The TCU Neeley EMBA program used being ‘personal, connected, and real’ to leap forward in the global rankings

Challenge

The TCU Neeley EMBA Program was on the rise in the global and national rankings. Alumni engagement was at an all-time high and students enjoyed learning from the globally recognized faculty. Yet, the program experienced a dip in enrollment. Competition in the Texas market and among more recognized top-ranked programs proved to be fierce. Other programs had more staff resources and invested more in marketing. The program needed a cost-effective solution to maintain momentum and its personalized approach to recruiting EMBA candidates.

Solution

TCU Neeley leveraged persona development work to improve the admissions process and the student academic experience.

GPRS first completed an audit of the program, interviewing alumni and students, analyzing the pre-existing audience targeting, and reviewing the marketing strategy and digital tools the program was utilizing. GPRS applied the research results to form five personas, or profiles of different student types that represent the best fit for the TCU Neeley EMBA program.

With the personas in place, GPRS developed a segmented remarketing strategy across all paid media and social platforms to move leads into the inquiry phase of the funnel. Drip/nurture email campaigns were also employed and added to the touchpoint data captured in their Salesforce CRM platform. Multivariate tested ads addressed the themes that resonated best with each persona.

TCU was our first client to take the personas and incorporate them into their curriculum. Their objective was to ensure students received their expected ROI. To meet this objective, the program created different learning tracks for each persona in their leadership development course. Executive coaches were assigned that specialized in working with leaders in each persona to position the program to deliver the expected outcomes for its students.

Results

TCU Neeley Executive MBA Program increased the number of leads by 300% after three months of working with GPRS. In the second year, the EMBA program surpassed its diversity goals by enrolling a cohort with 31% female students and 50% of the class being from ethnically diverse backgrounds. In addition, the EMBA program ascended to #13 in The Economist global rankings and was rated #5 in program quality.

The Harbert College of Business at Auburn University scratched its way to steady enrollment during the pandemic

Challenge

Like many graduate business programs. the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University was faced with the daunting task of maintaining enrollment during the pandemic. To make the task even more challenging, Auburn had 3 graduate business programs — Real Estate Development, Executive MBA, and Physicians Executive MBA — that needed to sustain enrollment.

Solution

We have enjoyed a strong and long-standing partnership with the Harbert College of Business. Our history together positioned us well to tackle the challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. We leveraged the following advantages:

• We leveraged data collected over the first 5 years of our partnership to determine how we could adapt our marketing strategy in response to the changing marketplace
• We understood the program and student needs well and thus empowered us to market the program as if we are part of the team
• We helped Auburn improve the recruitment experience for prospective students and staff

Results

With these advantages and our experience in lead generation, we increased the number of leads for the three programs by 8%. These leads resulted in enrolled students that yielded $5.3M in revenue for the Harbert College of Business.

To maintain these outstanding results, Auburn has decided to use our curated library of Nurture Campaigns to engage leads generated by our digital marketing campaigns. The objective is to maintain contact with prospective students throughout the application process. In doing so, the prospective students are more informed and encouraged to continue the application process. Furthermore, the admissions team increases their reach and connections with prospective students without investing more time and resources.

The Zicklin School of Business Restores its Confidence in the Path Forward

Challenge

Baruch Zicklin School of Management faced declining enrollment in their graduate business programs, exacerbated by market forces and rising operational costs, which transformed their programs into a “luxury good” in the competitive New York metropolitan area. Profitability became increasingly elusive, necessitating critical decisions about the future.

Solution

Baruch engaged GPRS to conduct an unbiased Enrollment Growth Assessment to diagnose the root causes of their enrollment challenges. This involved in-depth interviews with key internal stakeholders—faculty and staff—and a collaborative session to prioritize objectives based on the assessment’s insights.

GPRS delivered a comprehensive report outlining key findings and actionable recommendations tailored to address their enrollment issues. This resulted in a strategic action plan that revitalized confidence within the Baruch Zicklin team.

Baruch and GPRS established a lasting partnership post-assessment, leveraging various GPRS services, including our Call Center solution. This service bolstered Baruch’s admissions capabilities by deploying GPRS’s expertise to engage new leads, active applicants, and dormant prospects identified in the assessment.

“The Enrollment Growth Assessment helped us refine our marketing and recruiting efforts,” said Tricillia Jacob, Director of Administration & Operations of Executive Programs at Baruch Zicklin. “It revived lead generation and re-engaged stalled leads, effectively guiding us towards enrollment.

“GPRS’s strategies solidified our confidence in our path forward.”

Results

Implementing GPRS’s recommendations addressed critical blind spots identified in the Enrollment Growth Assessment. It enabled Baruch’s admissions team to focus more efficiently on meeting their enrollment objectives despite challenging market dynamics. Within just four weeks of the campaign, the Call Center Solution facilitated 162 appointments for the admissions team, demonstrating significant progress in engagement and conversion of leads identified through the assessment.

