For over 30 years, the halls of the prestigious Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering in Sirperumbudur, Chennai echoed with the roars of budding engineers and the buzz of innovation. But in recent times, unfortunately, those roars were reduced to mere whispers.
The Chennai-based engineering institution was facing an enormous decline in admissions.
This silence started weighing heavily on the management. It pained them to realise that many of today's youngsters didn’t have a clue about SVCE and its reputation, thanks to the college's inefficient digital communications. News of their research innovation, extra-curricular achievements, the college's unique offerings to engineering aspirants only lingered around within their own campus.
That’s when SVCE decided to meet Tellable. Though SVCE had green lit the project in desperation, we wanted to get to the roots of their issue before taking our first official step.
And we were under way! As a first step, unlike other brand communication companies, we did groundwork. We interviewed 12th graders to understand how they were feeling, with this concept of “college” looming large in their minds, and what their interests were outside academics.
Not knowing your target audience is like driving around without directions.
As a second step, we got to our everyday routine, and that’s to inject creativity and storytelling in business communication. Because of our interviews with 12th graders during the research phase, our designs on SVCE’s social media matched their mindsets, and entertained, engrossed, and enlivened them. Their worries and fears took a back step, which in turn made the institution’s worries and fears do the same.
Research-driven brand storytelling
They say, if you want to know about an institution, go talk to its students. And we did. We conversed with SVCE's existing students and its alumni about their campus, curriculum, and the college's pros and cons. We wrote a bunch of video scripts right there, and spent the next two days filming them. We presented the college as a top, contemporary institution through inventive editing and music. Our short, catchy videos got 12th graders sharing them widely on YouTube and Instagram. We knew we were making progress.
Maximising online impact through digital marketing
The digital marketing commenced with Tellable’s writers producing landing page content with key details about the institution; details that spoke about what SVCE would do for the students and not vice versa.
Our paid promotions on Google, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram started doing the rounds. Our digital marketing expert strategised campaigns according to student needs, and used a variety of ad formats and ad placements to get the attention of the modern, digital youngster.
Ad campaigns we devised for the college
Google Search
Google Discovery
Google Display
YouTube videos
Facebook and Instagram posts
We closely monitored the campaigns' effectiveness with each passing week, promptly reporting to SVCE of new leads and admissions, and taking strong measures to keep the junk leads as low as possible.
The volume of the voices inside the campus began to grow, which was music to the professors and staff of SVCE.
In the following academic year, their admissions improved by a staggering 60%. Their return on ad spend (ROAS) was more than 300%.
Today, 12th graders not only know, but prepare themselves to get an admission in Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering.
Interested in boosting your institution's intake with creative design and digital marketing?