KW2

Traditional higher education marketing has relied on the assumption that audiences believe in the value of a college degree. But recent trends suggest that institutions need to shift their strategies and earn their prospect’s trust before their claims of value will land effectively.

That means bringing messaging into campaigns to honor the realities, barriers, and aspiration of its audiences.

🔗Read the full article and discover how thoughtful messaging can rebuild trust in higher education.
https://kw2marketing.com/articles/student-value-messaging

Why value messaging alone isn't enough to reach today's students Avoid pushing students further away

🚨We're hiring!

KW2 is seeking a Media Coordinator to join the team. If you enjoy working collaboratively, are passionate about meaningful work, and are interested in launching your paid media career, we'd love to hear from you.

🔗Learn more and apply: https://kw2.bamboohr.com/careers/6?source=aWQ9Mw%3D%3D

Media Coordinator The Media Coordinator helps support both digital and traditional media buying activities at KW2. You will work collaboratively with the rest of the media department to initiate, implement, optimize, and report on media plans. Roles and Responsibilities Work with digital and traditional media planner...

A day at the ballpark with the best team around! ⚾

KW2 spent the day at the Brewer's game for our annual summer party, taking time to connect, celebrate, and be together. We're grateful to be surrounded by good people doing good work for a good purpose.

Enjoy some highlights from the day!

Paid search works—but who might you be missing? Students don’t start their journey with a search. They build it over time. When most prospective students never click an ad, awareness channels help you reach prospects earlier and strengthen enrollment performance.

🔗Read the full article to learn how your institution can show up stronger when students are ready to search.

https://kw2marketing.com/articles/dont-get-funnel-vision

Why enrollment growth requires more than lower-funnel marketing Why enrollment growth requires more than lower-funnel marketing.

Colleges must now face a difficult truth: the value of higher education, no matter how well substantiated, is irrelevant if people don't believe in it.

KW2’s latest article, “Bridging the Higher Ed Trust Gap”, examines this question and the growing trust gap facing colleges and universities.

If you’re thinking about the future of enrollment marketing, this article offers actionable strategies for reaching audiences that traditional higher-ed messaging may not resonate with. Discover insights on how to reconnect with prospective students and build a stronger recruitment strategy.

Read about the future of higher-ed recruitment: https://kw2marketing.com/articles/bridge-higher-ed-gap

Closing the trust gap: a new playbook for higher education enrollment marketing Why value messaging alone isn't enough to reach today's students

It’s live!

We’re proud to announce the newly redesigned Mid-State Technical College website. This launch represents months of collaboration, problem solving, and thoughtful design.

Together, we created a simpler, student-focused experience that
- Highlights clear pathways
- Prioritizes student’s experience
- Streamlined navigation and content
- Enhances visibility and exploration

The result? An accessible resource designed to help students explore, learn, and act efficiently. We’re incredibly proud of this partnership and the team behind it.

Check it out! https://www.mstc.edu/

Mid-State Technical College Finding Success in the Arborist Lab Where your grit becomes greatness. Finding Success in the Manufacturing Lab Where your grit becomes greatness. Finding Success in the Clinic Where your grit becomes greatness. Finding Success in the Shop Where your grit becomes greatness. Finding Success in the Ki...

We're proud to share that Josh Skowron, Account Manager, was published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal—alongside our partners at Wisconsin Department of Health Services , REACH, and the Wisconsin Cancer Collaborative.

This Brief Report, "Prevention Through Partnerships: Empowering Parent-Child Discussions About the Risk of Alcohol and Cancer," highlights a campaign KW2 helped lead in Calumet County, where nearly 1 in 4 adults report binge drinking. The team found a compelling result: cancer is proving to be a powerful entry point for getting parents talking with their kids about underage drinking, driving a 31% engagement lift compared to messaging focused on more well-known risks.

Nice work, Josh—and thank you to everyone who made this report possible👏

Read the full report: https://wmjonline.org/124no4/mccall/

Prevention Through Partnerships: Empowering Parent-Child Discussions About the Risk of Alcohol and Cancer Catherine McCall, MS; Allison Antoine, MPH; Sarah Kerch, MPH; Joshua Skowron; Noelle K. LoConte, MD WMJ. 2025;124(4):368-370. Download full-text pdf. ABSTRACT Background: Alcohol use is increasing in Wisconsin. We aimed to improve a state public health campaign around youth drinking to increase awar...

Losing admitted students to the costly summer melt phenomenon? Mapping student communication can dramatically improve student yield – keeping students connected throughout their enrollment journey, from acceptance to the first day of class.

🔗Read the full article and learn how to rally your strategic enrollment team around streamlined communication and keep admitted students engaged.

https://kw2marketing.com/articles/reduce-summer-melt-with-these-student-yield-strategies

Reduce “summer melt” with these student yield strategies How better enrollment communications can reduce summer melt 

We are so grateful to Jennifer Savino, CEO of KW2, for her insightful presentation at TEMPO Madison Inc.’s Winter Luncheons. Jen shared the influences that shaped her journey as a business owner and led us through a powerful exercise to claim our strengths—no disclaimers, no imposter syndrome. We were proud to have a full table of KW2 staff in attendance.

Thank you to TEMPO for hosting us!

Soup, snacks & Super Bowl ads — we hosted the inaugural KW2 SOUPer Bowl! 🥣🏈✨

KW2ers brought homemade soups to share and entered the soup-making competition while we watched the best Super Bowl commercials from this year and years past.

To taste, people brought at least one non-perishable food donation and received a taste-testing bowl.

Categories & Winners:

Best Overall = Ali’s Thai Meatball Soup

Best Presentation = Allison’s Pho Ga

Most Creative = Tim’s Spicy Peanut Pumpkin & Georgia’s Mulligatawny

We collected two sizable boxes of donations for St. Vincent DePaul food pantry — thank you for helping our community!

Everyone brought their best recipes and appetites, and it was a delicious, heartwarming day.