In conclusion, the Enrollment Growth Assessment not only pinpointed immediate areas for improvement but also provided a roadmap for sustainable enrollment success.

“I might want to keep GPRS to myself to boost my own image, but I highly recommend their services,” said Jacob. “Our continued collaboration promises a bright future for Baruch Zicklin.”

Salus University Delivers Healthy Enrollment Results

Challenge

Salus University is a private university in the Philadelphia metropolitan area that specializes in degree programs for health care professions. Salus was seeking solutions to attract professionals interested in pursuing careers in health care and needed the training provided their degree programs. They are also seeking candidates that wanted to attend a small institution that focuses solely on health care.

Solution

Salus engaged us to develop and implement an enrollment marketing strategy. We started by performing an Enrollment Growth Assessment to determine how to improve Salus’ marketing and recruiting processes. Thereafter, we identified 4 personas of prospective candidates that would be a fit for Salus’ programs. Each persona differed by the key driver of their interest in pursuing a career in health care. Creating campaigns and marketing messages focused on these drivers of interest were integral to the success of our campaigns.

As a result of the Enrollment Growth Assessment and Persona Development work, we changed the program positioning and modified the advertising to focus on the key drivers of interest among aspiring health care professionals.

Results

This approach had an immediate impact and delivered 871 qualified leads in the first five months of running the new campaigns. From a financial perspective, Salus realized a cost per click of 90 cents and a cost per lead of $163.47 — well below the higher education industry benchmark of $200.

The University of Arizona Eller College of Management enjoys rapid enrollment growth without breaking the bank

Challenge

The University of Arizona needed to increase awareness for its three existing MBA programs, while also launching a new online MBA program. Eller College leaders were concerned with the investment required to accomplish both objectives simultaneously. Moreover, there was also concern about how quickly a return on investment could be attained.

Solution

To generate awareness for the Eller MBA programs, GPRS utilized its proprietary Conversion Optimization Management (COM) process to create demand among interested professionals in the Arizona market. GPRS selected the appropriate media channels and types of advertisements (i.e., display ads or paid search) to connect with the target audience. We also designed the display advertisements to include content and images focused on motivating and engaging the desired prospective students. Using GPRS to do content development and lead generation ensured alignment and consistency in the messaging and execution of the campaigns.

To refine the campaigns and continue to improve the lead quality, GP Insights™ was deployed to determine the highest performing ads and media channels throughout the campaign. In doing so, we were able to optimize the Eller MBA media spend by investing in media channels and placing ads that were achieving the highest results.

Results

Using the combination of COM and GP Insights, we delivered a very healthy volume of pre-qualified leads to the Eller admissions team at a cost per lead (CPL) of $125 — well below the higher ed industry benchmark of $200. This cost savings accomplishment was surpassed by the success the admissions team had in converting these leads into enrolled students. 35% of enrolled students were identified through a GPRS campaign over two years resulting in $3.9M in tuition revenue and a 2,200% return on investment.

The University of Tennessee found the right channels to reach prospective students and reduce their advertising spend

Challenge

The University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business needed support and expertise to market its growing portfolio of graduate business programs. The school sought out a partner that could help overcome the challenges of rapid growth, while simultaneously seizing the unique opportunities presented by each program.

Solution

GPRS led the development and execution of strategic, and highly targeted digital marketing campaigns for five unique graduate programs. They were:

• Executive MBA – Healthcare Leadership
• Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership
• Executive MBA – Global Supply Chain
• Physician Executive MBA
• Professional MBA

We created persona-driven direct response ads and selected high performing online media channels to build the Haslam School brand, and target specific prospective candidates for each program. Our team optimized the performance of each campaign based upon analytics derived from our GP Insights™ platform, and evolving digital marketing best practices. Most importantly, the Haslam School leadership had real-time visibility into our progress, and collaborated with our team to determine next steps – based on insights and recommendations shared during our regularly scheduled meetings together. Furthermore, we enabled the UT admissions team to track progress across all five programs in one place; saving time and resources required to have clarity on progress toward their enrollment goals.

Results

Our campaigns turbo-charged qualified lead generation for Haslam’s graduate business programs. We delivered 200% growth in leads, month over month, due to improvements in audience targeting, advertising spend allocation and program-specific expert media planning.

Lincoln University “knocked the socks” off their enrollment goals

Challenge

Lincoln University is the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Despite this unique distinction, Lincoln faced challenges with enrollment at the undergraduate and graduate level. The COVID-19 pandemic compounded an already tough situation for a small university trying to survive and remain relevant to today’s college student.

Solution

Lincoln hired GPRS to be its Agency of Record (AOR) – to assist its leadership in developing and implementing advanced enrollment marketing processes for the university, as well as increasing its brand recognition and enrollment numbers at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Through this comprehensive relationship, we were engaged to deliver our full portfolio of marketing and enrollment support services, as well as technological solutions, to aid Lincoln in maintaining healthy and steady enrollment.

