Admissions marketing audit for colleges

Find the applicants you are losing.

We follow your applicants from the first ad to enrolment day: the open event, the enquiry, the interview and the offer. Then we show you where they drop out, and what to fix first.

  • Ads by course and event, judged on applications, not clicks
  • Open event pages and booking, tested from a 16-year-old's phone
  • Reminders and offers: who reads them, by email and on WhatsApp
  • A ranked plan, and a call to walk your team through it

HubSpot Platinum Partner · Google Partner · Meta Business Partner

  • Oaklands College
  • Brockhurst and Marlston House Schools

Ask about an audit

We reply by email to arrange a free first call. Prefer to pick a time yourself? The calendar is just below.

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Pick a time for your audit call.

A free video call with Ifigenia Arampelou, our Chief Marketing Officer, from the team behind Oaklands College's admissions journey.

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Oaklands College

What one college changed.

Oaklands College runs admissions on HubSpot and WhatsApp, with ads and open events planned together.

  • +160%same-day applications at the October 2025 open days, with ads and WhatsApp working together
  • 453of 532 offer holders email could not reach, reached on WhatsApp
  • 63,454WhatsApp messages sent for the college by 8 October 2026

Oaklands College case study (2026); enrolment invitations, July 2026; Flowella reporting, 8 October 2026.

Scope

What the audit covers.

Every step between a search and a first day.

  • Paid media

    Google and Meta campaigns by course and event, and what each one brings in.

  • Open event pages

    Booking, reminders and what happens after the visit.

  • Applicant records

    One record per applicant, or enquiries spread across inboxes and spreadsheets.

  • Follow-up

    Interview and offer reminders, to the student and a parent, by email and WhatsApp.

  • Out of hours

    What an applicant gets when they ask a question at 23:47.

  • Reporting

    Applications and enrolments by campaign, not just clicks.

Why the channel matters

The same applicants. Five times the reads.

Reminders and offers at Oaklands go out on WhatsApp as well as email.

  • WhatsApp messages read83.7%
  • Emails read or opened15%

5xmore messages read on WhatsApp than email, by the same applicants

August 2025 to August 2026. Oaklands College case study (2026) and Flowella reporting.

The method

How the audit runs.

People first, then systems, then a plan you can act on.

  1. Listen

    Short workshops with your admissions and marketing teams, and surveys or interviews with applicants and parents, so we know where they drop out.

  2. Look

    Your ads, open event pages, booking, reminders and offers, checked as an applicant and a parent would meet them.

  3. Rank

    Each finding placed on an impact and effort matrix: quick wins, major projects, fill-ins and the ones to drop.

  4. Plan

    A plan on a page, in order, and a call to walk your team through it. You can run it yourselves or with us.

“We've been working with Discover Digital since October 2024, and they have been an invaluable partner in helping Oaklands College enhance our student recruitment/engagement and marketing effectiveness.”

Peter HudsonDirector of Admissions, Brand & Customer Innovation, Oaklands College. Review on HubSpot's Solutions Directory, November 2025.

Read the Oaklands College case study

Questions from colleges.

Can you look at our student records system too?

Yes. For Oaklands College we connected the student records system to HubSpot, so the full applicant list arrives every hour. The audit shows whether that would help you.

Do applicants really read WhatsApp?

At Oaklands College, 83.7% of WhatsApp messages were read, while 15% of emails to the same applicants were read or opened (August 2025 to August 2026). Read what 63,000 messages taught one college.

We are not on HubSpot. Is the audit still useful?

Yes. We look at the journey and the data, whatever runs it today, and the plan says what to change on the systems you have.

Do you take a percentage of our ad budget?

Never. You pay the ad platforms directly, and we charge for the work.

How much does it cost?

It depends on the size of your college and how many systems we look at. The first call is free. Project work is £992 a day, plus VAT, and we agree a fixed price with you before we start. See our pricing.

Your next applicant is choosing a course tonight.

Ask about an audit, or pick a time to talk it through.

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