Nexford University boosts brand awareness with Unibuddy through their student voice

Challenge

In an increasingly competitive higher education landscape, universities face the critical task of positioning themselves and gaining visibility among prospective students. Nexford University, known for offering innovative, online academic opportunities, found itself grappling to establish a strong sense of brand awareness and effectively engage with prospective students to support their decision-making process. 

From April 2021 – July 2022, Nexford’s brand campaigns were receiving low engagement and limited positive reviews on the institution and the courses they offer, causing them to re-evaluate their strategy. Their existing marketing strategy primarily included online advertising and the negative to positive review ratio sat at 1:5. The team uncovered that their brand, marketing and communications strategy was missing a crucial element; the student voice. 

As Barney Woodbridge, Director of Growth at Nexford University put it, “We know this generation of students want to hear from those who have lived experience, which means we need to leverage the voice of our existing student community and alumni in our marketing efforts, to draw more prospects in, engage with and nurture them through the funnel”.

Solution

Woodbridge was initially exposed to Unibuddy through his relationship and integrations with other universities, and was instantly intrigued by the idea that prospective students could easily connect with existing learners and alumni when visiting a university’s website. With a new goal of including the student voice into their marketing efforts and aiding authentic peer-to-peer connections, Nexford’s decision to adopt Unibuddy was a no-brainer.

Roschan Reddy, Nexford’s Senior Marketing Executive and Stephen Ramotowski, SEO Executive, collaborated to build and develop Nexford’s ambassador program and integrate it into their marketing strategy. “The Unibuddy onboarding team was incredibly helpful; they got us set up in less than 5 days and provided all the relevant resources to train our ambassadors,” Reddy shares.

The student voice became the central focus to all of Nexford’s marketing and communication efforts, dedicating a webpage where Unibuddy is embedded, to host their ambassadors and share information about their students and alumni. The Unibuddy platform is integrated into every touch point that Nexford engages with their students. “We’re constantly bringing students back to Unibuddy so we can keep nurturing them and bringing them to the right resources. Whether that’s sharing an ambassador profile link in email communications, or doing a social media campaign to promote certain programs. The seamless and constant integration of Unibuddy is allowing us to drive traffic to our website and increase engagement between prospects and ambassadors.”

One of the key contributors to Nexford’s success with Unibuddy was the ability for ambassadors to create user-generated content and share it on the platform and across other social channels. “The Unibuddy content capability allows prospective students to read about lived experiences regarding both academic and social life at Nexford; topics they wouldn’t be able to find on just any university website. We had a student craft a blog post talking about the differences between a General MBA and an MBA with specializations, while another student wrote about how work-life balance is prioritized as a Nexford learner.” Reddy emphasises the significance of this student-centric strategy, “ambassadors can provide content, answer prospects questions, and establish genuine connections, all while the Nexford team and I are able to focus on our core responsibilities.”

Result

Since launching in August of 2022, Nexford has seen significant improvements in brand awareness and student engagement. The negative to positive review ratio shifted to 1:16, a 70% uplift in positive student reviews. As Woodbridge put it, “The positive reviews speak for themselves – students are finding Unibuddy a valuable tool to support their decision making. By seamlessly integrating the platform into our marketing channels and providing a centralized place for student interactions, we’ve been able to shape students’ perception of our university and deliver a personalized and engaging experience.”

“Peer-to-peer connection and student-centric marketing foster a sense of belonging, ultimately contributing to a positive, inspired prospect,” says Woodbridge. With the help of Unibuddy, Nexford nurtured 180 prospective students, with 29% moving on to officially enroll. Woodbridge explains, “We may not have been able to capture these enrollments if we didn’t have Unibuddy to help with the nurture process. We’ve been able to engage with these students by sharing relevant content, inviting them to the right events and ensuring they’re able to get the answers they need to make an informed choice.”