The George Washington University

Optimizing Media Strategies to Generate Leads.

Through a unified marketing approach that balanced performance and brand strategy, The George Washington University and LMO exceeded lead generation goals while increasing visibility in a highly competitive market. The collaboration across schools, combined with real-time data and optimization, drove measurable results and set the stage for subsequent integrated, data-informed marketing efforts.

Challenge
The George Washington University (GW) faced a decline in graduate program enrollments, compounded by a saturated Washington D.C. market and increased competition for students.

  • The graduate education sector was experiencing a nationwide decline in enrollments. At the same time, the Washington, D.C. market was increasingly saturated, with local and regional institutions competing for students and aggressive investment from national and for-profit universities.

  • Each GW school managed its own media budget independently, leading to siloed efforts and missed opportunities for cohesive messaging or cross-program synergy.

  • LMO and the central GW marketing team did not receive real-time enrollment data from the individual schools and programs. This made it difficult to correlate marketing leads to enrollment outcomes.

  • With multiple internal stakeholders across different schools, ensuring consistent access to performance data and aligning on shared key performance indicators presented an ongoing operational challenge.

Objective
The campaigns aimed to generate qualified leads across multiple graduate schools and programs while strengthening GW’s visibility and reputation in the Washington D.C. market.

  • Apply performance learnings from previous fiscal years to optimize media strategies for both new and established programs.

  • Drive qualified traffic to dedicated school landing pages where prospective students could easily request graduate program information.

  • Implement media strategies to assist with lead nurturing efforts to drive applicants from the consideration stage to enrollment.

  • Provide individual school stakeholders with real-time performance data and actionable insights to inform ongoing and future marketing decisions.

Solution
To help GW address enrollment challenges, LMO implemented comprehensive marketing strategies focused on performance, brand visibility and data access. Combining targeted media tactics with real-time reporting and campaign optimization drove quality leads while supporting brand growth and stakeholder alignment.

  • Digital & Social Media Optimization: LMO partnered with 14 individual schools to support recruitment efforts for over 60 graduate programs, focusing heavily on paid search, social media and display advertising. Our experts tailored each campaign using audience media consumption insights to align channel selection and messaging with prospective student behavior. Digital channels provided the flexibility to shift budgets toward top-performing platforms in real-time, improving efficiency and lead quality. LMO also launched targeted lead nurture campaigns on social platforms to re-engage users who had not yet applied, keeping prospects moving through the funnel.

  • Brand Awareness Campaign: In a strategic expansion of its graduate marketing efforts, GW launched its first university-wide brand awareness campaign in recent history. This initiative complemented the ongoing school-based campaigns by enhancing visibility for GW’s graduate programs across the competitive D.C. market. While building brand awareness was the primary objective, the campaign also supported lead generation goals. It leveraged digital channels such as connected TV, YouTube, streaming audio and high-impact display, along with out-of-home placements at key locations, including airports, metro stations, bikeshare hubs and buses. Paid search and social media efforts continued to drive qualified leads, reinforcing performance and brand-building objectives.

  • Dashboard Visualizer: To empower stakeholders with real-time insights, LMO developed a custom dashboard visualizer for GW. Each school received a personalized dashboard link that displayed performance metrics such as spend, impressions, clicks and conversions, all tailored to their specific programs. The dashboards also included download functionality, making it easy for stakeholders to incorporate visuals into internal reports. This tool helped streamline communication, improve data transparency and support more informed decision-making across the university.

  • Performance Monitoring & Optimization: LMO ensured campaigns remained efficient and effective through continuous monitoring, real-time optimizations and bi-weekly performance check-ins. This proactive approach led to sustained improvements, with most campaigns surpassing cost-per-lead goals throughout the fiscal year.

Results

  • Ran over 60 campaigns across 14 schools from July 2023-June 2024.

  • Generated more than 87K qualified leads throughout the fiscal year.

  • Achieved a combined cost per lead of $42 across all marketing efforts.

  • 89% of campaigns exceeded their cost-per-lead goals, as defined at the start of each program campaign.

  • The brand awareness campaign delivered over 51.5 million impressions, 1.2K leads, and a cost per lead of $702