Canadian International School (CIS)
Building Brand Visibility, Driving Student Recruitment Through Digital Strategy
At a Glance
- 190 qualified event registrations generated for CIS's flagship open house event
- 30 international school keywords ranking on Google's first page
- 117.9% increase in 'Book A Tour' completions
Background
Background
The Canadian International School (CIS) is one of Singapore's leading international schools, offering the full International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum from Nursery through Grade 12. As Singapore's only Canadian international school, CIS is recognised for its bilingual English-French programme, holistic approach to education, and close-knit, family-oriented community.
Operating within Singapore's highly competitive international education sector, CIS competes alongside long-established institutions for the attention of both local and expatriate families. To support student recruitment and long-term brand growth, the school sought a digital marketing partner capable of strengthening its online visibility while delivering measurable admissions outcomes.
Challenge
The Challenge
For international schools, enrolment decisions are rarely made overnight. Parents typically spend months researching curricula, comparing schools, attending open houses, and visiting campuses before making a final decision.
CIS needed a digital strategy that could support this extended decision-making journey while delivering measurable enrolment enquiries.
At the same time, its website presented several technical SEO challenges that limited search visibility and user experience. Slow mobile performance, redirect issues, broken pages, and incomplete search optimisation made it more difficult for prospective families to discover the school organically and navigate the admissions journey.
With the school’s major annual events, such as Magical Garden and MapleFest, playing an important role in attracting prospective families, CIS required an integrated approach that combined performance marketing, technical SEO, and robust conversion tracking to maximise every marketing opportunity.
Approach
Our Approach
1. Full-Funnel Performance Marketing
When choosing an international school, parents rarely enquire after seeing a single advertisement. Instead, they spend months comparing curricula, researching school culture, attending open houses, and evaluating whether a school is the right fit for their child.
Recognising this, Brew developed a full-funnel performance marketing strategy across Meta and Google that guided prospective families from initial awareness through to event registrations, school tour bookings, and admissions enquiries.
Campaigns were developed for both CIS's flagship events and year-round admissions activity, with every stage of the funnel supported by tailored messaging, platform-specific creatives, and dedicated landing pages.
Rather than treating paid media as a one-off lead generation exercise, campaigns were continuously refined through audience analysis, creative testing, bid optimisation, and performance monitoring.
For international schools, visibility alone isn't enough. Maintaining a consistent presence throughout a parent's research journey increases familiarity, builds trust, and ensures the school remains top-of-mind when families are ready to make a decision.
Brew developed campaign creatives that highlighted CIS's globally minded education, encouraging prospective families to book a campus tour and experience its international learning environment firsthand.
Additionally, Brew produced student-led brand videos that highlighted campus life, educational experiences, and school culture, helping prospective families connect with the CIS experience in a genuine and relatable way.
2. Audience-First Campaign Strategy
Brew developed audience strategies centred around the parents most likely to consider CIS, combining demographic targeting, education interests, behavioural signals, and remarketing audiences.
Campaigns primarily focused on:
- Parents aged 25–44
- Families researching international education
- Website visitors who had previously engaged with CIS
- Lookalike audiences modelled on existing prospects
Remarketing played a particularly important role by re-engaging families who had already visited the website or interacted with previous campaigns, keeping CIS visible throughout a longer consideration period.
Delivering relevant creative to audiences already familiar with the school improves campaign efficiency while increasing the likelihood of enquiry and enrolment.
Brew developed campaign creatives that reinforced CIS's brand positioning around holistic education. Designed to drive registrations for the CIS Breakfast Club, the ads below showcased the opportunity for parents to meet educators, ask questions, and discover a school that values more than academic results.
Creative performance was reviewed continuously, with underperforming assets replaced based on real campaign data rather than fixed timelines. Across multiple campaigns, short-form vertical videos consistently generated stronger engagement and enquiries than static creatives, leading to greater emphasis on video-first storytelling.
3. Driving Attendance for High-Value Admissions Events
Open houses remain one of the most influential touchpoints in an international school's admissions process, allowing prospective families to experience the campus, meet teachers, and understand the school's culture firsthand.
Brew led the digital marketing strategy for CIS's flagship events, including Magical Garden and the school's 35th Anniversary MapleFest.
