Objectives

• Recruit highly qualified doctoral candidates within a narrow application window to meet enrollment goals.

• Ensure the landing page and ads were optimized to attract high-value candidates aligned with the program’s long-term goals.

• Build on persona and customer journey research to create a scalable, results-driven strategy for doctoral program recruitment.

Challenges

Launching a new doctoral program in Building Science within a tight timeline presented several critical challenges:

• Accelerated Timeline: The program was approved in the spring, with a narrow 4-week window to recruit applicants, ensuring they could apply, be admitted, and enroll by August.

• Brand New Program: With no existing marketing or online presence, the program was effectively invisible on search engines before the campaign began. Establishing visibility and credibility quickly was a formidable task.

• High Expectations for Enrollment: Despite the tight timeline, the program needed to recruit highly qualified, niche candidates aligned with its long-term vision of excellence and leadership in the construction industry.

• Resource Coordination: Collaboration between multiple stakeholders, including the doctoral program chair and recruitment officers, required seamless communication to keep the campaign on track and maximize its impact.

These challenges demanded innovative solutions, rapid execution, and leveraging the foundational insights developed during previous campaigns.

Advanced Strategies & Why They Matter

The doctoral recruitment campaign for Building Science was a masterclass in precision and integration. Dynamic PPC ads were the cornerstone of the strategy, enabling hyper-targeted messaging tailored to niche audiences. This ensured the highest return on investment in a highly competitive academic field, reaching ideal candidates where they were most likely to engage.

Dynamic landing pages further elevated the campaign, offering personalized content that seamlessly guided prospective students through the user journey. By presenting relevant information based on user behavior, these pages maximized conversion rates and streamlined the application process.

The campaign’s foundation was built on persona research and customer journey mapping, insights meticulously gathered during the undergraduate persona study. This groundwork created a natural progression from awareness to action, ensuring that the messaging resonated deeply with potential applicants. By integrating these elements with SEO, CRO, and content strategies developed during the CMS project, the doctoral campaign stood on a robust, proven framework. This holistic approach not only ensured immediate results but also created a replicable model for future academic program launches.

Outcomes

The results of the doctoral recruitment campaign were immediate and transformative. Within weeks of launch, application submissions surpassed expectations, allowing the program to meet its enrollment goals despite a narrow application window. The newly launched landing page for the doctoral program soared to the top of Google rankings within two weeks, demonstrating the power of dynamic enhancements and strategic digital content in amplifying visibility.

Beyond meeting enrollment targets, the campaign became a benchmark for successful academic program launches. It showcased how aligning audience research with advanced technical and creative strategies could achieve exceptional results. As a model for rapid recruitment success, the campaign set the stage for future innovations in higher education marketing.

Collaboration and Leadership

I collaborated closely with the doctoral program chair and recruitment officers to develop dynamic ad campaigns and landing pages. My role included designing PPC ads and linking them to CRO-focused landing pages, ensuring every step of the prospect’s journey was strategically optimized for conversion.

Conclusion

The rapid success of this campaign—from page 48 to page 1 on Google within eight weeks—demonstrates the transformative power of holistic digital strategies. This program fully embraced an integrated approach, including SEO, CRO, and PPC, and achieved remarkable results. In contrast, those that adopted partial strategies fell short. This project is a testament to the importance of collaboration and trusting expert guidance for unparalleled outcomes.