EMAIL MARKETING
FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
From alumni relations to athletics to continuing education, we work where the email work actually happens.
Higher education email is more diverse than most people think. There isn’t one audience with subsets, it’s many different audiences across many different departments.
It’s managing alumni who graduated decades apart, donors at very different giving levels, athletes (and their families) who need event communications, adult learners weighing career ROI, and a bookstore trying to move merchandise before the season ends. Each of those audiences has different expectations and different reasons to open your email.
We've been working with higher education departments for more than two decades. We know how this environment works: shared governance, not shared calendars, as well as limited budgets, communications teams stretched across competing priorities, and platforms set up by someone who left years ago. We build email programs that fit the way higher education actually works.
We work with departments, not just institutions. Our typical engagement is managing email projects with groups like alumni relations, athletics, the bookstore, continuing education and individual academic departments. When it comes to technical setup and configuration, we’re here as advisory for the central institutional communications team. Whether your unit needs email expertise without navigating a university-wide procurement process, or expert assistance for an institution-wide upgrade, we can help.
WHAT WE DO
Email programs built for the departments that power the institution.
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![ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & ANNUAL GIVING]()
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT & ANNUAL GIVING
Alumni audiences are not monolithic. Recent graduates, lapsed alumni, first-time donors, and mid-level giving prospects have completely different relationships with your institution and completely different reasons to respond to email.
We build alumni email programs that treat those distinctions seriously, with segmented messaging, automated engagement sequences, and giving campaigns designed to convert, not just fill inboxes. Whether you need creative help or just tactical support, we’ll make sure your alumni and donors can stay connected.
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![CONTINUING EDUCATION ENROLLMENT]()
CONTINUING EDUCATION ENROLLMENT
Adult learners don't make enrollment decisions like traditional students, and treating them that way can miss opportunity or alienate the subscriber. CE learners weigh ROI, scheduling flexibility, and professional relevance, and do it on their own timeline.
We can help you build email outreach that meet them where they are, engage their interest and move them through the decision process without a generic drip that treats every prospect the same.
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![DEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS]()
DEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS
Athletics, the bookstore, student affairs, individual academic departments: each has its own calendar, its own audience, and recurring communications needs that can’t depend on centralized newsletter campaigns. You need to build your own relationship with your audience.
We provide professional, high quality campaign execution, template development, and audience management so your team stays focused on content and relationships, not platform logistics.
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![INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS]()
INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS
The central communications team has a different job than any individual department: keeping the institution visible, credible, and connected to its varied audiences of students, staff, alumni, parents and more. Whether you need help building templates, segmenting your audience or just sending newsletters with a consistent cadence without overloading your team, we’re here to help.
We’ll help you create or send high quality communications with clear audience segmentation and relevant outreach that doesn't cause a bottleneck for your team.
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![PLATFORM SETUP, CONFIGURATION & CRM INTEGRATION]()
PLATFORM SETUP, CONFIGURATION & CRM INTEGRATION
Email works harder when it's connected to the data that actually drives your institution. We integrate Mailchimp and other email platforms with the CRM and database systems your institution already uses, including Salesforce and other major platforms. Proper integration means your audience structure reflects real data, your automation triggers on meaningful events, and your team isn't manually moving information between systems.
If your current platform setup was built by someone who's no longer there, we can evaluate it, rebuild it, or migrate you to something that fits.
WHO WE HELP
Most of the departments we work with have a version of the same problem: a platform that was never properly configured, an audience structure that hasn't kept up with how the institution actually communicates, or a program that's technically running but has lackluster results and no one has time or expertise to determine why the numbers look the way they do.
Our higher education clients have included academic departments, alumni and continuing education teams at recognized institutions including Boston University, Merrimack College, and the University of Oklahoma, as well as online clinical institutions like Aquifer. We are also proud to have a continued, long-term engagement with the communications department at Phillips Academy Andover.
Privacy is important to our clients, and we respect that. What we can tell you is that several of those client relationships have continued for years, and we've been doing this work for more than two decades.
You Probably Don't Have an Email Specialist on Staff.
That's Fine.
Most of the teams we work with choose teams with broad skills rather than narrow expertise. Higher education communications teams are built for flexibility, not depth in any one channel, and department leaders look for the niche skills of that area, not necessarily email marketing. That's the right call for these institutions, but it creates gaps in the email program that quietly cost you.
We work as an extension of your team, whether that’s the comms team or the department admins. Your staff brings institutional knowledge, content direction, and the ability to assist with team approvals. We bring the strategy, the platform expertise, and the execution. Our workflow has been developed over years of clients and systems, and it’s simple enough that it doesn't create extra work for your team. The level of involvement varies by engagement and need, but we’re here to keep it straightforward.
Many of our first engagements start with an audit: a review of your current program, platform setup, and audience structure. From there, some teams move into an ongoing partnership, while others ask for help with a specific project. We’ve worked in all areas of higher ed email programs, including platform migrations, automation builds, and one-off campaigns. Long-term contracts are not required to get started, and we'll tell you honestly what we think you actually need.
For those using the Mailchimp platform, we are a Mailchimp Pro Partner, the platform's highest certification level, and have been a recognized Mailchimp Expert since 2015. We do work with all major email platforms, including Emma, Hubspot and iContact among others, and are happy to provide our honest, professional evaluation of your current setup to help you determine if it is or isn't the right long-term fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the common questions we hear from higher education departments about email marketing.
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Yes, and that's the most common situation we walk into. We work as an extension of your team, regardless of their expertise. You provide content direction and approvals. We handle strategy, execution, and platform management. The level of involvement varies by engagement.
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Yes. Mailchimp is our primary specialty, but we work with all major email service providers. If you're using Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Emma, HubSpot, or another platform, we can work within it. We'll also tell you honestly if we think your current platform is or isn't the right long-term fit.
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Yes. We've worked with teams at every stage, from departments that have never sent a campaign to programs sending at scale. If you're building from scratch, we'll help you choose the right platform, build your audience structure, and develop a content calendar your team can actually sustain.
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Both. We work on defined projects (examples include an email audit, a platform migration, a specific campaign) as well as ongoing engagements. Some clients work with us year-round, while others focus on the academic year. Many clients begin with a project and move into a longer relationship. We don't require long-term contracts to start.