LSEO Case Study / Higher Education / Integrated Search + Paid Media
How LSEO Helped Launch a New Graduate Program, Generate $1.03M in Tuition Revenue, and Deliver 3,135% ROAS
The Commonwealth Medical College — now Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine — had roughly four months to build awareness for a brand-new Master of Biomedical Sciences program at a new satellite campus. LSEO built the digital acquisition engine from scratch and helped enroll nearly twice the original goal.
Reported by LSEO
vs. goal of 12
within the launch window
including media + management
Case Study at a Glance
A four-month enrollment sprint with no existing digital marketing engine.
The Commonwealth Medical College, now Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, was preparing to launch its Master of Biomedical Sciences program at a new Doylestown satellite campus. LSEO was brought in to create awareness, generate applications, and help matriculate the inaugural class under severe time and data constraints.
- Client
- Commonwealth Medical College / Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
- Industry
- Higher Education + Healthcare Education
- Campaign
- Master of Biomedical Sciences launch
- Launch Window
- January–April 2016
- Enrollment Goal
- 12 students in 120 days or less
- Core Services
- Google Ads, paid social, SEO, email, organic social, direct mail, traditional media, open houses
- Award
- 2016 US Search Awards winner for the campaign
01 / The Challenge
Launch a brand-new program in a brand-new market — with almost no runway.
The school had historically relied on traditional channels such as newspaper, radio, television, direct mail, and billboards. For the Doylestown MBS launch, there was no established digital acquisition infrastructure to inherit.
At the same time, changes in Association of American Medical Colleges policy limited access to MCAT data that had previously been useful for audience targeting. That meant LSEO could not simply reuse a familiar prospecting playbook.
The business target was unforgiving
02 / What LSEO Found
This was not a traffic problem. It was a full-funnel enrollment problem.
Generating impressions or clicks would not be enough. The campaign had to create awareness, turn interest into applications, nurture accepted applicants, and ultimately move students to enrollment. LSEO therefore designed the strategy around the admissions journey rather than any single advertising platform.
Audience construction
With historical third-party targeting data constrained, LSEO used internal demographic insights and profiles of existing MBS students to build new audiences and lookalikes.
Stage-based messaging
Prospects needed different calls to action depending on whether they were discovering the program, attending an open house, applying, or deciding whether to enroll.
Integrated channel roles
Search, social, email, open houses, direct mail, and traditional placements were orchestrated to support the same enrollment objective rather than operate as disconnected tactics.
03 / The Strategy
Build one acquisition system across digital and traditional channels.
LSEO combined paid search, paid social, SEO, email, organic social, direct mail, newspaper placements, and open houses into a coordinated funnel. Creative and calls to action were mapped to the prospect's stage of consideration.
Why this mattered
The campaign did not depend on a single channel producing a miracle. Each touchpoint had a specific job in the admissions journey, giving the school multiple ways to create demand and multiple opportunities to re-engage qualified prospects before the deadline.
04 / The Results
23 enrollments against a goal of 12 — in approximately four months.
The campaign nearly doubled the enrollment target and generated more than $1 million in direct tuition revenue from a $33,000 total marketing investment.
Enrollment performance
Campaign economics
“We engaged LSEO as our digital agency to provide us with services regarding paid advertising through Google AdWords. They also helped us to increase engagement on Facebook and LinkedIn. The knowledge that LSEO brings in terms of digital advertising … sets them apart.”Associate Dean of Admissions / Medical College
“LSEO was selected as the vendor who we believed would provide us with the best services. Based on the presentation and proposal that they gave us, LSEO showed their ability to achieve success with past partners.”Geisinger / Commonwealth Medical College client testimonial published by LSEO
Award Recognition
The campaign became an award-winning proof point for integrated search.
LSEO and The Commonwealth Medical College won a 2016 US Search Award for the work. Contemporary award coverage listed the winning campaign as “From Zero Awareness to $1,000,000 in Revenue in 4 Months” in the nonprofit / third-sector search category.
05 / What Happened Next
Success changed the institution's view of digital marketing — and expanded the relationship.
LSEO's published case study states that the school retained LSEO as its digital marketing agency of record after the launch and expanded the relationship into additional institutional priorities, including Alumni Development and Institutional Advancement.
Exceeded the business target
The campaign delivered 23 enrollments against a goal of 12.
Proved digital economics
$1.03 million in direct tuition revenue from a $33,000 total marketing investment demonstrated a dramatically different performance model from traditional-only media.
Earned institutional trust
The initial program-launch engagement expanded into broader ongoing digital marketing work.
06 / AI Search Context
This campaign predates modern AI Search measurement.
No retroactive AI attribution
The Geisinger/Commonwealth engagement documented here took place in 2016. LSEO does not attribute current AI mentions, citations, recommendations, or referral traffic to this historical campaign.
The strategic principle still applies
Modern AI-driven discovery has changed the surfaces where prospects research schools and programs, but the underlying lesson remains the same: understand the audience journey, match messages to intent, and connect visibility to measurable enrollment outcomes.
07 / Why It Worked
LSEO optimized for matriculation, not media metrics.
The funnel defined the media
Channel decisions were driven by the next action a prospect needed to take — awareness, open-house attendance, application, acceptance, or enrollment.
Data constraints forced smarter targeting
LSEO built audiences from internal student insights rather than depending on restricted MCAT-based targeting.
Every channel supported one business objective
Search, social, email, events, direct mail, and traditional media were integrated around one enrollment goal rather than optimized in isolation.
Higher-education marketing should be measured in enrollments and revenue.
Clicks and applications matter only insofar as they move qualified prospects toward matriculation.
Retargeting becomes more powerful when creative changes with the prospect's stage.
An open-house attendee should not see the same message as someone who has never heard of the program.
Integrated marketing works best when channel roles are explicit.
The campaign used digital and traditional channels together, but each tactic had a defined job in the same enrollment system.
08 / Measurement & Data Integrity
The performance figures on this page come from LSEO's published case study and contemporaneous award coverage.
Contemporaneous award coverage described the campaign budget as approximately $35,000, while LSEO's current case study reports $33,000 including media and management. This page uses the current case study figure and does not reconstruct undocumented channel-by-channel spend.
09 / FAQs
Questions about the Geisinger / Commonwealth Medical College campaign.
What was the campaign trying to accomplish?
The school needed to launch a new Master of Biomedical Sciences program at its Doylestown campus and enroll at least 12 students in roughly four months.
What channels did LSEO use?
The strategy combined Google Ads, paid social on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, SEO, email, organic social content, direct mail, newspaper placements, and in-person or virtual open houses.
How many students enrolled?
The campaign produced 23 enrollments, which was 11 above the original goal of 12 and nearly double the target.
What was the reported financial result?
LSEO's current case study reports approximately $1.03 million in direct tuition revenue from a $33,000 total marketing investment, producing 3,135% ROAS.
What award did the campaign win?
The work won a 2016 US Search Award in the nonprofit/third-sector search category for the campaign commonly titled “From Zero Awareness to $1,000,000 in Revenue in 4 Months.”
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