Western Governors University is a non-profit, accredited national online university focused on removing barriers to higher education and creating pathways to opportunity. WGU hired Ceisler Media to raise its public profile in Pennsylvania and forge partnerships to better serve the needs of students from historically underrepresented communities.
Ceisler Media developed a comprehensive strategy to establish WGU as an innovator and thought leader in education and workforce development.
Ceisler team members worked with WGU to identify organizational milestones and help develop a comprehensive media engagement strategy. We were able to place a variety of op-eds, LTEs and other thought leader pieces in publications across the northeast region.
To establish itself as a valued thought leader in the commonwealth, WGU weighed in on issues ranging from broadband accessibility to changing workforce needs to the key role that immigrants play in our economic recovery. These placements were instrumental to support the overarching goal of establishing WGU as an innovator and influencer in higher education.
Throughout this project, it was important to communicate that WGU is not a competitor of Pennsylvania’s existing educational institutions but aims instead to help fill in access gaps and serve students whose needs are not met by traditional educational programs. Messaging focused on how WGU’s online, competency-based educational model allows students to earn a college degree while balancing work and family responsibilities.
A final and crucial part of Ceisler Media’s strategy to develop WGU’s presence in Pennsylvania included helping the school build partnerships and establish relationships with organizations, community leaders and influencers who possessed a shared interest in WGU’s work. Ceisler Media worked collaboratively with chambers of commerce, educational institutions and community and civic organizations to help build enduring relationships that serve the needs of Pennsylvania students and help bolster the state’s pipeline of workforce talent.
Ceisler Media’s efforts surpassed the project’s initial goals by a margin of at least 2-to-1 and in some cases, by as much as 4-to-1. Ceisler Media helped WGU establish itself as a thought leader across eastern Pennsylvania and the school has now begun to expand its foothold in the northeast region of the United States.
In total for 2020-2021, our firm placed 25 major regional media placements and 5 major placements in other media markets, plus 18 regional thought leadership placements and 5 thought leadership pieces in other media markets. Additionally, we connected the school with 21 potential partner organizations and 26 individual influencers across eastern Pennsylvania. Finally, we helped WGU organize 6 public-facing webinars to further establish themselves as a leading regional voice.
The content Ceisler Media has helped develop and place on behalf of WGU has been adopted as a template for placements in other states outside of Ceisler Media’s scope other markets.