University of Colorado
From One to Four: How We Managed the Move from CU Online to Campus-Level Marketing Without Skipping a Beat
About
The University of Colorado system is made up of four distinct campuses—Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs (UCCS), and Anschutz Medical Campus—each offering a wide range of on-campus, hybrid, and fully online programs. As a long-standing marketing partner from 2018 - current, Swish has supported CU through both centralized and decentralized models, helping drive enrollment growth, improve marketing operations, and build scalable, data-driven infrastructure across all four institutions.
Length of Relationship
2018 - present (7+ years)
Modalities Supported
- Fully Online
- Hybrid
- On-Campus Graduate and Undergraduate Programs
Marketing Objective
Drive qualified leads and completed applications for academic programs while minimizing internal competition and maintaining distinct brand identities
CRM & Marketing Automation Platforms
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud
- Pardot
- Slate
Primary KPIs
- Cost per Lead (CPL)
- Total Leads
- Lead Quality (based on CRM-defined conversions)
- Application Starts/Complete (Count, Cost per, Conv. Rate)
- Enrollments (Count, Cost per, Conv. Rate, ROAS)
The Challenge
Since 2018, Swish had successfully managed centralized digital marketing initiatives for the entire University of Colorado system under the CU Online brand. But in 2022, CU leadership made the strategic decision to decentralize marketing—tasking each campus (Denver, Boulder, UCCS, and Anschutz) with owning its own campaigns, tech stack, and performance goals.
What had previously been a single, streamlined effort quickly became four distinct tracks—with each campus having separate stakeholders, meetings, creative reviews, billing workflows, CRM systems/integrations, and reporting needs.
Adding to the complexity, many departments had upcoming degree programs in the pipeline that mirrored offerings at other campuses—raising early concerns about future audience overlap and internal competition.
Swish was brought in to lead the transition—tasked with maintaining (and improving) performance while scaling operations to support the unique needs of each campus.
The Approach
Swish served as the strategic and executional partner across all four campuses, managing $375K+ in monthly paid media with a unified operational backbone powered by automation. We rebuilt the entire digital ecosystem—including ad accounts, landing pages, CRM automation, and reporting dashboards—ensuring all campuses could operate independently while benefiting from centralized efficiencies. A key focus was avoiding internal cannibalization by aligning messaging, segmenting audiences, and staggering media placements across campuses and programs.
- Built bi-directional lead delivery workflows using Zapier to connect each campus’s CRM (Salesforce Pardot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Slate) with ad platforms and our internal ETL/reporting systems
- Streamlined attribution strategy to track both:
- Causal impact via client-reported CRM conversions (treated as source of truth)
- Correlative impact via ad platform-reported conversions (used to optimize in real time)
- Causal impact via client-reported CRM conversions (treated as source of truth)
- Rebuilt digital infrastructure from the ground up, including:
- Creation of four new ad accounts (Meta, Google, LinkedIn, etc.)
- Migration of campus landing pages to new subdomains
- Consolidation of all lead data into a unified BigQuery warehouse • Rebranding of all paid media creative (social, display, and video) for each campus
- Developed a three-tiered strategy to prevent internal cannibalization among overlapping programs:
- Divide & Conquer: Split ownership by geography, audience type, or media channel
- Collaborate & Combine: Co-funded, co-branded campaigns with shared landing pages and segmented lead nurture
- Acceptance: Reserved for unavoidable overlap, with clear communication protocols and performance benchmarks
- Activated CRM-based audience pipelines using Zapier and direct platform integrations—leveraging lead, application (start/complete), and enrollment stage data (admit, deposit, enroll) to test new targeting and optimization strategies designed to maximize CPC & CPL
The Results
01
$1.5M
- Managed in annual media spend across four independently operating campuses, driving scalable performance with measurable efficiency gains.
-
02
21K+
Leads generated across all campuses in 2025, fueling consistent enrollment growth and proving strong campaign reach.
03
+37%
- Lift in click-to-lead rate Y-O-Y, reflecting stronger funnel efficiency and improved lead quality across all campuses.
04
-20%
- CPL drop Y-O-Y across campuses, showing effective budget optimization and more efficient use of media spend.
01
5 months
- Of consecutive CPL improvement, showing consistent optimization and sustained efficiency.
02
-20%
CPL drop Y-O-Y while total leads remained nearly flat, proving more efficient results without sacrificing volume.
03
<$40 CPL
Maintained for 9 of 12 months, highlighting strong and steady cost control across campaigns.
04
27.5%+ CVR
Held in 18 of 20 months, demonstrating consistently strong conversion performance and reliable campaign quality.
01
-30% CPL
Cost per lead dropped Y-O-Y, reflecting cost savings and stronger campaign performance.
02
+45% CVR
Conversion rate increased Y-O-Y, demonstrating that optimized campaigns delivered more leads per engagement.
03
-34%
Media spend decreased Y-O-Y while generating only 6% fewer leads, showing highly efficient budget management.
04
2 new
New degree program launches for BS in Nursing and BS in Health Science exceeded enrollment targets and filled seats ahead of schedule.
01
~5% CVR
Conversion rate maintained during major campaign expansion, demonstrating scalable infrastructure and effective optimization strategy.
02
ROAS
Return on ad spend remained strong during campaign expansion, proving efficient and profitable media investment.
03
1,200+
Leads generated from first-ever paid media efforts over eight months, establishing a strong foundation for future campaigns.
