Case Study: Alamance Community College Lead Generation

By Elizabeth Efird

The Client

Alamance Community College, based in Graham, North Carolina, is one of the first organized community colleges in the state. Since its founding in 1958, the student body of Alamance has grown to more than 5,000 and offers 25 workforce development programs. 

The ACC curriculum focuses on three areas: Businesses, Arts and Sciences; Health and Public Services; and Industrial Technologies. 

The Problem

ACC needed to take direct action to increase the number of applicants by promoting the three areas of its curriculum. The low-enrollment areas included 25 workforce development programs, and an apprenticeship program for both students and businesses, as well as a mentorship program for women called WiSDEM (Women in Industrial Science, Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing). 

The usage of outdated promotional materials and the lack of emphasis on recruiting students on the website prevented continued growth. 

The Strategy

To increase ACC’s reach to potential applicants, 1893 Brand Studio proposed an audit of all landing pages and created recommendations for landing page optimization. An audit of all existing lead generation campaigns as well as an updated strategy for improved form capturing on ACC’s main page for career preparation programs was also recommended.

1893 determined that a lack of clear information was preventing application rates from rising. 

“There really wasn’t a way for potential students to learn what the programs are like and what they can expect to do after graduating,” said Jake Mory, the 2021-22 Managing Director of 1893 Brand Studio. 

“Because the pandemic restricted in-person recruiting, we wanted to give prospective students everything they needed to know on the program pages,” Mory said. “We compiled an overview for each program with the benefits that ACC offers to encourage students to apply.” 

In order to market each of these programs to potential students, the infrastructure to capture leads had to be built. To do so, 1893 updated the organization’s website by building new landing pages for each highlighted program which included new lead capturing forms. These forms would then link to email lists to target potential applicants based on interest. 

“With the landing pages, we are providing a resource for people to see firsthand what ACC is, and give them confidence that they will learn the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century workforce,” Mory said. 

The Outcome

Initial results show high email open rates from those who put their information into the capture forms on the landing pages. 

“Linking the landing pages to an automated email series allowed us to directly reach out to interested potential students and give them all the resources they needed to apply. In doing so, we converted more than 1,500 leads with an average email open rate of 55 percent,” Mory said.

These new landing pages were well-received by applicants, with the Criminal Justice Technology page receiving 45,612 impressions and a 42 percent email open rate. The Animal Care and Management page received more than 4,000 impressions which led to 75 conversions in the first three weeks. 

1893 Brand Studio has created 26 landing pages for the ACC website, and we are continuing to track the success metrics for each of our lead generation tactics.