Campaign responsibilities included:
- Campaign strategy
- Media planning
- Audience segmentation
- Creative development
- Ad copywriting
- Performance optimisation
- Reporting
For MapleFest, Brew developed three creative pillars:
- Heritage & Belonging
- STEAM in Action
- Community & Campus Life
Rather than focusing purely on academic achievements, the campaign showcased the broader student experience and reinforced CIS's positioning as a nurturing, family-oriented international school
Brew developed event campaign creatives showcasing the Magical Garden Party as an immersive introduction to CIS, inviting families to explore the campus, experience its purpose-built learning spaces, and connect with teachers and school leaders.
Brew produced engaging Meta video ads designed to maximise event awareness, showcase the CIS experience, and drive registrations among prospective families.
Parents ultimately choose schools based on more than academic results. Demonstrating school culture, student wellbeing, and community helps prospective families imagine their children thriving within the environment as students.
4. SEO and Website Support for Long-Term Visibility
Alongside campaign execution, Brew conducted a comprehensive technical SEO audit to identify barriers limiting CIS's organic visibility.
Brew’s SEO team conducted a full website audit for CIS, identifying key technical issues affecting SEO performance, providing the insights needed to prioritise improvements and strengthen organic search visibility.
Based on these findings and working closely with the school's internal marketing team and third-party web developer, Brew prioritised improvements to CIS’s website, including:
- Resolving redirect chains
- Fixing broken pages
- Improving mobile performance
- XML sitemap optimisation
- Ongoing keyword tracking
- Monthly SEO recommendations
The objective extended beyond improving rankings. By strengthening the website's technical foundation, CIS would become more discoverable to parents researching international schools while providing a faster, smoother browsing experience once they arrive.
SEO creates sustainable visibility long after advertising campaigns end. Strong technical foundations improve both search rankings and user experience, helping convert organic traffic into genuine admissions enquiries.
5. Measuring the Entire Admissions Journey
To ensure every campaign could be accurately measured, Brew implemented comprehensive conversion tracking using Google Tag Manager, integrating data across HubSpot, Meta, and Google Ads.
Key actions, including:
- School tour bookings
- Event registrations
- Admissions enquiries
- Form submissions
were tracked throughout the customer journey.
Rather than relying on clicks or impressions alone, CIS could clearly identify which campaigns, audiences, and creative assets were generating meaningful admissions activity.
Why this mattered
Accurate measurement enables better marketing decisions. With complete visibility into the admissions funnel, CIS could continuously optimise campaign investment towards the channels and creative delivering the strongest business outcomes.
Results
- Magical Garden 2026, CIS's flagship open house event, generated 190 qualified registrations. Just as important, the quality of these leads improved significantly compared to previous years, with spam enquiries virtually eliminated.
- Video content was the strongest-performing format, with Meta's top-performing video ad standing out as the campaign's strongest single piece of content.
- The campaign results also confirmed it was reaching the right audience: women aged 25–44 (a key decision-making group for school enrolment) made up 85% of all conversions on Meta (Facebook/Instagram).
Technical improvements and ongoing search engine optimisation (SEO) strengthened CIS's visibility online. Key achievements included:
- 30 high-value search terms now ranking on Google's first page
- The #1 ranking spot when families search for the school by name
- More visitors coming directly to the website, and spending more time there once they arrive
These improvements contributed to a 117.9% increase in "Book a Tour" completions, showing that prospective families weren't just visiting the website, but also taking real steps toward enrolling.
Beyond campaign delivery, Brew also developed a refreshed strategic messaging platform, "More Than Scores," giving CIS a long-term creative direction to guide future admissions campaigns, open houses, parent communications, and digital marketing.
Our Approach
When Collectius came to us with significant gaps in their SEO expertise and online visibility, we tailored a comprehensive approach that was designed to overhaul their digital presence and drive measurable improvements. Here's how we proceeded:
- SEO Audit: An on-page and off-page SEO audit was conducted to identify areas for improvement
- Google Search Console Installation: Google Search Console was installed on the Collectius website to monitor and track their analytics
- Digital Content Strategy: We produced a digital content strategy pack to help Collectius enhance their SEO goals
- Backlink Acquisition: Backlinks were purchased to improve Collectius' domain ranking Keyword Research: Extensive keyword research was performed to align content and SEO strategies with relevant search trends
Comprehensive SEO Audit
We initiated our process by conducting a detailed SEO audit for Collectius. This audit was crucial in pinpointing several critical areas where the company was underperforming.
