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.