Objectives

The recruitment campaign for the Building Science program aimed to transform the way prospective students engaged with the program, prioritizing Inbound Marketing strategies to attract high-quality applicants. These strategies sought to create meaningful connections with first-generation students, diverse applicants, and future alumni whose values and ambitions aligned with the program’s mission.

Project Objectives

• Developing a Unified Voice: Establish cohesive messaging across digital platforms, aligned with the program’s collaborative and forward-thinking ethos.

• Engaging High-Value Audiences: Build an inbound framework to attract prospects most likely to succeed as students and contribute as active alumni.

• Building a Scalable System: Create a strategic approach adaptable for other programs within Building Science and the broader college.

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Challenges

The Building Science programs faced fragmented messaging across platforms, with outdated CMS functionality limiting their ability to engage effectively. Disparate voices and inconsistent branding hindered recruitment efforts, making it clear that a cohesive strategy was essential.

Advanced Strategies & Why They Matter

The recruitment campaign for Building Science programs unified advanced inbound marketing strategies to attract high-LTV students and elevate audience engagement.
Persona development, based on interviews and surveys, captured the motivations and challenges of prospective students, with a focus on first-generation and diverse applicants. These personas became the foundation for behavior analysis and customer journey mapping, which identified strategic touchpoints to engage prospects effectively at each stage of their decision-making process.

To create a seamless user experience, messaging was unified across social media, PPC ads, and landing pages. Blogs, targeted ads, and helpful UX content addressed audience pain points and guided them toward enrollment. Collaboration with Recruitment Officers, new students, and Alumni Relations further enriched the campaign by incorporating alumni success stories and aligning outreach with program values.

This holistic approach demonstrated how integrating persona development, behavior analysis, and inbound marketing could create a comprehensive, user-focused framework that amplified audience engagement and ensured alignment with both short-term enrollment goals and long-term alumni engagement.

Outcomes

The inbound marketing campaign for Building Science programs delivered measurable success, highlighting the impact of a research-driven strategy. After the CMS launch, the Building Science subdomain soared from page 48 to the first page of Google rankings within eight weeks, demonstrating the power of persona-driven content and a robust inbound framework. Social media engagement also surged, with significant growth in followers and interaction metrics such as comments, shares, and clicks—all tied to persona-based, multi-channel content strategies.

This success not only set the standard for graduate and doctoral recruitment efforts within Building Science but also became a model for other college programs, such as Industrial Design and the new Doctorate of Landscape Architecture. Although broader implementation was paused due to external university decisions during COVID-19, the campaign remains a testament to the effectiveness of a unified, research-based approach in driving sustainable recruitment success.

Conclusion

The success of the Building Science campaigns became a model for future initiatives across the college. While subsequent opportunities were halted due to external factors like COVID, the groundwork laid here remains a testament to the power of data-driven storytelling and holistic digital strategy.