Industry Focus
Education
Digital Infrastructure
In an era of shrinking enrollment and rising tuition skepticism, institutions can no longer rely on reputation alone. We build enrollment-focused infrastructure that proves your value.
Operating Reality
Educational institution digital systems fail enrollment for consistent reasons:
The demographic cliff is real and accelerating. US undergraduate enrollment has declined 15% since 2010, and the 2025-2026 cohort shrinks further. Online alternatives from SNHU, WGU, and ASU Online aggressively market lower tuition and flexible scheduling. Boot camps like General Assembly and Flatiron capture students questioning traditional ROI. Every institution now fights for a shrinking pool with more competition than ever.
Education is a $50K-$200K purchase decision with 6-18 month research cycles. Students, parents, guidance counselors, and employers all influence the decision, each with different evaluation criteria. Prospects visit institution websites 15-20 times before applying, comparing you against U.S. News rankings, Niche.com reviews, and 5-10 competitor programs simultaneously.
The "is college worth it" narrative has gone mainstream. Families demand concrete ROI evidence: job placement rates, average starting salaries, employer partnerships, and alumni career paths. Institutions that cannot demonstrate measurable outcomes lose to trade programs, coding bootcamps, and employer-sponsored training that market results as their primary value proposition.
Students interact with Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok daily, then encounter your website built on a 2019 CMS with a 47-field application form, broken mobile navigation, and PDF program brochures. The digital experience gap between consumer-grade expectations and most institutional websites signals an institution behind the times, regardless of academic quality.
What we actually fix
Enrollment-first architecture maps to the student journey. Every page optimized to move prospects toward application. Program-specific landing pages capture high-intent searches.
Outcome storytelling demonstrates value. Alumni success stories, career placement data, and salary outcomes presented compellingly. The ROI question gets answered before it's asked.
Multi-stakeholder content addresses everyone. Students, parents, and employers each receive messaging that addresses their specific concerns and decision criteria.
Systems we build
Each capability applies specifically to education operations.
Proof and context
Common questions
How do you help schools stand out in crowded markets?
By building program-specific content architecture that articulates your distinct educational approach and documents outcomes. Parents and students choose based on fit, not rankings alone. We create dedicated program pages targeting searches like "best nursing program in [state]" or "computer science degree with co-op [region]," each featuring curriculum details, career outcome data, employer partnerships, and alumni success stories. This positions each program as the obvious choice for students searching for exactly what you offer, rather than competing generically against every institution in your category.
What about enrollment funnel optimization?
We build multi-stage enrollment infrastructure mapped to the 6-18 month research cycle. That includes inquiry capture through program-specific landing pages, automated email nurture sequences that address parent and student concerns at each stage, virtual tour and campus visit scheduling integration, application process simplification, and yield optimization campaigns for admitted students choosing between you and competitors. Each stage has its own content, messaging, and conversion optimization. Integration with Slate, TargetX, or your existing CRM ensures every interaction is tracked and every prospect gets the right message at the right time.
How do you handle admissions seasonality?
Year-round SEO content builds awareness and organic authority so you are discoverable when research begins, typically 12-18 months before enrollment. Then targeted paid campaigns, email sequences, and retargeting capture applicants during decision windows. For rolling admissions programs, we build always-on lead generation. For fixed-deadline programs, we structure campaigns around application milestones: early action, regular decision, financial aid deadlines, and yield season. The institutions that only market during application windows lose to those that build relationships throughout the entire research journey.
This works for:
Institutions pursuing enrollment growth against larger competitors
Programs able to document career outcomes and placement rates
Schools ready to invest in long-term digital positioning
This is not for:
Institutions without outcome data to showcase
Programs seeking quick enrollment fixes without substance
If enrollment growth and outcome-driven positioning matter to your institution, we should evaluate your current digital infrastructure.