Company Overview

• Our client is a Bangalore-based education services company that helps Indian students and early-career professionals pursue MBA programs overseas, primarily in the United States.

  
  

• Their offering includes admission counselling, test preparation, visa guidance, and end-to-end support for candidates aspiring to study abroad.

  
  

• They cater to two primary segments:

  1. College graduates and final-year students looking to pursue an international MBA immediately after graduation.

  2. Working professionals with 1-5 years of experience seeking a global degree to accelerate their careers.

  
  

• As a new entrant in the market, the client aimed to build visibility, credibility, and a qualified admissions pipeline for their upcoming intake season.

Challenges and Objectives

• Being a relatively new player in the overseas MBA segment, the client faced two key challenges:

  1. Generating awareness and interest among qualified candidates in India for their overseas MBA programs.

  2. Filtering out unqualified leads to ensure the internal admissions team focused only on serious and eligible prospects - i.e., candidates who: Had valid academic credentials, Possessed a passport, and Were genuinely interested in studying abroad (not domestic MBAs).

     
     

• Their goal was to achieve 10 confirmed enrollments within 3 months through a structured lead generation and qualification funnel.

To meet this goal, Blueberg team implemented a dual-channel go-to-market strategy focused on both scale and qualification.

Performance Marketing

• We launched Meta (Facebook & Instagram) campaigns to reach Indian students, fresh graduates, and working professionals aged 21-28 who had shown interest in MBA or overseas education.

  
  

• Our team:

  1. Designed high-converting creatives and ad copies aligned with the brand’s visual identity and messaging.

  2. Conducted A/B testing to identify the best performing audience segments and ad sets.

  3. Continuously optimized based on CPL (Cost Per Lead) and qualification rate data tracked via advanced Excel dashboards.

• This campaign generated ~900 inbound leads in 3 months.

Qualification Campaign

• Post lead generation, we executed a structured qualification process to identify candidates who:

  1. Met minimum academic criteria (10th and 12th grades),

  2. Held a valid passport, and

  3. Expressed a clear intent to pursue an MBA in the USA.

• This ensured the leads handed to the client’s admissions team were serious, eligible, and high-intent candidates.

University Partnership & Direct Outreach

• In parallel, we ran a Bangalore-focused outreach initiative to establish partnerships with reputed universities like CMR University and SVMIR.

• Through these partnerships, we gained access to direct student communities, enabling our team to:

  1. Conduct cold-call campaigns and one-on-one consultations with students.

  2. Use a consultative sales approach, helping students understand overseas MBA pathways, costs, and visa requirements.

     
     

• This approach bridged the gap and gave us oppotunity to directly interact with universities students to build awareness and action, converting interest into high-quality SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads).

Execution Overview

• Duration: 3 months

• Channels: Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram), Cold Calling, WhatsApp, Email, LinkedIn

• Lead Volume: ~991 total leads

• Qualification Funnel: Advanced filtering on academic, eligibility, and intent criteria

• University Outreach: Partnerships with 3 Bangalore universities

• Reporting: Real-time tracking of CPL, MQL → SQL conversion, and campaign performance

Results

• 91 SQLs generated through cold call & University partnership campaigns and 900 raw leads across Meta Ads.

• Target: 10 confirmed enrollments (final conversions handled by client’s internal sales team).

• All partnership deals successfully closed with 3 Bangalore universities, creating a sustained local pipeline for future intakes.

• For a new education brand, achieving 91 highly qualified SQLs in 3 months represented a strong and rapid go-to market success.

Impact & Key Takeaways

• Impact

  1. Rapid pipeline creation for a new market entrant within 12 weeks.

  2. High-quality lead pool through systematic qualification and consultative outreach.

  3. Increased brand trust and recall via direct university associations.

  4. Optimized cost-efficiency and improved lead-to-SQL ratio through data-driven adjustments.

• Key Takeaways

  1. Combining broad paid marketing with targeted consultative outreach drives both volume and conversion.

  2. Early qualification ensures sales teams focus on serious candidates, improving efficiency.

  3. Partnering with trusted educational institutions builds instant credibility and access.

  4. Continuous tracking and optimization enables data backed decision-making during GTM phases.

Why This Campaign Worked

• Blueberg’s funnel design integrated creative excellence, data intelligence, and human consultation.

• The dual-channel strategy (digital + direct) ensured both reach and quality.

• The university partnerships provided social proof and warm access to potential MBA aspirants.

• For a new brand, this was a successful GTM launch that created awareness, credibility, and measurable traction in record time.