We started by performing an Enrollment Growth Assessment to define their ideal students and determine the key drivers in selecting Lincoln over other competitive institutions. We also examined why admitted students decided to enroll in other institutions, especially those that were not HBCUs. Our comprehensive report and recommendations became our action plan and the foundation of our partnership.

Among a lengthy series of initiatives we completed over just the first year of our multi-year partnership, these are a few that stand out:

• Working in conjunction with the Lincoln I.T. team, we developed a roadmap to optimize www.lincoln.edu to improve its ranking in search engine results. Performing SEO was an important and necessary step in ensuring that Lincoln was positioned to outrank their competitors, increase the volume of organic leads, and improve the Cost Per Click (CPC) of the digital marketing campaigns – by improving quality scores.
• We launched a coordinated series of branding and enrollment marketing campaigns, focused on attracting African-American, college-bound students from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. In addition to digital tactics like Email, SEM, Social, Display, and advanced forms of retargeting and CRM remarketing, we also launched radio spots, billboards, bus shelter/interior ads, and direct mail campaigns.
• In order to help prospective students along their student journey, and get a higher percentage of the inquiries to apply (and ultimately enroll), we designed a sophisticated Communications Lifecycle, integrated into their CRM, to nurture prospective undergrad and grad students through their decision-making journey.
• To help improve undergraduate enrollment yield, our creative team launched a “Missing Something?” campaign where admitted students received a single branded Lincoln University sock via direct mail. They were informed that they would receive the other sock when they arrived on campus for registration. The campaign was a viral hit, and created excitement and anticipation for the new Lincoln recruits.
• Our Contact Center (Call Center) was also deployed to help build relationships with high school counselors, to schedule campus visits, dramatically increase Open House attendance, and keep Lincoln’s value proposition top-of-mind in a very competitive market.

The University of South Alabama achieved success without breaking the bank and compromising quality

Challenge

The University of South Alabama needed help creating awareness and demand for its PhD program in business administration. Their initial investment in a digital campaign with a local vendor delivered only 63 leads over a 12 month period. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, creating an economic crisis that increased uncertainty for higher education recruiting. Given these factors, coupled with a limited market of prospective PhD candidates, South Alabama had an immediate need for help improving their enrollment marketing efforts.

Solution

Working closely with the South Alabama PhD program, GPRS crafted marketing messages and designed ads focused on targeting and attracting the highest caliber, and most interested candidates. We selected the most promising platforms, determined the optimal timing, and identified affordable keywords to maximize the program’s visibility to its target audience in search engines, social networks, and digital media channels. Using our proprietary optimization platform, GP Insights™, as well as proven lead generation techniques, we were able to match the same 63 inquiries in just the first month, followed by 88 the second month. Within 6 months of our engagement, the qualified inquiry count had topped 400 qualified leads.

Results

Through careful research and planning, as well as micro-targeting, GPRS was able to deliver a 535% increase over the previous year’s results… and in half the time. More importantly, South Alabama received 81 applications from PhD candidates excited to join their program.

The University of Pittsburgh wakes up dormant leads to boost enrollment

Challenge

Like many higher education institutions, the School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh has multiple graduate business programs. Each program has a large database of historical leads that have never turned into applicants or students. These aged records or “dormant leads” have been retained and marketed passively through ongoing CRM email campaigns. Yet, direct outreach is a challenge due to limited budgets, personnel, and the inability to make the volume of calls, per lead, necessary to actually connect with someone in this day and age.

Solution

To reactivate potential students for the Katz Graduate School of Business EMBA programs, GPRS recommended leveraging our Call Center. The contact center is state-of-the-art, and includes technology that enables real-time monitoring, as well as recording capabilities, to ensure that our team is always a consistent extension of our client’s recruiting and admissions departments.

After an in-depth analysis of the program’s dormant records, GPRS developed a comprehensive, outbound calling campaign with the goal of setting up one-to-one calls with the Program’s Director in hopes of moving the interested party further down the enrollment funnel. Additionally, the secondary goal was to update all of the contact records, and identify those who were still interested in the program and wanted more information but were not yet ready to commit to a meeting. Customized scripts were developed to accentuate the value proposition for the programs and a full range of Frequently Asked Questions were created for those who had immediate questions.

Results

Utilizing GPRS’ Contact Center Solution, the University of Pittsburgh, Katz Graduate School of Business was able to convert 22% of their dormant EMBA prospective student database into interested, and active appointments with the Program’s Director. Additionally, the EMBA program received qualitative data on each contacted lead, which enabled them to update their CRM records, as well as identifying “warm” prospects who were not yet ready to enroll, but were genuinely interested in joining a future cohort of the program.