UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX: ONLINE UNIVERSITY TO CAREER PARTNER

While there are content agencies, social media agencies, ad agencies, and brand agencies, Far From Timid is a new kind of agency for this era of rapid transformation.

By implementing an enterprise content model that unified our marketing channels and a scalable content strategy, Far From Timid helped us increase our publishing from 5 to 30 pieces of multi-format content a month in the first 6 months of our work together. This contributed to a 200% increase in website traffic year over year. The multi-format, serialized content Far From Timid created, along with its amplification and atomization, and the redesigning of our content hub increased views of our content by 200% and reduced page abandonment by 50%.

Throughout our engagement, Far From Timid’s agile methodology allowed us time and space to engage in an honest dialogue that resulted in a better work product. Far From Timid’s deep expertise in all aspects of brand experience and the digital customer journey made them an invaluable partner that we will continue to work with and trust.
–Steve Gross, CMO, University of Phoenix

CHALLENGE
In response to a shifting job marketing disrupted by the pandemic, UOPX invested in a robust content marketing initiative that would help prospects, students, and alumni navigate the non-traditional online environment, drive affinity for the brand, and empower prospects, students, and alumni toward choosing a career and life they love.

To do this, we needed to:

• Develop enterprise brand themes and an enterprise editorial calendar
• Design and execute repeatable and scalable content that included a mix of videos, articles, and infographics informed by SEO, brand themes, and external cultural forces (pandemic, racial inequity).
• Design clear customer journeys and the relevant content that would be integrated into all stages of the journey and the digital ecosystem–from awareness to conversion–marrying brand and performance marketing.
• Develop partnerships with alumni to deliver valuable and authentic thought leadership
• Redesign the content hub and it’s taxonomy to reflect new brand themes and an improved SEO strategy.

SOLUTION
Far From Timid designed the engagement in 3 parts:

• Substance: We developed a scalable multi-format (video, digital, infographics, social) content strategy tied to overarching content themes, and produced twelve content series the UOPX content team could reproduce and scale post-engagement.
• Discoverability: Publishing content alone cannot drive higher quality traffic—the content must be found through search, earned and owned platforms, and paid advertising. We redesigned their content hub for a better user experience and applied SEO best practices with a new taxonomy and design. We also developed an enterprise brand voice that could be leveraged across all channels and devised a social strategy and assets for serialized content.
• Governance: Devise and implement an omnichannel content model with content at the heart of organization for the 360 user, unifying marketing initiatives, KPI’s, and data; and facilitating a cross-channel workflow to reflect this model.

RESULTS:

• Within 5 months, content production/publishing increased 400%
• Content conversion rates increased by 23%
• Website traffic increased from 640% between 2020 and 2021
• Page views increased 424% between 2020 and 2021
• The blog is the single biggest entry point to the phoenix.edu website, accounting for 28% of visitors
• Average position in Google SERP improved 155% 4600% increase in featured snippets on Google from 2020-2021
• Average time on page increased 166% from 2020-2021
• Monthly traffic value increase over 25000% from 2020-2021

BACKGROUND
University of Phoenix (UOPX), founded in 1976, is an accredited university that provides educational opportunities to an underserved population, giving working adults the opportunity to earn an education and enhance their career without putting their life on hold. UOPX repositioned its brand to focus on its career services offerings — available to active students and graduates from enrollment to retirement — helping students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives.

UOPX’s audience is non-traditional students, typically 37 years old and older, balancing full-time jobs and, often, raising a family.

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