Appalachian State University
Building a Strong Regional Enrollment Pipeline
Overview
Archer partnered with Appalachian State University to build a scalable enrollment pipeline for online programs targeting adult learners.
Paid Media
AI-Ready Organic Strategy
Enrollment Management
The Challenge
As part of a statewide effort to expand access to higher education for working adults, the North Carolina General Assembly launched Project Kitty Hawk (PKH), a nonprofit initiative designed to help the University of North Carolina (UNC) System develop and scale workforce-aligned online degree programs.
Through this model, PKH partners with UNC institutions to design programs, provide technology and student support infrastructure, and build marketing and enrollment pipelines tailored to adult learners.
To facilitate the launch and sustainable growth of these programs, PKH engaged Archer to strengthen demand generation, optimize marketing performance, and provide tailored support to prospective students throughout the application and admissions process. Combined, these efforts set the groundwork for an integrated enrollment pipeline that connects adult learners across North Carolina with online programs at Appalachian State University (App State Online).
The Archer Approach
Archer partnered with App State Online to implement a coordinated, full-funnel enrollment strategy designed to increase program visibility, generate qualified inquiries and improve conversion performance.
Key elements of the approach included:
- Multichannel paid media campaigns across Google Search and social media platforms to capture high-intent prospective students
- Program-level campaign optimization to allocate media investment based on performance and demand signals
- SEO and organic growth initiatives, including academic thought leadership, to expand the discovery of program pages and increase inbound traffic
- Enrollment pipeline alignment, connecting marketing performance with bespoke application support and admission services, all while leveraging enrollment data to guide optimization
Partnership Outcomes
Enrollment Marketing
Generated 8,989 leads across paid media campaigns
Delivered 1.95M+ campaign clicks across search and social channels
Achieved an average $211 cost per lead (CPL) across programs
Organic
Strategy
Increased organic program page traffic to 2.8K users (+397%)
Expanded search visibility to 152K impressions (+1,008%)
Earned 87 backlinks through strategic link-building initiatives
Generated 257 organic leads (+559%)
Enrollment Outcomes
Produced 1,923 total applications across programs
Generated 1,205 admitted students within the enrollment pipeline
Resulted in 777 enrolled students across the program portfolio