Key issues we found included suboptimal keyword utilisation, missing meta descriptions, and poorly optimised content that wasn't fully aligned with target search queries.
Having identified areas for improvement, the Brew team worked with Collectius’ web development team to implement these fixes.
Following the initial SEO audit, we conducted a focused technical SEO audit for Collectius. A technical SEO audit is a thorough examination of a website’s technical infrastructure as it relates to its visibility and performance in search engines.
It evaluates several key elements, including site architecture, page speed, mobile-friendliness, indexing, crawlability, security, and use of technologies that may impact search engine access and efficiency.
This was a critical step to ensuring that the website’s infrastructure met modern search engine standards, which is pivotal for improving search rankings and user experience. Our audit revealed several key technical issues that needed immediate attention:
Slow Loading Speeds: We identified that the Collectius website had slower than optimal loading times. Slow speeds can significantly affect user experience and negatively impact search engine rankings. To address this, we optimised image sizes, minimised the use of blocking JavaScript, and implemented more efficient caching policies to enhance page load performance.
The Lack of a Sitemap: The absence of a sitemap was another critical gap. Sitemaps are essential as they help search engines more intelligently crawl the site and understand its structure. We created and submitted a comprehensive sitemap to Google, which facilitated better indexing of the website’s pages.
Mobile Optimization: Our audit also found that Collectius’ website was not optimised for mobile users. The Brew team provided detailed guidance to Collectius' web development team on best practices for mobile optimization going forward. This included advice on implementing accelerated mobile pages (AMP), optimising button sizes and touch targets, and ensuring text readability without requiring zoom.
Tracking & Monitoring of Collectius’ Web Performance
To better monitor and track the effectiveness of our strategies, we installed Google Search Console (GSC) on Collectius’ website. GSC allows us to gain valuable insights into the site's traffic, search performance, and any crawling errors, thereby enabling us to make data-driven decisions.
With data from GSC, we can identify which pages are performing well and which might require further optimization. This helps us refine SEO strategies and target specific issues with precision.
Digital Content Strategy
Recognizing the importance of content in SEO success, we crafted a comprehensive digital content strategy pack specifically tailored to Collectius' needs.
This strategy involved developing four customer personas and two end-user personas, representing the diverse segments of Collectius' audience. These personas helped us understand the distinct needs, behaviours, and preferences of different user types that interact with Collectius' services.
From this foundation, we were able to pinpoint the types of content and topics that would resonate most strongly with each persona. Leveraging these insights, we developed a series of SEO-optimised articles.
Each article was carefully written by our copywriter who made sure that keywords used were relevant with Collectius’ offerings and aligned with the interests of potential clients.
Taking this approach allowed us to attract more organic traffic to their site and significantly enhance visibility for these targeted search terms.
Backlink Acquisition
To strengthen Collectius’ domain authority and improve their search engine ranking, we strategically acquired high-quality backlinks. This effort was aimed at boosting their profile against competitors and increasing the trustworthiness of their site in the eyes of search engines.
Through our targeted backlink acquisition efforts, we gradually improved the organic traffic to Collectius' site.
As their domain authority increased, so did their visibility in search engine results, leading to more visitors naturally finding their way to the website without the need for paid advertising.
This steady increase in organic traffic not only enhanced their online presence but also contributed to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Outstanding SEO Results for Collectius
Our comprehensive SEO strategy delivered impressive results for Collectius, significantly enhancing their online visibility and search engine performance. Here are some of the key achievements:
Significant Traffic Growth
Over a period of six months, we achieved more than a 60% increase in organic traffic to Collectius' website. This surge in visitors was a direct result of our focused improvements in SEO practices and content strategies.
Expanded Keyword Reach
There was over a 70% increase in the number of organic keywords that Collectius ranks for on Google. This expansion in keyword coverage helped broaden their visibility and reach a wider audience interested in debt collection and financial services.
Top Rankings in Local Searches
Collectius' website achieved first-page rankings on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for targeted searches in Singapore and Malaysia. Ranking on the first page for relevant searches significantly boosted their brand's visibility and accessibility in these key markets.
