EDUCATION

More than an education PR and marketing agency.

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Communications Strategy Group (CSG®) is an education marketing agency and a leader in strategic communications and marketing solutions.

Ranging from PR, brand communications and content marketing to social media and reputation management for companies and organizations across the lifelong learning continuum.

By engaging CSG, organizations gain access to a cultivated team of strategists in communications and marketing for education companies with keen insights, established influencer relationships and the ability to surface meaningful opportunities throughout the education space — and execute on them.

CSG has worked with a diverse set of organizations, including schools, districts, state departments of education, universities and community colleges, education associations, foundations, advocacy organizations, and B2B and B2C education companies spanning the “K to gray” market.

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Clients Past & Present

K-12

Avid Logo
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Logo
created logo
Hobsons Logo
Logitech Logo
Mattel Logo
The Myers-Briggs Company Logo
Scratch Logo
Time For Kids Logo
tutor.com logo
Varsity Tutors Logo

Higher Ed

CSU Global Campus Logo
University of Colorado Logo
DeVry University Logo
Education Dynamics Logo
Educause Logo
Galvanize Logo
Lehigh University Logo
The New School Parsons Logo
Princeton University Logo
Proctor U Logo
Study.com Logo

We help companies across the education industry, including:

K-12

Higher Education

Corporate Training

Lifelong Learner

EdTech

education associations

Our Education Marketing Services

What we know about your industry is only half the story. There’s also what we can do for your business. CSG is a full-service marketing and PR agency that offers industry expertise across every essential discipline:

Public
Relations

Our dedicated team doesn’t look at public relations from a single angle, but rather, considers the entire ecosystem of news and influencers — from reporters to associations — to craft education PR strategies that make an impact.

Content
Marketing

Every piece of content has a job — that’s the cornerstone of our approach to education content marketing. We believe in clear, dynamic work that communicates value and has the flexibility to be transformed and applied to multiple channels for maximum impact. 

Digital
Marketing

Our team uses a data-driven approach to create digital marketing strategies for education that are purpose built to inspire action. Informed by behavior design and refined with industry insight, our team builds digital work that meets audiences where they are.

Creative
Services

Effective creative work communicates value and resonates with audiences in a way that serves them. Our creative services team understands that educators are busy and strives to deliver optimized work that supports and enriches educator experiences.

Crisis Communications
& Reputation
Management

Most people never think about managing crisis communications until they have to — our dedicated education reputation management team imagines every angle, so our clients can focus on what they do best.

Brand
Communications

What do audiences think when they think about your brand? What do you want them to think? Our approach to education brand communications prioritizes research to identify white space and opportunities for differentiation that distinguishes.

Internal
Communications

Messaging clarity matters as much internally as it does externally. Our team of internal communications experts know how to reach teams of educators and innovators to create alignment and buy-in, and ultimately, position our clients for success.

Social
Media

The education industry moves fast. Social media moves even faster. Our approach to social media for education marries deep expertise in both fields to create strategies and content that elevate brands and cultivate community.

Video Marketing
Services

Video creates opportunities in education marketing. Whether your institution needs to educate, inspire, connect or share, video has the capacity to find your audience where they are and bring your brand to life. We can help.

Website
Development
& Design

The education industry is vast — web-based experiences help make it manageable. From core websites to landing pages, webinars and resource hubs, education web development demands precision and efficiency. We can help.

Case Studies

Client Testimonials

Fisher-Price Logo

Do you have an agency that gives you a great idea or new perspective every call or meeting? We do — and it’s CSG. With a deep bench of big thinkers that scaffold a strong communications plan effortlessly, they mix traditional approaches with cutting-edge strategies and techniques that take your plan to the next level. Communications framework development and content marketing has been a powerful differentiator.

BRENDA ANDOLINA

DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL PR, FISHER-PRICE AND THOMAS & FRIENDS

ASCA Association for Student Conduct Administration Logo

Whether crafting targeted messages on unique issues or building measured responses to critical challenges, the CSG team was instrumental in enhancing the internal and external perceptions of our organization.

JENNIFER WALLER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASSOCIATION FOR STUDENT CONDUCT ADMINISTRATION

Educase logo

CSG’s education team quickly becomes an extension of your team and consistently delivers outcomes that have real value and advance key organizational goals.

RON ZWERIN

Former Director of Marketing Communications, EDUCAUSE

Navitas Logo

Doing excellent work that gets results isn’t enough for CSG. They’re smart, genuine people who also treat their client relationships with great care. I’m so fortunate to have them as a partner.

AVERY WAXMAN

VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS, NORTH AMERICA, NAVITAS

proctor u logo

CSG’s education team is our go-to partner for public relations and creative, outside-the-box campaigns.

FRANKLIN HAYES

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, PROCTORU

The GLOBE Program Logo

The specialized professionals at CSG have deep education expertise and understand what activities and opportunities will have the greatest impact.

