How FTA Global Rebuilt Sigma University’s Admission Marketing (25% Admissions Growth, 11+ Programs)

Sigma University is a multidisciplinary private university based in Vadodara, Gujarat, offering undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma, and doctoral programs across Engineering, Management, Pharmacy, Design, Law, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Hotel Management, Computer Applications, Science, Commerce, and Allied Health Sciences.

With multiple programs competing for different student segments during a limited admission window, paid media needed to account for differences in course demand, geography, student intent, and application behavior.

The Challenge

Sigma University needed to increase qualified admission inquiries and applications while reducing the cost of acquiring prospective students.

Application fees had increased from ₹100 to ₹250.

Applications fell from about 6,300 to 5,800, even as actual admissions grew by 25%.

The change made one issue clear. Lead and application volume alone could no longer be treated as the primary measure of performance.

Lead attribution added another layer of complexity.

Large volumes of leads from multiple publishers were being pushed into the CRM, limiting visibility into individual source performance and making the lead-to-application journey difficult to evaluate accurately.

Campaigns also needed stronger program segmentation, remarketing, conversion tracking, and reporting.

The admission strategy therefore had to identify where genuine student intent existed and direct budget toward programs and locations with a higher probability of conversion.

The Strategy

FTA Global built the admission marketing strategy around high-intent acquisition and application generation.

Program-led campaign structure

Campaigns were separated by program category so budgets, search intent, creatives, and performance could be evaluated independently.

Engineering, Pharmacy, Management, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Design, Law, Science, Commerce, Computer Applications, and Hotel Management received dedicated campaign consideration.

Historical data led prioritization

Previous year backend data was used to identify stronger locations and program categories.

This allowed media investment to reflect historical admission behavior instead of distributing budgets evenly across programs.

Higher intent conversion journeys

We prioritized website conversion campaigns over broad lead-form acquisition where possible.

The objective was to bring prospective students closer to program information and application journeys before capturing the conversion.

Audience-specific acquisition

Student audiences were segmented by education background, program interest, and decision-making role.

FTA Global developed separate audience considerations for students, parents, diploma aspirants, commerce streams, and science streams.

The Execution

FTA Global conducted a complete audit of Sigma University’s Google and Meta advertising accounts.

Google Search campaigns were reorganized into branded and generic program-specific structures.

Search term analysis refined keyword targeting, while negative keyword strategies reduced irrelevant traffic.

Meta prospecting campaigns were segmented around program and audience intent.

Remarketing campaigns were introduced using website visitors and platform engagement audiences to re-engage students already familiar with the university.

Static and video creative requirements were developed around individual programs rather than broad university-level messaging.

Google Demand Gen and YouTube supported consideration among prospective students who required more information before applying.

Landing page recommendations focused on improving the mobile experience and reducing friction between ad interaction and application.

Conversion tracking was strengthened across platforms, while CRM mapping was reviewed to create a clearer connection between media source, inquiry, application, and eventual admission.

Looker Studio dashboards were also introduced to provide transparent program-level reporting and support faster budget decisions.

The Outcome

The new structure gave Sigma University a clearer framework for managing admission marketing across a large and diverse program portfolio.

Program-level budget decisions could be made rather than across one consolidated campaign pool.

Search campaigns were better aligned with student intent.

Meta prospecting and remarketing had clearer roles within the admission journey.

Historical admission data began informing geographic and program prioritization.

Improved tracking and reporting created a stronger foundation for understanding the journey from inquiry to application and admission.

Most importantly, the program moved away from treating lead volume as the primary success metric.

The focus shifted to prospective student quality, application intent, and the programs most likely to contribute to actual admissions.

What do we learn?

University admission marketing becomes more complex when program portfolios expand and lead sources multiply.

Not every inquiry has the same probability of becoming an application.

Not every application has the same probability of becoming an admission.

A stronger acquisition system therefore requires program-level segmentation, historical admission data, search intent, remarketing, and CRM attribution to work together.

Sigma University’s strategy created that foundation, giving the admissions team a clearer view of where genuine demand was coming from and where marketing investment should move next.

Services: Higher Education Performance Marketing, Google Ads, Meta Ads, Demand Generation, YouTube Advertising, Remarketing, Conversion Tracking, CRM Attribution, Performance Reporting