A Student-First Strategy Maximizes Enrollment and Impact

738

enrollments directly tied to one annual brand campaign

48x

return on enrollment digital campaign investment

Over more than a decade, Carnegie’s partnership with San Juan College has empowered the school to connect with and serve more students, from traditional learners to adult returners.

Connecting with more students transforms more lives.

As one of the few community colleges in the country to offer on-campus housing, San Juan College (SJC) in Farmington, New Mexico was well-positioned to serve as a life-changing educational resource for a diverse population. But, while community members knew the school existed, they were largely unaware of the breadth of its offerings—hampering its impact and constraining its potential.

We worked with SJC to rebuild their website and craft a winning digital advertising strategy from scratch. Together, we built on each success to propel sustainable enrollment growth.

The Challenge

San Juan College serves a diverse student body, from recent high school graduates to working parents and adult learners. While offering a wide range of over 140 degrees and certificates, and uniquely providing on-campus housing, the college’s digital presence did not communicate its value and distinct offerings. Navigation and accessibility were limited, and the user experience didn’t reflect SJC’s student-first mission. Further, SJC felt their marketing efforts were too focused on one-off efforts rather than a cohesive, long-term plan. This was straining resources and causing valuable leads to slip through the cracks.

Simultaneously, SJC faced a challenge common among community colleges: Although well-known locally, their audience lacked awareness of their full range of offerings, programs, and resources. SJC needed to move beyond isolated, one-off digital campaigns to a comprehensive, brand-building strategy that would drive lasting visibility.

Our Approach

Community colleges need to be many things to many people, which makes it challenging to effectively reach different audiences with targeted messages. Our first task was to help SJC move beyond one-size-fits-all messaging by implementing an audience-first strategy that defined and targeted niche student populations.

This informed a full website redesign with new site architecture and content designed to work intuitively for all student types. This work revitalized SJC’s visual identity and messaging, both of which informed a comprehensive annual digital advertising plan. We created audience-specific digital tactics, including bilingual content. We also launched strategic campaigns to highlight unique differentiators, such as SJC’s on-campus housing, bringing visibility to what makes SJC special. To build lasting organic visibility, we implemented an SEO initiative, writing and optimizing site content to boost topical authority, ensuring SJC’s brand was discoverable across traditional search and emerging AI-powered search engines.

What Worked

A full-scale website redesign reimagined the content and architecture to embody a user-first mindset.
A comprehensive annual digital marketing plan mobilized audience-specific digital tactics, including bilingual content to resonate with key demographics.
Strategically targeted campaigns highlighted differentiators, such as SJC’s on-campus housing, which brought visibility to its unique offerings.
An SEO initiative built lasting organic visibility and boosted topical authority in high-impact areas like trades and health sciences—getting SJC found via traditional search and emerging AI-powered search.

The Results

With its digital and web strategies aligned in a larger strategy, San Juan has set the stage for sustainable growth, deeper engagement, and ultimately, meaningful enrollment gains. These results validate the strength of a comprehensive, audience-focused approach to enrollment marketing.

738

enrollments directly tied to one annual brand campaign

48x

return on enrollment digital campaign investment

+113%

increase in organic website sessions YoY

Carnegie has been more than a vendor — they’ve been a true strategic partner. From branding to a complete website overhaul and data-driven digital campaigns, their work has helped us drive meaningful enrollment growth and better serve our diverse audiences.

Rhonda Shaefer Senior Director, Marketing and Public Relations San Juan College