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.