hearts and minds, you need to convince students that your school is the right choice for them in a very personal way.
In short, you need to drive prospective students to apply. Rebel’s job was to create a marketing program to make that deeper connection. What we built was an enrollment marketing machine.
Pivoting in a Tough Market
Facing declining enrollment, a shifting prospective student demographic, and ever-increasing competition, Regis University knew it was time to hit the reset button on their marketing. Step one was a two-day, hands-on workshop with Rebel with the aim of creating an in-depth understanding of their business goals, mapping the prospective student’s journey from interested to committed, and outlining the needs for an overarching program to drive enrollment.
Among the core objectives that came out of the workshop:
- Facing declining enrollment, a shifting prospective student demographic, and ever-increasing competition, Regis University knew it was time to hit the reset button on their marketing. Step one was a two-day, hands-on workshop with Rebel with the aim of creating an in-depth understanding of their business goals, mapping the prospective student’s journey from interested to committed, and outlining the needs for an overarching program to drive enrollment.
- Among the core objectives that came out of the workshop:
- Immediate improvement in quality leads that convert into applicants
- Demonstrate Rebel’s investment in Regis’ success
- Define the Regis brand narrative and infuse that story into all enrollment marketing campaigns
- Build an enrollment marketing machine that drives leads and applicants to an admissions microsite (i.e., prove the impact of our marketing strategies in driving business results)
Running with Precision
In considering Regis’ objectives, Rebel developed the Situation Room/Marketing Manifesto, a document/program that outlined expectations, described team roles and responsibilities, and ultimately encompassed a roadmap that would help us collaboratively create an effective, impactful engagement model. It was an expansive effort that Rebel produced on its own dime, demonstrating our shared investment in the success of our efforts.
Program development started with extensive research to gain data regarding the prospective student journey and the factors that influenced their decisions. Part of what we learned was that people responded strongly to Regis’s core differentiator — its Jesuit tenet, “Cura Personalis,” a Latin phrase that translates as “care for the entire person.”
This led us to focus on what we termed “Human-Centered Marketing,” featuring program elements designed to spark prospective students’ interest, speak to their passions, tap their core motivations, draw them into the Regis narrative and convey the value of a Regis degree, and then compel them to exchange their name, program of interest, email, and maybe even their cell number.
From there, we created the “Build You” marketing program, which fell into three distinct pillars, each of which had its own KPIs:
1. Mind/Human-centered stories — Through real stories of Regis impact, we manufacture social proof and amplify these powerful student and alumni stories on highly engaging channels with memorable placements. By cross-promoting organically, we emphasize the Regis narrative from a first-person perspective.
2. Body/Telling the Regis story — Trusted, high-quality traditional and digital placements intercept the target prospective student audience to build awareness of the Regis “Build You” narrative. These touchpoints build on the human-centered impression from chapter one, taking the prospective student through our own journey of telling the compelling Regis story in a way that draws them in further to explore the institution’s core offerings.
3.Soul/Discipline and program stories — In addition to the overarching Regis and human-centered stories approach, we generate a higher volume of interest through awareness of Regis disciplines and priority programs. Through targeted direct buys with relevant discipline audience alignment, we gain industry-specific equity and generate interest in our core programs. Once they engage with our ads and the Rebel-created Regis Admissions Hub, we generate leads through first-party data pools.
Working across select degree programs, we then built out a comprehensive marketing program, including paid and organic media (including Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube); print ads and direct mail; broadcast media; and more. Each campaign embodied our funnel approach, focusing on Mind, Body, and Soul, with the goal of steering prospective students to the Regis Admissions Hub.
Building the Blueprint
When a machine is truly humming, you know it, and the Regis marketing enrollment machine has been no exception. A brief roundup of results includes:
For overall site performance since the launch of the Admissions Hub, we have seen 27,930 sessions, with 24,033 new users
Paid media efforts have driven 18,501 users to the Admissions Hub
We have seen 152 new users visit the website via organic traffic.
So, did the concept work? In the words of our client: “A deeper focus on human-centered marketing is where Regis wins — every time.”
