Winning the hearts and minds of Chinese students through strategic marketing integration

Our integrated marketing strategy for the University of Stirling increased brand awareness, drove solid leads and reduced cost per lead during the key application period.

Stirling faced fierce competition in the UK university market, relying heavily on education agents.

The Challenge

In a saturated market, the university needed to eclipse the competition with original marketing campaigns that maximised brand presence and drove direct applications for both undergraduate and postgraduate recruitment.  

Our Strategy

Emerging Comms created an end-to-end online strategy that showcased the university’s USPs and kept up with the changing trends and priorities of Chinese students and their parents. 

Our strong partnership with the University of Stirling enabled us to plan and execute long-term strategic success with multi-channel touchpoints, targeting audience groups with sequential and cohesive communication at each application stage.  

What We Delivered

• Developed yearly integrated multi-channel campaigns to fuel the sales funnel, setting clear KPIs, real-time measurement and ongoing optimisation.  

• Expanded channels from Weibo, WeChat and CN site to more diversified tactics including paid search, programmatic display, livestreaming, KOL video promotion, Bilibili and Douyin. 
• Worked seamlessly with client’s recruitment and conversion team to achieve maximum synergy alongside the application journey.  
• Utilised insights and learnings to continuously improve and innovate for further growth.