MIDLAND

Midland University is a private university in Nebraska. It’s a smaller school, and the majority of students attending are heavily involved in both academics and extracurricular activities. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, enrollment became an even bigger challenge for schools of all sizes. Midland turned to Serendipit Consulting to help increase enrollments in International, Transfer, and First Year students.

Goal: Increase enrollment from International / Transfer / First Year Students and collect 500 total deposits for the 2020/21 school year.

Our tasks were to create and develop an energetic campaign that would resonate with the different student demographics, and convert.

Target Audiences

  • High School Seniors

-Nebraska

-Out of State

  • International Students
  • Transfer Students
  • Nebraska focus
  • Created a fully integrated content strategy - from social media training, to content marketing and everything in between.
  • Formulated a creative campaign focused on “...with purpose” theme and messaging
  • Conducted sales training with the Midland team centered on interacting effectively in a virtual environment. We also worked with their team to transition to virtual school visits for COVID safety for all parties.

Results

HUGE SUCCESS. During COVID, most competitors were struggling to stay stagnant, or even OPEN. Serendipit Consulting helped Midland University actually INCREASE enrollment year over year, and raise awareness of some key partnerships.

Final Campaign Results

509 total deposits (23% increase YoY)

370 total first year students (318 in 2019)

91 transfers/re-admits (82 in 2019)

1572 total enrollment (1408 in 2019)

Challenge & Opportunities

Serendipit Consulting was also engaged by Midland for a brief national and local PR project to announce their partnership with the National Football League (NFL), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and Reigning Champs Experiences (RCX) to add Women’s Flag Football to its athletic offerings. Midland was one of only 15 colleges across the country to be selected for the partnership.

The PR project began with the Serendipit team putting together a comprehensive list of national media contacts covering higher education and college sports as well as local Nebraska media contacts. Serendipit then put together a strong press release to announce the new partnership to disseminate to national and local media. In addition to the press release, Serendipit crafted strategic and newsworthy pitches surrounding the partnership announcement - the first woman signed to Midland’s brand new Women’s Flag Football team, an inside look at the season ahead, and the hiring of the coach to lead Midland through its inaugural season.

Results

Serendipit garnered 10 media placements in the four weeks of the campaign. Notable placements included CHEDDAR TV, LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR, MIDLANDS BUSINESS JOURNAL, AND THE FREMONT TRIBUNE.