RON ZWERIN

FORMER DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING, THE GLOBE PROGRAM

vertias prep logo

We knew we were hiring a top PR firm, but CSG offers so much more. It is the McKinsey of communications firms. Their team helped us define and achieve our most audacious and important goals. Hiring CSG was one of the wisest business decisions I’ve ever made.

CHAD TROUTWINE

CEO, VERITAS PREP

Why Is Education Marketing
Important for You?

A robust education marketing strategy gives your organization the messaging and tactics to connect with audiences — wherever they may be — and demonstrate value. Whether we’re inspiring single working mothers to pursue higher education with a PR campaign, connecting a global network of K-12 students and educators to a science education program through social media platforms, or bringing creativity, active learning, self-awareness, SEL or a host of other learning solutions into the classroom, CSG marries authentic understanding and next-gen tools to bring an organization’s messages to life and share them with the world. We help find the educators, students and decision makers organizations need, and inspire action in the service of critical goals.

What Is Education Marketing?

Education marketing is a specialization within a specialization. Our team of dedicated education strategists pushes beyond marketing excellence to layer on industry expertise and immersion. Whether supporting K12, HiEd or EdTech clients, our team knows the levers to pull and the messages to deploy to demonstrate value and excellence and spark excitement in audiences ranging from students and teachers to parents and administrators.

Why CSG? We Know Education.

We are a dynamic team of education strategists with deep expertise.

For decades, we have served our clients with a singular focus: Helping education organizations activate their opportunities and achieve their business objectives.

We develop education content marketing that gets results.

Contemplating the entire customer journey, we use behavior design-driven content to raise awareness, drive leads, convert prospects and build champions for the brand.

We build thought leadership.

We have developed platforms for countless teaching executives and organizations that compel, inspire and engage target audiences. As an education PR agency, we amplify intellectual capital to and through influential individuals and organizations, and we are experts in establishing valuable thought leadership and industry authority for our clients.

FAQs About Education Marketing Agencies 

Selecting the right digital marketing agency for education is critical for helping your educational institution meet its marketing goals, build trust, enhance reputation and boost visibility. To understand if an agency’s abilities align with your unique objectives, consult its case studies, reviews, past clients and accolades. Evaluate education marketing agencies based on proven success in achieving similar objectives to your goals, industry knowledge and reputation and creative and savvy tactics. After narrowing down a few options, meet in person to determine the best fit for your organization.

K12 and higher education digital marketing agencies should measure results at every turn to prove success and monitor every tactic’s effectiveness. A variety of key metrics can be used to measure success depending on the educational institution’s unique goals — application rates, website traffic, email marketing conversions, social media engagement and/or overall enrollment numbers. 

The best way K12 and higher education digital marketing agencies stay on the pulse of effective marketing tactics is by analyzing and understanding student behavior and preferences. As the education industry continues to evolve, so do students’ goals and challenges. Knowing exactly who today’s students are and what they want is key to developing and executing digital marketing strategies that incorporate inbound marketing to solve institutions’ enrollment challenges.

The process of working with a K12 or higher education marketing agency might involve a request for proposal (FRP), which describes your organization’s unique needs and marketing goals. After selection, the chosen education marketing agency will conduct an initial kickoff meeting/planning session for working together. Then, the education marketing agency develops a strategic marketing plan unique to your organization before moving into the implementation phase. Once the plan is in motion, you can expect education marketing agencies to provide regular reports and adjust the plan based on performance data. 

Educational institutions vying for enrollment increases in the high-pressure ecosystem of higher education need to have a solid plan backed with data, experience and industry intuition, to attract and hold prospective students’ attention and stand out from their competition. While every educational institution needs a marketing strategy that is unique to its brand, some overarching digital marketing strategies are critical to boosting enrollment efforts: 

  1. Develop strategic digital campaigns- It’s no secret that prospective students spend considerable time in the digital world. To reach and resonate with your higher education institution’s target audience, ensure your marketing strategy features a strong digital marketing component. From video and mobile marketing to paid media, SEO and SEM, leveraging the right digital marketing tactics and digital channels is key to increasing enrollment metrics. 
  2. Boost organic search- Increase traffic entering your marketing funnel through a variety of SEO strategies. First, research which searches your audience is performing most often. Next, use that research to find promising keywords to include in your content, so that search engines will be more likely to send people to your website, blog, or other material throughout their school enrollment research.
  3. Harness content marketing that resonates- Leading people to your content is half the battle; the other half is influencing their interactions with that content so that search engines know users are getting value from what you’re putting out. Enrolling at a higher education institution, with all the effort and expense that entails, is a deeply emotional decision that requires a strong bond between the institution and its audience. Make sure every piece of content marketing conveys who your organization truly is — what your values are, why you strive to help students succeed, and how you understand their motivations and concerns. This will go a long way toward building the relationships you need to achieve the right enrollees and achieve long-term inbound marketing success. 

Insights. Influencers. Intellect.

Trends. Commentary. Analysis. You’ll find them all here.

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