Post University - Marketing Team of the Year

Company: Post University, Waterbury, CT
Entry Submitted By: O'Connell & Goldberg PR
Company Description: Based in Waterbury, CT, since 1890, Post University® is known for its innovation in providing its online and on-campus students with extraordinary educational experiences and an unmatched level of personalized support.
Nomination Category: Marketing Organization / Professional Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Team of the Year

Nomination Title: Post University Marketing Team Makes It Personal with Revamped Positioning

When Connecticut-based Post University underwent a significant business and identity transformation in 2018, Chief Marketing Officer Richard Schechter built a solid, multi-channel marketing team consisting of outside strategic partners blended with a small, efficient in-house team. Together, the powerful ensemble created a new brand image to reinforce Post University’s comprehensive student-focused positioning across all internal and external channels.

Schechter brought together very different styles and personalities by focusing on strong team-building, collaboration and reinforcement of the University’s mission to ensure all tasks on brand and authentic. Bringing together experts from branding, consumer research, marketing, public relations, and communications enabled Post University to:

-Remain flexible and responsive to the changing needs of restructure
-Utilize a range of marketing experiences and best practices to define and ensure successful campaign execution
-Bring a diversity of professional backgrounds and skills together to craft messaging well-suited to the University’s diverse populations
-Foster out-of-the-box, innovative thinking at every level of the rebranding process

Partners worked seamlessly and collaboratively with internal staff to transform the University. The team began the process of stripping down the University’s identity by conducting extensive qualitative and quantitative market research. They concluded that a positioning change was critical to validating the authentic identity of the new Post University image.

From research and development to full implementation and activation, the team redefined old institutional traditions by focusing on delivering the message that each student – or customer – receives an extraordinary experience, a personalized level of support and career-focused marketability at Post University.

To reinforce and guide its student-focused branding and positioning, the team created a new mantra, Post Makes It Personal®. All messaging about Post University’s new branding focused on the school’s contributions to education and the community as Schechter drove buy-in throughout all levels of the University, nurturing it with persistence and passion, to organically grow support.

The communications effort included development of consistent messaging aimed at strengthening relationships within the University’s hometown of Waterbury, sharing good news and positive stories, and fostering stronger relationships with key influencers throughout local and state media.

The marketing team streamlined its enrollment and recruitment processes with the goal of creating aggressive, efficient growth. As they worked, the team was continually testing and optimizing efforts to improve conversions, its cost-per-lead and cost-per-enrollment ratios. Year-over-year metrics include:

-A decline of 24% in front-end cost metrics in lead procurement from paid sources
-Student volume from the same sources increased by 29%, leading to the largest student population at Post University while also driving the lowest cost-per-student.
-The decline in cost-per-student metrics - a direct result of conversion improvement from various paid sources, front-end costs associated with lead capture, and management of the entire marketing funnel.

Despite the miles and differences between the teams, everyone is working toward the same goal with the same passion. From regular PR/Marketing Summits where members bond over discussions and creative brainstorming to weekly calls where each participant has a voice and a role in moving the mission forward, the marketing team finds its “sweet spot”: having fun while maintaining its focus on Post University’s student-centric mission.

The marketing team’s success was instrumental in driving the University’s success, significantly impacting student enrollment, satisfaction, and retention:

-Census over the past academic year increased by 71%
-Online enrollment was the largest in the University’s 20+ year online history
-The dropout rate decreased to 18%, well below the industry average of 28%
-Alumni surveys show eight in ten graduates believe their degree has maintained or increased in value.

The Post University marketing team’s skill set, diversity, entrepreneurship, and inventiveness drove the execution of a comprehensive, fully-integrated marketing and communications rebranding initiative. Based on the uniquely imagined “partnership model” consisting of a blended team of external agency partners and a small number of internal associates, orchestrated and led by Schechter, the Post University marketing team is worthy of consideration for the Marketing Team of the Year recognition.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief recent achievements of the nominated team (up to 150 words):

-Created a fully integrated marketing and communications blend of internal members and outsourced agency experts
-Rebranded Post University into a contemporary educational hub with new logo, brand architecture and positioning
-Produced all-new materials to represent the new, student-central Post Makes It Personal® brand
-Built new digital platforms, created a contemporary website, curated landing pages/microsites to accompany campaigns, track inquiries and measure conversions; and leveraged social media
-Streamlined multi-lead generation infrastructure into singular network, increasing inquiry procurement nearly 30%, enrollments by 15% percent
-Proactively launched programs for future job markets and prospective students using research and market analysis
-Expanded front line call center for lead data capture and consistency in initial customer inquiry experience, leads, and appointments
-Tracked ongoing performance metrics to make required adjustments
-Surpassed its first milestone: enrolling 10,000 new students
-Now receives a record 75,000 inquiries per term