Proud to be Part of this Enrollment Increase

This fall, the University of Saint Francis welcomed its largest class in five years with a 12.74% increase in undergraduate and graduate enrollment. As the institution’s digital marketing and enrollment partner, we are thrilled by the news.

Working in Partnership

We know that enrollment growth comes from a combination of factors, the most important being a high-quality education to sell. As a private Catholic university in Indiana’s second largest city, Saint Francis has much to offer: career-focused academics, top internships and experiential opportunities, a thriving campus culture, a consistently high success rate, and a strong commitment to its Catholic mission. In addition, there’s a responsive admissions staff of professionals who meet students face to face and address their needs.

As digital marketing and enrollment specialists, our job is clear: it is to spread the word, generate high-quality leads, and deliver them to admissions. We also help convert leads, bringing them deeper into the admissions funnel via retargeting and follow-up messaging.

Working in partnership with the university’s marketing office, Calculate created 4 digital campaigns that ran throughout the academic year. All used a blend of storytelling (students’ words and experiences) and institutional stats to showcase the school’s myriad strengths.

Messaging that Drives User Action

In all campaigns, the messaging focused on success, offered information that answered common concerns, and inspired users to take action when viewing our ads. The goal was to move them into the admissions funnel, and some actions are stronger than others:

• Primary actions include completed forms and phone calls
• Secondary actions are clicks that display a high level of interest (to the apply page, for example) and are prime for retargeting
• Tertiary actions (Meta only) show user interest through social reactions, comments, shares

Campaign Analysis & Results

For example, Calculate developed and launched a comprehensive undergraduate campaign that ran 8 months on Meta, Google Ads and via programmatic advertising. The messaging blended institutional facts with student perspectives and covered 5 themes:

• Quality of academics/Career and life success
• Catholic mission and values
• Campus life: activities, athletics, safety and sense of belonging
• Affordability/Value: scholarships
• Transfer: scholarships, sense of belonging

Tactics included organic targeting (prospective students and parents) along with a targeted list of names and a retargeting campaign.

Overall campaign stats include 3.3 million impressions, 36,115 total clicks, and the following actions:

• Primary actions: 1,689 completed forms and phone call clicks
• Secondary actions: 2,587 clicks to apply, get directions, or visit the website
• Tertiary actions: 1,503 social reactions, comments, shares on Meta

The Right Blend of Platforms

A closer analysis shows the strength of each platform. The function of programmatic/display was to expand the institution’s reach and build awareness. Google Search lead in efficiency with a 9.85% CTR. Meta delivered the lowest cost-per-click ($0.25) and generated the most form conversions: 60%. (Note: an additional 22% of the completed forms came from the campaign’s landing pages, meaning they may have come from any of the platforms).

Attention to Detail

Throughout the campaign’s flight, all core metrics (impressions, clicks, and actions) grew consistently. We, at Calculate, would continually monitor, adjust, and optimize the campaign; meanwhile the admissions staff would follow up on leads, bringing prospects deeper into the funnel.

Other Saint Francis Results:

• Graduate campaign focusing on 4 online programs
• Regional healthcare campaign, promoting streamlined degrees and workforce certificates at satellite locations
• Academic cluster campaign: 20 programs marketed in themes or clusters

There is no easy answer to digital recruitment.

Success comes from working in partnership with the institution, digging deep to capture its distinctive success story, and paying constant attention to a campaign’s function in order to maximize its return.

It’s what we do.