Switching To Digital: International Student Lead Generation & Engagement During Covid-19

Switching To Digital:

International Student Lead Generation & Engagement During Covid-19

The Acumen challenge Support a top-rated US higher education institution after a cancelled roadshow.

Background Our client, a well-established US university, had

planned three-city tour across Delhi, Mumbai and

interest from prospective students in the Indian

generating alternative to the roadshow.

arranged a promotional roadshow to generate

market. When Covid-19 led to the cancellation of a

Bangalore, Acumen was tasked with finding a lead-

Digital media campaign overview

Channels

Facebook, Google

Campaign duration 12 weeks

Results snapshot

100+ new student prospects.

Our strategy With a focus on generating and verifying quality

keywords tailored to the relevant demographic.

for higher education to design a high-impact

launched to drive further leads. Both initiatives

leads, we utilised our expertise in digital marketing

In addition, a Facebook campaign was

digital campaign backed by online events. Our

were supported by a webinar schedule with

digital lead generation strategy aimed to create

drip campaigns to increase lead quality and

interest and engagement from prospective students across four stages: 1.

Embracing virtual: Following disruption from

improve engagement opportunities.

3.

Covid-19, we worked with the client to rapidly

and senior student recruitment counsellors. The

a cultural change away from traditional

counsellors followed up leads with prospective

roadshow marketing with a physical presence

students across different levels and verified

across several cities, to a purely online

the lead quality. We found that Facebook was

presence in the first instance. Once the client

producing excellent webinar conversion results

backed the idea of a virtual campaign to the launch phase.

2.

Campaign planning (channels and delivery): Success starts from utilising our combined expertise to effectively pinpoint the right

digital channels to deliver the campaign

to the target audience and locality. For this

campaign, Google Ads were optimised with

campaigns were live and delivering leads, we launched a ‘calling team’ composed of junior

design a virtual campaign plan. This required

replace the three-date roadshow, we moved to

Lead verification: Once the new online

with many enquiries.

4.

Webinar funnel: Once we had obtained a second confirmation of interest from

prospective students, our senior US staff

delivered informative in-house webinars to

address first-level queries and identify the most interested students. Highly engaged students were then funnelled through from our lead generation team to the University.

Outcome Within two months of a 12-week lead generation

cities during the height of Covid-19-related

verified student prospects to our US university

could have been generated from the cancelled

campaign, our webinar schedule delivered 100+ client. These prospects were sourced from five

uncertainty, effectively replacing the leads that roadshow.

ACUMEN is committed to helping globally-ambitious university and education partners enter, explore and expand in South Asia, South East Asia, and beyond. We offer a dedicated range of services to drive recruitment, student enrolment, develop strategic partnerships, and research collaboration. As a result, we act as an extension of your brand, by connecting you with the world’s best students, utilising strategic international education opportunities, understanding your ideal market through research and insights, and help mitigate any risks along the way. We operate in over 20 countries, with more than 250 industry practitioners with deep local knowledge and global expertise. We help navigate a competitive education landscape from end to end, while always prioritising your success.