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The Project

Swiss Hotel School

Swiss Hotel School

Filling Every Seat: Driving Student Recruitment Through Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

The Challenge

Swiss Hotel School South Africa needed to generate a sustained flow of high-quality student enquiries and applications for its 3-year full-time Bachelor of Hospitality Management and 3-year full-time Professional Culinary Arts programmes. The objective was not simply to generate website traffic, but to attract prospective students genuinely interested in enrolling in multi-year higher education programmes — and to convert that demand into applications and ultimately enrolled students.

Our Approach

Across the 2024–2025 campaign period, iHeart Digital managed the digital acquisition strategy with a strong focus on Google Ads → website enquiry → qualified prospective student → application → enrolment. Rather than treating Google Ads as a traffic-generation exercise, the campaign was managed around the commercial outcome: student acquisition and programme enrolment. Campaign activity included:

Search intent and keyword research
Google Ads campaign development and management
Creative artwork
Ad copy development and testing
Conversion tracking
Website conversion optimisation
Monitoring of lead quality
Campaign optimisation based on performance
Ongoing refinement of keywords and search intent
Analysis of the student acquisition journey
Integration of digital marketing activity with the school's admissions objectives

Results

Successfully filled 100% of both three-year full-time programmes
Generated a significant volume of qualified student enquiries
Supported student recruitment across the 2025–2027 intake period
Resulting enrolments represented several million Rand in student programme value
Approximately 667x indicative return on ad spend — presented as an indicative return based on the client's student-value outcome, not a disclosure of confidential revenue or advertising expenditure
Enabled the school to expand its operational capacity, including appointing a full-time co-director, as confirmed by the client

Services Delivered

Google AdsLead GenerationWebsite Conversion OptimisationDigital Marketing StrategyCampaign ManagementCreative DesignAnalytics

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