Six Degrees Digital Media Case Study
Client: Brighton College
Unknown College Generates Hundreds of Leads in a
Saturated Market with Thought Leadership Campaign
Case Synopsis
Brighton College was facing an incredible obstacle. After acquiring the college, the new owners needed to recoup their investment and generate positive cash flow.
As an online career training institution with a limited number of programs, there was substantial competition. Additionally, program tuition costs were not covered by traditional student financial aid, grants, or scholarships. However, one demographic was eligible for a specific scholarship from the US government, military spouses.
Six Degrees Digital Media designed and implemented a marketing campaign to attract military spouses, which continually produced qualified leads.
The Subject:
Brighton College is an online career college that offers certificate courses and Associate Degree programs based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Problem:
Brighton was an unknown school trying to increase enrollments. However, they had several obstacles to overcome. First, there was no traditional financial aid, such as loans and grants. Students need to self-pay, or the school offered to carry the tuition amount with small monthly payments while students were in school. This created a hefty balance for the student when they graduated. In turn, Brighton ended up with students who could not make payments, which in turn affected revenue.
They also had stiff competition from other educational institutions that offered the same or similar programs. This includes other career colleges, both online and brick and mortar, community colleges, and even universities that offer similar programs through their extended university departments. Many of these other schools were well-known within their communities and nationally. The majority of these schools also had more payment
options, including government-backed financial aid.
Brighton needed a different approach to set itself apart, increase brand awareness, and generate enrollments.
Solution:
Six Degrees Digital Media immediately saw the unique benefit in marketing directly to military spouses and put together a multi-tiered plan to bring in leads for Brighton. Qualified military spouses are entitled to a one-time scholarship from the government through the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA).
Brighton’s online career training programs were also an excellent match for this demographic. Since they move more frequently, online training was the preferred choice. Additionally, the programs Brighton offered were for careers that were in demand so graduates could more easily find employment no matter where they lived in the US.
However, Brighton experienced substantial competition from other MyCAA approved institutions, with both on-campus and online programs. As a result, they needed a marketing solution to position them as the perfect choice for military spouses.
Six Degrees Digital Media developed and implemented a thought leadership campaign with several initiatives to help Brighton stand out from all its competitors.
First, a separate website was created as an information hub for military spouses.
The site was optimized for search engine results and further enhanced with free resources and information about the military spouse lifestyle.
The lead generation components were the downloadable guides. The cornerstone piece was “5 Milspouse Friendly Careers”, which included a list of 90 Military Spouse Friendly Employers.
Additionally, this guide was
used in a Facebook ad campaign that generated leads quickly
and continually
Next, a video marketing campaign was launched. Videos were created for YouTube and other social media channels. This resulted in more brand awareness, plus additional rankings in the search engines and YouTube.
Finally, to gain even more exposure to the military spouse community, brand ambassadors were recruited. Military spouses from four military branches, army, navy, air force, and marines, were brought on to write blog content and share the website’s other resources with their social media connections and groups they belonged to. This gained significant exposure to the targeted demographic, website traffic, and generated more organic leads.
Results:
Brighton went from being relatively a relatively unknown college to a thought leader for the military spouse community. Since military spouses receive a free scholarship that covers the cost of their tuition, this eliminated the financial objections Brighton faced with other students. It also removed the concern of students making timely payments or defaulting on their loans.
This allowed Brighton to continue to grow with guaranteed
tuition payments for all eligible military spouses.
“Angela and her team at Six Degrees Digital Media helped us get our colleges in front of potential students. They created marketing campaigns with video and social media that have generated hundreds of leads in just a few months. Angela always brings fresh ideas to the table and new strategies to help us grow. It’s clear she truly cares about our success and always goes the extra mile. Working with her is a pleasure and it’s great to have a marketing company so invested in our success.”
Paul Zagnoni, President
Brighton College
