How Redeploying a Scholarship Improved Submissions by 1000%
Goal: It’s not a lot to consider. It’s simply something that you want to do and/or something that you want to be. It’s a lot, and it’s nothing at all.
Key Tasks:
- Redesign Scholarship Application
- Revamped the scholarship application to improve usability and appeal, making it more accessible to a broader audience.
- Develop New Copy
- Crafted compelling and clear copy that accurately reflected the updated scholarship application process.Ensured the new copy resonated with potential applicants, highlighting the scholarship’s value and appeal.
- Outreach to Promote the Scholarship
- Conducted targeted outreach to promote the scholarship, focusing on major directories and educational platforms. Secured listings and features in key scholarship directories, increasing visibility and attracting a larger pool of applicants.
- Analyze and Compare Key Performance Indicators
- Monitored and analyzed key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the impact of the redesigned application and outreach efforts. Compare pre- and post-rebranding metrics to evaluate the success of the new strategies and identify areas for further improvement.
Project Summary: Our company’s scholarship program had been around for a few years, but only received a handful of submissions every semester. While the scholarship was important for our company ethos we also wanted to have more impact and use the scholarship to improve traffic to our site.
The scholarship itself was focused on older adults, which made sense considering our company’s core audience, but it also limited the reach of the scholarship itself. For that reason we decided to rebrand the scholarship and redeploy the application with a new focus.
This focus allowed us to attract more submissions and helped us develop important social media materials that impacted our brand recognition and engagement.
What I Learned:
This project was an eye-opening experience in understanding the strategic importance of focusing our efforts on the most valuable segments of our audience. The 80/20 rule, which suggests that 80% of your results often come from focusing on the top 20% of your clients or efforts, became a guiding principle throughout the campaign. I learned that by concentrating our work on the most impactful outlets and the most promising applicants, we could maximize our results while optimizing our resources.
In the context of our scholarship promotion, this meant that instead of trying to reach as many outlets and applicants as possible, we strategically focused our outreach on the top 20%—those directories, platforms, and audiences that were most likely to produce meaningful engagement and high-quality submissions. This targeted approach allowed us to not only increase the number of submissions but also attract applicants who were more closely aligned with our scholarship’s goals and values.
Results and Final Presentation