We transformed Stetson University’s Law School’s admissions strategy into a powerful digital lead-generation machine through marketing automation and targeted content.
Stetson University College of Law is Florida’s first law school. A private school with campuses in Gulfport and Tampa, Stetson Law is ranked #1 for trial advocacy and #4 for legal writing by U.S. News & World Report.
We developed a scalable higher education marketing plan with an emphasis on personalized, segmented email campaigns and highly-targeted, mobile-friendly landing pages.
Going after not only quantity, but quality.
Stetson Law needed to implement a modern method of attracting qualified applicants to buck the national trend of declining law school attendance. They had a wealth of data about prospects, but no strategies in place to market to specific segments or show value to specific demographics. Their current email marketing approach wasn’t delivering the quality or quantity they needed to grow.
They turned to Big Sea to plan and execute a smart digital marketing strategy that begins with conversion optimization on Stetson Law’s website and guides applicants toward two crucial conversions — visiting campus and applying to their J.D. and LL.M. programs.
The team at Big Sea spent an incredible amount of time getting to know us, our industry and how our institution is unique and our culture special; they learned our processes and acronyms and suggested improvements to make us more effective. It feels like they are vested team members and not just consultants.
Laura Zuppo
Assistant Dean of Admissions and Student Financial Planning
Establishing thought leadership and personality.
Law schools are notorious for dry, clinical marketing materials. The admissions team at Stetson Law is anything but dry or boring. Through a robust editorial calendar and careful editing for content and search engine optimization, we helped them distill their friendly, engaged voices into killer content on the topics law school prospects care about most.
Stetson Law now has a growing library of keyword-rich content that can easily be repurposed in emails and shared with prospects on topics like appropriate formality in law school and how to solicit excellent letters of recommendation. Quality, consistent content has attracted over 900 subscribers to the Stetson Law Blog.
Developing messages that matter to law school prospects.
Big Sea segmented Stetson Law’s prospect data and developed campaigns around specific interests and identities. We created landing pages, premium content, blog posts, workflows, social posts and emails targeted to each persona we developed through research and interviews.
By working very closely with the admissions team in alignment with our agile marketing processes, we were able to nimbly focus on current events, news at Stetson Law, and seasonal messaging — such as sending emails about sunny “winter” weather in Florida targeted to undergrads in New England.
Attracting a stronger applicant pool.
Within one admission cycle, the Stetson Law team saw a stronger applicant pool, not only measured by volume and LSAT score but a 7+% increase in admit to deposit rates. When connecting with applicants, the team found them to be more engaged and more aware of the benefits of studying law at Stetson University College of Law.
Big Sea achieved this by communicating with today’s qualified law school applicants on their terms, and addressing the topics that impact their future law careers.
