A Strategic Partnership Approach to Growing a Diverse Graduate Engineering Portfolio
C A S E S T U D Y
UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA, FACULTY OF ENGINEERING | OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA
Overview.
The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa is dedicated to training forward-thinking engineers and computer scientists, and works with top researchers in the field. With a focus on collaborative, interdisciplinary research and strong ties to industry, the faculty provides students with an education that balances theory and practice, preparing them to solve real-world problems and lead innovation on a global scale.
To support its growing graduate online programs, the faculty sought a strategic partner to manage its annual digital advertising campaigns. The primary challenge was to generate a consistent funnel of qualified leads and ultimately drive student enrolment in a competitive landscape for three online graduate programs: the Online Master of Engineering Management (MEM), the Online Master of Interdisciplinary Artificial Intelligence (MIAI), and the Online Master of Digital Transformation and Innovation (MDTI).
Project scope.
Overhaul the digital advertising strategy for the established MEM program while building and launching a complete marketing funnel from scratch to create demand, generate qualified leads, and drive enrolment for the new MIAI and MDTI programs. The scope included developing the entire customer journey, from ads and landing pages to email nurturing and system integrations.
Goal
Timeline
June 2023 - Present
Location
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Industry
Education
Services
The challenge.
The Faculty’s MEM program was highly successful, but the departure of its former partner meant a new digital advertising team was needed. This team would be tasked with sustaining the MEM program’s success, modernizing its funnel, refining its messaging, and boosting overall conversion rates. The Faculty also needed its new partner to develop and run digital marketing campaigns for two new programs, the MIAI and the MDTI. The aim was to replicate the MEM program’s success with only 20% of its budget.
01
Modernizing a high-performing funnel
The MEM program was already successful, but its marketing funnel needed modernizing to improve conversion performance and support a full customer journey. The challenge was to evolve the strategy and clarify messaging without disrupting the program’s current success, so the transition would build on its strong foundation.
02
Launching two new programs
The MIAI and MDTI programs had no existing market presence. A comprehensive digital marketing strategy had to be developed from scratch to generate awareness, create demand, and build a qualified lead pipeline for a January 2024 launch.
03
Allocating budget strategically
The MIAI and MDTI programs had one-fifth of the MEM program’s ad budget. That limited spend called for a highly efficient, targeted strategy focused on maximizing return on investment, with careful planning to build momentum without the benefit of existing program recognition.
The solution.
Our partnership was grounded in a data-first methodology. We began with a deep dive into the competitive landscape and existing performance to set a clear baseline. From there, we developed detailed student personas and mapped their unique journeys to guide a tailored, full-funnel strategy for each program. This informed our agile execution process, where we launched, managed, and continuously optimized all campaigns with a focus on maximizing ROI and exceeding enrolment goals.
Full-funnel strategy & integration
We developed and implemented a complete customer journey for each program. This included creating the initial strategy, custom, mobile-first landing pages, writing and implementing new email nurture campaigns within their CRM and email marketing software, and ensuring seamless integration between all platforms to capture and nurture every lead effectively.
Multi-platform digital advertising
We launched integrated campaigns across Google, LinkedIn, and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) to engage prospective students at every stage of their journey. High-intent search and LinkedIn campaigns focused on capturing active applicants, while targeted social media campaigns built broad top-of-funnel awareness. We then used retargeting campaigns to re-engage and nurture warm traffic and existing leads. We developed unique creative and messaging to communicate the distinct value of each program, ensuring our strategy was tailored to both the platform and the specific audience.
Conversion-focused creative & copy
To translate ad clicks into qualified leads, we developed a complete suite of creative assets. This included writing persuasive, program-specific copy for all ads and landing pages, and designing visually compelling creative that resonated with distinct audience segments—from recent graduates to established professionals. We crafted every element to build trust and guide prospective students toward submitting an application.
Data-driven optimization
Our approach was rooted in continuous improvement. We performed rigorous monthly A/B testing on all campaign elements—from ad creative to landing page layouts—and conducted deep performance reviews. This allowed us to strategically reallocate budget and refine our tactics based on real-world data, maximizing ROI and exceeding enrolment targets.
The content.
The results.
Year-over-year decrease in cost-per-enrolment for the MEM program.
20.21%
6,000+
Marketing qualified leads generated within the first year of launching the MIAI and MDTI programs.
Lower combined cost-per-admission for the MIAI and MDTI programs in 2024 compared to the MEM program.
68.94%
Complete Success
The MIAI program is deemed a “complete success” by the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering team. It brings in nearly as many students per cohort as the MEM program historically has, with one-fifth of the marketing budget.
The feedback.
It has been a pleasure working with the Noetic team. Andres’ professionalism and flexibility is off the charts. Noetic’s knowledge of the higher ed sector has been extremely helpful in getting us to our goals.
Marcelle Kimberley-Guilbeault
Director, Business Strategy, Planning and Communications
The key learnings.
Hyper-personalization is key to efficiency and lowering acquisition costs
By creating ad messaging for niche job titles and continuously A/B testing landing pages, we moved beyond broad targeting to speak directly to ideal candidates. This significantly lowered the cost-per-lead and increased on-page conversion rates.
An agile feedback loop between marketing and admissions is non-negotiable
Through constant communication with program directors and the admissions team, we identified real-time application trends and candidate quality feedback. This allowed us to adjust our strategy on the fly, ensuring our marketing efforts were always aligned with enrolment needs.
Automating the middle funnel is critical for converting qualified leads
By implementing targeted automations and timely email reminders about deadlines, coupled with retargeting ads, we increased the velocity at which leads moved from initial interest to completing an interview with an admissions team member. This proved that nurturing the middle of the funnel is just as important as generating the initial lead.
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