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Kansas State University Olathe

Drives Professional Development Course Enrollment and Revenue with HubSpot Automation

K-State Olathe turns to SmartBug for HubSpot Marketing Hub expertise and solutions to automate marketing for professional development programs.

 

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Success Metrics

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1360
Course Registrations
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$ 292 K
Total Course Revenue
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$ 36 K
Earned from One Course

Background

New to the HubSpot CRM, a Kansas-based university needed to get up to speed—and fast. HubSpot referred the school to Elite partner SmartBug Media to support its small team in its efforts to efficiently implement and use the CRM to drive marketing for professional development courses.
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The Problem

The Problem

Breaking the Marketing Chasm Between For-Credit and Professional Development Programs

Kansas State University Olathe (K-State Olathe) was growing their existing business segment: professional development (non-credit) programs for area industries. But because the university primarily focuses on traditional for-credit academic programs, it didn’t have best practices in place to market non-credit seminars, workshops, and short courses. 


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But where to start?

But where to start? 

K-State Olathe sought a partner and a solution to simplify the management, automation, and user experience of its professional development (PD) events and to more effectively manage PD courses.

Despite having never used a CRM platform before, K-State Olathe knew HubSpot was the tool for digital modernization. Without it, managing PD courses across disparate systems was time-consuming and complicated—from Constant Contact marketing emails to custom landing pages to course registration with Constant Contact and Qualtrics. But thanks to expert support from SmartBug and all-in-one HubSpot automation, the university could manage all non-credit PD courses in one place.

The difference was striking. In Constant Contact, K-State Olathe’s average open rate was 11%, while Hubspot improved it to 13.39%.

“We had not previously had a solution like HubSpot available for marketing and tracking our key contacts. While we understood how it could help us, that didn’t mean that we knew how to get it configured and implemented in a successful and efficient way. We were hoping to have a team guide us through the process.”

Christine Splichal, Director of Marketing & Communications, K-State Olathe
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Our Solution

Implementing Marketing Automation
in a Snap

K-State Olathe needed to get up and running with HubSpot within 2-3 months. Given SmartBug’s reputation in the HubSpot ecosystem, the choice was obvious. The key to the collaboration? A winning combination of white-glove onboarding, support, and HubSpot Marketing Hub automation. K-State Olathe began using Marketing Hub to streamline multiple assets:   

  • Email templates matching the school’s visual identity
  • Branded landing page templates 
  • Properties, lists, and forms for workflows

Together, we created unique event campaigns, each requiring nine workflows and real-time tracking. But K-State Olathe also knew it would eventually have to ride without training wheels, so SmartBug created a comprehensive four-page guide with step-by-step instructions for daily tasks—including a nomenclature strategy for event names, emails, participants, and properties—enabling K-State to manage professional development events independently. SmartBug also recorded working sessions with the K-State Olathe team and created additional videos, so the team would have plenty of reference materials moving forward.

 

The Results

Increasing Efficiency and Driving Over $200,000 in Revenue
with HubSpot

K-State Olathe is successfully transforming its marketing approach. With the team fully trained on using HubSpot, they can execute PD campaigns independently and streamline processes. The university has achieved more than 400 hours per year in operational efficiency by centralizing all data and campaign assets. K-State Olathe reduced its tech stack to bring everything into HubSpot, so everything from email drip campaigns to landing pages is now integrated. On top of this, analytics enable tracking for conversion rates, sales pipeline progress, social media interactions, and more.

With its marketing automation efforts, K-State Olathe generated more than $292,192 in total revenue from 44 PD courses. And the university is poised to keep growing! The school’s contact list has already grown from 4,837 10,061 to 19,258370 contacts in almost two years (92.63% growth)—and there are no signs of slowing down.

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As K-State Olathe continues to stretch its marketing potential, it also continues to leverage HubSpot for new applications. Two other campuses are considering HubSpot, which would take the university from HubSpot Pro to an Enterprise package. Since our initial partnership, it has also implemented automated discount codes, no-payment registration options, and blogging and chatbot features to drive engagement and SEO.

400+
Achieved hours per year in operational efficiency
↑ 92%
HubSpot CRM contacts grew, in almost two years
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