CASE STUDY
Marketing Strategy & Development
Elevating Performance
An Integrated Marketing Approach
SITUATION
Pepperdine Graziadio Business School was faced with declining enrollment. I spearheaded an integrated marketing strategy to drive awareness, engagement, and enrollment. This six-pronged approach drove the highest enrollment in 13 years..
COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC RELATIONS
Increased business school’s visibility, securing top-tier media coverage and generating $500M+ in media impressions while achieving a 30% increase in SOV, surpassing USC and UCLA for the first time.
Created a Rapid Response Media Program, collaborating with deans and professors to develop a distinctive perspective and voice, providing media training, and positioning them as media experts.
Furthermore, strengthened media relationships, identified compelling news angles to maintain visibility, and effectively shared the school’s initiatives and research.
EVENT STRATEGY & MANAGEMENT
Strategy: Increase student, alumni, and business partnership engagement.
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Action Plan: Led event strategy and management, working cross-functionally to secure industry-leading speakers, media-coverage, cross-promotional partners, actionable communications/PR, advertising, and social media plan that drove lead generation efforts. Led execution and on-site management.
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Results:
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Overall flagship events garnered 250M+ media impressions.
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Notable achievements include the Healthcare Symposium flagship event:
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Achieved 32M+ media impressions
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Secured national coverage in CSPAN and MedCity News
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Event registration increased 4% YOY, driving leads to healthcare programs
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Secured Vivek Murthy, US Surgeon General as keynote speaker.
DIGITAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE (DCOE)
Increased social media footprint by 40%, email open rates by 70%, and paid media click-through rates by 60%.
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Established a digital center of excellence by implementing an integrated digital strategy.
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Leveraged user-generated content from students, professors, and alumni, producing compelling video stories. Revitalized engagement by removing inactive accounts and re-engaging the audience on our main platforms. Implemented social analytic tools for robust reporting. Executed a comprehensive paid media campaign. Introduced automated email strategies to nurture prospective student relationships and guide them through the purchasing cycle. Streamlined email system onto a unified platform.
PARTNERSHIPS
Secured an exclusive educational partnership with AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group), a premier sports and entertainment company for Pepperdine University, establishing the first-ever sports and management program.
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To drive student internships, experiential learning, and enrollment, I engaged internal stakeholders and AEG executives, orchestrating feedback sessions to refine and align the partnership proposal with the broader university objectives. The partnership positioned Pepperdine University as the exclusive educational partner of STAPLES Center (now Crypto), LA Live, and the LA Kings and included the following:
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First-ever sports and management program
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Branded classroom at STAPLES Center
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Speaker Series
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Internship opportunities
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Collaborative events
CONTENT CREATION
Increased consumer engagement by 60%, creating an integrated content strategy that engaged the target audience across various platforms and shared the Pepperdine business school’s brand story.
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Conducted a social media audit to gain insights that formed the integrated content strategy, brand pillars, and content calendar. Produced assets (photos, videos, articles, infographics, testimonials) to ensure brand messaging consistency. Developed an asset library for management and efficiency. Established brand ambassador program. Implemented social listening platform, conducted analytics, and generated reports to refine approach.
RANKINGS IMPROVEMENT
Increased overall rankings by 20%.
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The current ranking process was ineffective due to a lack of a focused strategy, insufficient organizational commitment, and misalignment of key data/metrics submitted to ranking publications.
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Developed a new process, established goals and priorities to drive alignment across the organization and implemented a marketing plan to improve rankings.
