Marketing Redesign Case Study: University Of Puget Sound

The enrollment department at University of Puget Sound has a tough job—something we find very exciting. Their audience spans the country, and is split between two distinct generations: 17-year-old prospective college students and their parents.

Pain Points

Between changing demographics, population decline, perceptions that college education is costly and doesn’t provide adequate returns, families becoming more price-conscious, and the challenging years of the pandemic had resulted in the progressive decline of application submission and class enrollment for most colleges, not just Puget Sound.

Goals

Given the challenges, we were brought in to build the foundation to build the pipeline to increase inquiries, application volumes, campus visits as well as drive higher enrollment numbers.

Solution

We started by creating segmented content that spoke to our different audiences. We also concentrated on understanding the enrollment cycle and corresponding messaging to address how students and their families engage with schools throughout the cycle. We also assisted in the development of an enrollment campaign that was tested prior to launch to ensure it would resonate with the audience.

The voice of the enrollment department is perhaps the biggest change MCA brought to the enrollment department. We changed the tone of our student campaigns, then dove into email campaign results and developed new multiple drip campaigns to the different audiences and the different parts of the cycle. We continue to focus on looking at data to optimize and improve email and social messages. We also developed new marketing materials including a new more engaging Admit Packet based on the campaign, new travel materials for recruitment and new direct mail pieces for parents and students. We created new resources for students and their families post admission to increase yield (enrollment) such as Enrollment FAQs and new student portal.

Results

Our new enrollment campaign has been well received, culminating in a new video which won a Gold Telly Award. Additionally, application grew by over 10 percent and enrollment by 14.3 percent. The conversation rate from inquiries to applications went up 21%. Average email open rates increased from 18% to 40-60%. Engagement rates on Instagram have soared and continue to beat our top competitor consistently. Since the launch of TikTok just a few months ago, we have received over 100K views on our videos. Campus visits—a huge affinity indicator—have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Enrollment Marketing Rebrand

Before

Materials to potential students followed the same austere house branding of the University, failing to catch younger eyes and stand out from other schools.

After

Creative Director Richard Sanderson worked with Founder Cynarah to create a distinctive look and feel to Puget Sound enrollment marketing. The play on Puget Sound, “This is the Sound,” helped students to be immersed in the whole sensory experience of what Puget Sound has to offer.