Milton Hershey School

Reaching the Right Families, All Year Long: Shifting to a Digital-First Enrollment Strategy

About

MHS is a world-class private, pre-K through 12th grade boarding school for children from low-income families. The school provides comprehensive care for every student, including housing, healthcare, meals, clothing, and an exceptional education—with all costs covered.

Length of Relationship

2021-Present (4 years)

Main Objectives

Enrollment and event support

Primary KPIs

Cost per Application (CPA)
Total Applications
Lead Quality
Event Registrations

The Challenge

For years, Milton Hershey School’s student recruitment efforts were centered around in-person events led by a small but dedicated team of Admissions Counselors. While these events helped build trust with families, they were limited by geography and timing — and not scalable enough to support the school’s long-term growth goals.

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As MHS sought to increase enrollment to serve even more students in need, the Admissions team needed a more strategic, more sustainable approach to awareness and lead generation. That meant reaching the right families, at the right time, wherever they were.

The Approach

Help MHS shift away from a seasonal, event-driven model to an always-on digital strategy. Instead of focusing only on traditional tactics and big enrollment events, we built a campaign ecosystem designed to drive consistent, high-quality leads throughout the year.

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Key initiatives:

Precision targeting. Using census zip code data, we identified and prioritized high-potential areas, allowing us to hyper-target neighborhoods that represent our core audience

Always-on presence. Instead of relying on in-person events with high staff involvement, we maintained consistent visibility year-round — meeting families where they already are, with messaging that speaks to their values and concerns.