Colleges do not need another campaign.
They need a clearer enrollment system.
Stephen Dill helps educational institutions diagnose the gaps between mission, messaging, student experience, and enrollment performance, then builds the practical plan needed to restore confidence and growth.
Higher-ed marketing, enrollment strategy, institutional diagnostics, and marketing leadership since 2011.
Enrollment pressure is rarely a one-part problem.
Soft enrollment, weak lead generation, unclear messaging, low conversion, and outdated digital experiences are usually symptoms of a broader institutional system that has fallen out of alignment.
Students are evaluating colleges differently. They expect flexibility, clarity, digital confidence, human relevance, and a compelling reason to believe the institution understands their future. When the message, experience, and enrollment pathway do not align, even strong institutions can struggle to be understood.
The enrollment system Stephen evaluates
Twelve interdependent touchpoints. Most institutions assume the problem lives in one of them. It rarely does.
Messaging
01What the institution stands for, and whether prospective students can hear it clearly.
Admissions
02The inquiry, application, and yield pathway as it is actually experienced.
Financial Aid
03How affordability is communicated, packaged, and explained at the moment of decision.
Marketing
04The strategy, calendar, channels, and creative work that carry the message to market.
Website Experience
05The single most consequential touchpoint between the institution and a prospective student.
Student Experience
06The lived reality of being a student here, and what that quietly tells prospects.
Campus Experience
07Tours, signage, hospitality, and the sensory texture of a campus visit.
Internal Communications
08Whether faculty, staff, and leadership tell a coherent story to the people they meet.
PR and Alumni Relations
09Earned visibility and the credibility carried by graduates over time.
Development
10How philanthropy, brand, and enrollment narratives reinforce one another.
CRM and Automation
11The systems that decide whether interested students are remembered and followed up with.
Leadership Alignment
12Whether the board, president, and cabinet agree on what the institution is trying to become.
Diagnosis before tactics.
Stephen's methodology is to assess the institution in depth, identify the gaps, recommend practical solutions, assemble the right resources, and help the team implement the plan.
- 01Assess the institution
A deep diagnostic across messaging, admissions, marketing, digital experience, student experience, and leadership alignment.
- 02Identify the gaps
Name the misalignments — where the story, the systems, and the student experience are out of phase with each other.
- 03Align the strategy
Translate the diagnosis into a practical plan with priorities, sequence, and clear ownership across the team.
- 04Implement the plan
Assemble the right internal and external resources and help the team carry the work through to results.
Built for educational institutions under stress.
Many institutions are still relying on pre-pandemic assumptions while students now expect more flexibility, clearer pathways, stronger digital experiences, and greater evidence of value.
The demographic decline, remote learning expectations, and the rise of AI have created a very different recruitment challenge.
One story, ten interconnected decisions.
The campus experience, digital experience, and admissions experience are not separate. To the prospective student, they are one story.
Experience across the full institutional landscape.
- Naropa University
- Wheelock College
- MassBay Community College
- Cottey College
- Northeastern University, Bouvé College of Health Sciences
- The Graduate Institute
- State Street Corporation
Practical work. Measurable signals.
Enrollment increase over three years at Naropa University, with 40% of students remote-only.
Three-year increase in organic search traffic to wheelock.edu.
ROI on Wheelock's integrated advertising campaign in FY14–FY15.
At MassBay, implemented SEO and lead-generation systems, optimized media spend, and supported the rapid transition to fully remote operations.
At Cottey, built marketing systems, redesigned enrollment collateral, and shifted the campus toward a marketing-conscious culture.
What colleagues have said.
“While Stephen's title was Marketing, his influence was felt throughout the Wheelock campus and community. We relied on his sharp eye to improve our presentation everywhere: building maintenance, campus tours, signage, alumni messaging, new academic programs, PR, dining hall menus, the list was endless.”
“When I first met with Stephen, I asked him to pull no punches. I wanted to know what it would take to turn Cottey into a marketing-conscious community and to grow the global awareness of this amazing women's college.”
“You were successful because of your combination of expertise and personality. You have a way of taking charge of a situation in an enjoyable manner. Lots of humor and banter that softens the impact of change.”