How a Full-Service Agency Won a Higher Education Client in the Private Liberal Arts Space
| Client Type | Higher Education Focused Full-Service Agency |
| Win | Private Liberal Arts College, Faith-Based Education |
| Verticals Served | Higher Education, Liberal Arts, Faith-Based Education, Sustainability |
The Challenge: A Higher Education Agency That Needed More Consistent Access to New Institutions
This full-service agency spent 40 years building a practice that covered advertising, brand strategy, PR, digital, and internal communications.
Over that time they developed a specific area of depth in higher education, where the marketing challenges are distinct.
Colleges and universities aren’t selling a product, they’re making a case to prospective students and families about where to invest years of their lives and a significant amount of money.
Getting that message right requires a different kind of thinking than most consumer or B2B work.
The agency understood that world, including the pressure institutions now face from the looming enrollment cliff that’s reshaping how colleges think about recruitment, retention, and brand differentiation.
But understanding a sector and consistently winning new clients in it are two different things.
They needed a program that could get them in front of the right decision-makers at colleges and universities on a regular, predictable basis.
Why Outsourced New Business Made Sense
Higher education institutions evaluate marketing partners carefully, typically through RFP processes that involve multiple stakeholders across marketing, enrollment, and academic leadership.
Getting into those conversations requires both early visibility and sustained follow-up, neither of which is easy to maintain when the agency team is focused on existing client work.
RSW/US assigned a dedicated New Business Director to work on the agency’s behalf, reaching marketing and enrollment decision-makers at colleges and universities through the RSW tech stack, and across channels: phone, email, LinkedIn, and direct mail.
The messaging spoke to the specific challenges those institutions face in standing out in an increasingly competitive enrollment environment.
How RSW/US Built the Program
The kick-off focused on what made this agency’s higher education work specifically useful to institutions under pressure.
Four decades of integrated communications experience across advertising, PR, and brand strategy gave them a robust depth of thinking.
For a college trying to articulate its mission and differentiate itself to prospective students, families, and donors, a partner who can work across all those touchpoints matters.
RSW/US built a targeted prospect list of private colleges, liberal arts institutions, and faith-based schools where the agency’s experience and values alignment were a good fit.
Outreach was designed to speak to the pressures those marketing teams were working through, including enrollment challenges and brand positioning in a landscape where small private colleges are competing harder than ever for students.
With an emphasis on the firm’s experience with mission-driven institutions, the outreach put the agency in front of the right titles.
The Result: A Win with a Private Liberal Arts College
The agency won a new client relationship with Goshen College, a private liberal arts institution affiliated with the Mennonite tradition, focused on academic excellence, community engagement, and developing students who are prepared to contribute to a complex world.
For an agency with deep higher education experience and a genuine alignment with mission-driven institutions, it was a solid fit.
The win came directly from the RSW/US program, putting the agency in front of a prospect it wouldn’t have reached through referrals alone.
Learn more about Goshen College.
Is Your Agency Getting in Front of the Institutions That Need What You Do?
If your agency has a focus on higher education or other mission-driven sectors, RSW/US can help you get in front of the right decision-makers. We build the program, generate the right meetings, and help move opportunities forward.
Want to see exactly what’s included in a full program? Explore Our Offerings
Want to understand how we work day-to-day? See Our Process
Have questions before you reach out? Read Our FAQ
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