Mastic Media Drives Unprecedented Growth for Visible Music College

Client: Visible Music College

Partner: Mastic Media

Objective: Increase top-of-funnel marketing performance to boost qualified inquiries and applications for the institution's unique music degree programs.

Executive Summary

Mastic Media partnered with Visible Music College to revitalize its digital marketing efforts and address a multi-year challenge of converting audience interest into completed applications. Despite our scope ending at the point of application submission, our data-driven strategy delivered explosive growth at the top of the marketing funnel. We generated an unprecedented 8,494 inquiries—a 43.7% year-over-year increase—and dramatically improved the efficiency of every marketing dollar spent. This case study details how strategic media buying, platform optimization, and consultative analysis built a powerful foundation for Visible's enrollment goals [1].

The Challenge: Maximizing Impact in a Niche Market

Visible Music College is a specialized Christian institution training the next generation of musicians. The primary challenge was two-fold:

Reaching a Specific Audience: Effectively targeting prospective students who align with the college's Christian mission within the competitive higher education landscape.

Overcoming Platform Barriers: Navigating restrictive advertising policies on major platforms like Google, which penalize religious language, while still communicating Visible's core identity [1].

Mastic Media's role was defined as managing the top and middle of the marketing funnel: generating awareness, driving traffic, and converting visitors into qualified inquiries ready for the admissions process.

The Mastic Media Solution: Data-Driven Strategy & Precision Execution

We implemented a comprehensive omni-channel marketing strategy, focusing on:

• Strategic Media Buying: We continuously monitored and optimized campaigns across Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Google, reallocating budgets in real-time to the highest-performing platforms.
• Content That Connects: All advertising creative was pre-approved by Visible staff and featured authentic, Gospel-oriented messaging to resonate with the target Christian audience.
• Funnel Optimization: We overhauled landing pages for speed and clarity, implemented bot-traffic filtration, and ensured a seamless user journey from ad click to inquiry form submission [1].
• Consultative Diagnosis: Beyond campaign management, we conducted a full-funnel diagnosis to identify barriers to conversion, providing Visible with actionable, data-backed insights for long-term improvement.

Quantifiable Results: A New Standard for Performance

The partnership yielded measurable results that far exceeded industry standards, demonstrating the power of a strategically managed marketing funnel.

Top-of-Funnel Excellence: Building a Massive Prospect Pipeline

Our efforts generated a tidal wave of qualified interest, creating a robust pipeline for Visible's admissions team [1].

• Inquiry Growth: 8,494 total inquiries were generated, a massive 43.7% increase (2,581 more inquiries) from the previous year.
• Unmatched Engagement: Meta ad campaigns achieved a click-through rate (CTR) of 5.29% - 7.26%, which is 4-7 times higher than the education industry average of 1.73%.
• Unprecedented Efficiency: The cost-per-click (CPC) on Meta averaged an incredible $0.07, compared to the industry average of $2.74. This means Visible attracted attention for 97% less than its competitors.
• Massive Reach: Campaigns reached 18.66 million students and generated 225,100 visits to Visible's digital properties.

Strengthening the Middle of the Funnel

The quality of engagement improved alongside the quantity.

• Improved Conversion Rates: The inquiry conversion rate increased to 32.9%, a 17.2% improvement, meaning a greater percentage of website visitors became serious prospects.
• Technical Foundation: The website and landing pages scored a perfect 100/100 on Google's SEO PageSpeed Insights, ensuring a fast, reliable experience for all users.

The Bottom Line: A Stronger Foundation for Enrollment

While Mastic Media's responsibility concluded when a prospect submitted an application, our work directly contributed to strengthening this critical step.

• Increased Applications: The boosted inquiry pipeline resulted in 892 applications submitted during the campaign period.
• Financial Impact: Based on the institution's bachelor's degree tuition, the 892 applications represent a pipeline of potential students with a total annual tuition value of $19,624,000 ($22,000 x 892). The 43.7% increase in inquiries directly contributed to building this valuable applicant pool.

Overcoming Obstacles: How We Delivered Success

Mastic Media successfully navigated significant challenges to achieve these results:

• Google's Restrictions: We developed workarounds to include essential Christian messaging in text-based search ads despite Google's policies, maintaining campaign viability and earning praise from Google's Accelerated Growth Team for our account optimization [1].
• Data Integrity: We identified and corrected reporting errors within Visible's internal systems, providing the college with accurate, reliable data for the first time, which was crucial for strategic decision-making.
• Precision Targeting: We validated that our marketing was effectively reaching the Christian demographic, with data showing that less than 4% of applicants cited faith as a reason for not continuing, confirming our targeting accuracy [1].

Conclusion: A Partnership Built on Results

Mastic Media's partnership with Visible Music College proves that a targeted, data-driven marketing strategy can overcome industry challenges and drive substantial growth. By generating a 43.7% increase in inquiries at a fraction of the industry cost, we built a powerful and efficient engine for student recruitment. We provided Visible with not just exceptional campaign performance, but also the deep analytical insights needed to understand and optimize the entire student journey.

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Source:

• [1] End of the Year Report – Updated for January 2024.pdf. Mastic Media. (All data points, strategic analysis, and performance metrics are sourced from this document).

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