Louisiana State University
With a growing contingent of universities vying for the eyes of potential graduate students, the LSU Flores MBA program faced a very crowded and competitive landscape when it approached Zehnder in 2014. Seeking help to boost awareness of its MBA program and ultimately increase enrollment, the client enlisted us with creating a campaign that would help expand the LSU MBA brand and make it stand out in the eyes of prospective students.
We wanted to combat the view of LSU’s MBA program as a “middle-of-the-road” choice and reinforce its respected reputation — ultimately making a logical choice seem like an extraordinary choice for students. We chose a bold creative approach and confident messaging strategy that established the voice of this brand as a leader. We gave the Flores MBA program a distinct look and style while also aligning with elements from the overarching LSU brand.
Given the client’s target audience, we dedicated many of our efforts to digital and social media, launching a robust campaign that utilized organic, paid, and promoted social media posts. The campaign was backed with engaging content, optimized SlideShare presentations, an email marketing program, in-person events, and online webinars, allowing the client to engage with its target audience across multiple platforms.
We reached each of the client’s four target audiences (online, full-time, part-time, and professional program prospects) by focusing on program-specific messages according to application deadline and graduation dates. For example, we promoted the full-time program most heavily in the spring, when undergraduate students are looking to apply to full-time MBA programs in the fall. We also relied on LinkedIn most heavily for reaching professional and part-time prospects, as this platform proved to be the most effective for this audience. Twitter and Facebook, on the other hand, were most successful with full-time and online prospects.
