Year One Success - By The Numbers
11.3%
OVER FY2020 REVENUE BUDGET
5.5%
INCREASE IN UNITS SOLD
FY2020 vs FY2019
6.1%
INCREASE IN CUSTOMERS
FY2020 vs FY2019
Year One Success - By The Numbers
11.3%
over FY2020 revenue budget
5.5%
increase in units sold FY2020 vs FY2019
6.1%
increase in customers FY2020 vs FY2019
Meet Fresno Pacific University Continuing Education
Fresno Pacific University is the only accredited Christian university founded in the Central Valley of California. Their history of connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity leads students in professional, personal, and ethical growth.
FPU offers undergraduate, graduate, and seminary programs that stress solid academic preparation and a strong ethical foundation. The University serves more than 4,100 traditional and adult students on the main campus in Southeast Fresno and regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield, and Merced as well as online. Reaching about 8,000 students through professional development studies, FPU is meeting the need for the professional growth of K-14 educators.
With the highest four-year graduation rate of any Central Valley college or university, FPU is ranked in the top tier among Western universities.
QUICK LOOK
- Christian, Non-profit University Founded in 1944
- 47% Hispanic Student Population
- Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
- Affiliated with the Mennonite Brethren Church
- 5 California Locations, Global Online Reach
Meet the Fresno Pacific University Continuing Education
Fresno Pacific University is the only accredited Christian university founded in the Central Valley of California. Their history of connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity leads students in professional, personal, and ethical growth.
FPU offers undergraduate, graduate, and seminary programs that stress solid academic preparation and a strong ethical foundation. The University serves more than 4,100 traditional and adult students on the main campus in Southeast Fresno and regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield, and Merced as well as online. Reaching about 8,000 students through professional development studies, FPU is meeting the need for the professional growth of K-14 educators.
With the highest four-year graduation rate of any Central Valley college or university, FPU is ranked in the top tier among Western universities.
QUICK LOOK
- Christian, Non-profit University Founded in 1944
- 47% Hispanic Student Population
- Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges
- Affiliated with the Mennonite Brethren Church
- 5 California Locations, Global Online Reach
THE CHALLENGE
The decline in enrollment in continuing professional development courses that FPU experienced was largely due to a shortage of teachers in the United States that reduced their target market. In order to deal with the teacher shortage, some states decreased professional development (PD) requirements, extended license periods, and cut teacher benefits to pay for continuing education (CE) courses. This meant some of the already smaller pool of teachers were required to take fewer PD units and needed to take them less frequently to maintain their teaching license. Fresno Pacific University wanted to attract more teachers to their professional development courses while reducing their reliance on discounting.
THE SOLUTION
Fresno Pacific University entered a true partnership with Sextant Marketing organized around outlined goals and action steps based on the findings of a thorough SEO audit. Sextant’s job was to help FPU improve their digital footprint, support the launch of their new website and blog, and help convert new website traffic into customers and students. FPU’s side of the partnership required teamwork with open, productive communication and involvement from departments across the University.
THE CHALLENGE
The decline in enrollment in continuing professional development courses that FPU experienced was largely due to a shortage of teachers in the United States that reduced their target market. In order to deal with the teacher shortage, some states decreased professional development (PD) requirements, extended license periods, and cut teacher benefits to pay for continuing education (CE) courses. This meant some of the already smaller pool of teachers were required to take fewer PD units and needed to take them less frequently to maintain their teaching license. Fresno Pacific University wanted to attract more teachers to their professional development courses while reducing their reliance on discounting.
THE SOLUTION
Fresno Pacific University entered a true partnership with Sextant Marketing organized around outlined goals and action steps based on the findings of a thorough SEO audit. Sextant’s job was to help FPU improve their digital footprint, support the launch of their new website and blog, and help convert new website traffic into customers and students. FPU’s side of the partnership required teamwork with open, productive communication and involvement from departments across the University.
How we did it
At Sextant Marketing we believe in the power of information and partnership. As a full-service marketing agency with an exclusive focus on higher education, Sextant was uniquely qualified to help Fresno Pacific University Continuing Education Division address their declining enrollment and increase their revenue. But we couldn’t have done it without the thorough cooperation of FPU academic subject matter experts who provided a breadth and depth of information to help produce informative, effective website content.
FPU also provided guidance on priorities for news articles and course page rewrites, offering insight that was critical to Sextant helping FPU achieve their revenue goals. In our experience, clients like FPU that have active participation within departments across the university show that this model works.
Step by Step
Action steps that led to Fresno Pacific University reaching or surpassing its
goals included:
-
- Perform thorough initial SEO audit
- Create robust media plan in support of lead generation
- Reduce reliance on discounting
- Increase website traffic and convert into customers
- Media spend including paid search & social media advertising
- Monthly advanced link building
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- New content written & added to website monthly
- Course pages rewritten monthly
- Webpages optimized monthly
- Technical support of the CMS, public facing website, reporting, administrative features & shopping cart
Step by Step
Action steps that led to Fresno Pacific University reaching or surpassing its
goals included:
-
- Perform thorough initial SEO audit
- Create robust media plan in support of lead generation
- Reduce reliance on discounting
- Increase website traffic and convert into customers
- Media spend including paid search & social media advertising
- Monthly advanced link building
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- New content written & added to website monthly
- Course pages rewritten monthly
- Webpages optimized monthly
- Technical support of the CMS, public facing website, reporting, administrative features & shopping cart
Highlights from Sextant’s Partnership with FPU
- Launched FPU’s Partnership with The Great Courses
- Built new course category pages. Benefits included:
- Used as paid search advertising landing pages
- Generated organic traffic
- Facilitated the buying journey by highlighting key courses in certain categories
- With over 450 courses, category pages provided a more focused course search
- Added imagery and color to an otherwise “non-exciting” web design
- Rewrote and redesigned the Educator Courses homepage.
- Created a series of content articles highlighting professional development requirements for teachers living in key target market states
The Results
Collaboration between Sextant Marketing and experts across Fresno Pacific University, from administration to marketing and academic subject matter experts, resulted in numbers that surpassed expectations.
11.3%
over FY2020
Revenue Budget
5.5%
increase in units sold
FY2020 vs FY2019
82%
increase in total organic users
Jan-March 2019 vs Jan-March 2020
44%