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Client Case Study

NUS Scale

Harnessing the Power of Intent Data for Global Audience Reach

At Glance

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68.5% reduction

in CPMs (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) and CPCs (Cost Per Click)

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34% increase

 in lead volume

Background

The National University of Singapore School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (NUS SCALE) is dedicated to providing high-quality, flexible learning opportunities for working professionals. NUS SCALE offers a wide range of certificates, diplomas, degrees, and Master’s programmes designed to help individuals enhance their skills, adapt to new industries, and stay competitive in the global economy.

The school focuses on lifelong learning, empowering professionals to gain advanced knowledge in fields such as data science, business, engineering, and technology, and equipping them with the tools to succeed in the digital age. Through partnerships with top-tier global institutions and companies, NUS SCALE ensures its programmes remain innovative and aligned with market demands.

NUS SCALE offers a wide range of lifelong learning resources, from youth programmes to professional development courses.

The Challenge

NUS SCALE faced several unique challenges in effectively reaching and engaging its target audience for its specialised Master’s programmes. These included:

Global and Niche Audience

The programmes at NUS Scale cater to an international audience, especially targeting individuals from Southeast Asia and the United States who are seeking to pursue their master’s education in Singapore.

With niche offerings like Master’s of Science (Smart Industries and Digital Transformation) and Master’s of Science (Venture Creation), the target demographic is smaller and more specific compared to mainstream Master’s programmes, making it harder to attract the right prospects.

Limited Advertising Channels

Due to internal organisational complexities, NUS SCALE faced a significant restriction: they were not allowed to run ads on LinkedIn, one of the most effective platforms for targeting
professional audiences and prospective students.

No Landing Page for Programme Promotion

NUS SCALE also faced the limitation of not having a dedicated landing page where they could direct potential applicants for detailed information, programme offerings, and conversion, hindering their ability to generate leads effectively. Instead, Brew was required to leverage existing landing pages to boost engagement.

Our Approach

To address the unique challenges faced by NUS Scale in reaching their particular target audience, we took a data-driven and creative approach to engage the right people while overcoming constraints on advertising channels and landing pages. Our strategy involved:

1. Finding the Right Audience

Given the niche nature of NUS SCALE’s programs, we focused on identifying the ideal prospects who were most likely to be interested in pursuing a Master’s education in Smart Industries, Digital Transformation, and Venture Creation.

We pinpointed key audience segments, primarily from Southeast Asia and the US, who had a demonstrated interest in advanced education, career advancement, and the specialised fields offered at NUS Scale. 

This level of precision ensured that marketing spend was directed toward individuals with genuine intent, reducing wasted impressions and improving lead quality. By reaching people already aligned with NUS SCALE’s academic focus, the campaigns not only generated more relevant enquiries but also increased the likelihood of long-term enrolment conversions. 

2. Leveraging Intent Data

Another method Brew utilised to make sure we reached the most relevant individuals was intent data. This is a powerful tool that helps identify potential leads who have shown signs of interest in specific topics or services.

Intent data refers to information collected from users’ online activities that indicates their likelihood of engaging with certain topics or making a purchase decision.

By analysing user behaviour across multiple platforms and content sources, we can gain insight into a person’s intent to enrol in specialised education programs like those offered by NUS SCALE.

A diagram depicting the flow of user intent data

Intent data provides us with a clear picture of individuals who are actively researching or engaging with content related to the fields NUS SCALE covers. This allowed us to hone our focus on highly qualified leads and tailor our outreach accordingly. 

3. Using 3rd-Party Intent Data for Custom Audience Creation

We sourced third-party intent data and extracted audiences with a high propensity to engage in the specific programmes offered by NUS Scale.
Instead of relying solely on demographic assumptions, this data revealed real behavioural signals, including past searches, content consumption patterns, and program comparisons, that indicated genuine interest in postgraduate study.

By combining these insights, we built custom audience groups that closely matched the characteristics of NUS SCALE’s ideal applicants. This ensured that campaigns were guided by actual intent rather than broad targeting, helping NUS SCALE reach prospects who were already in the consideration phase of their education journey and far more likely to convert.

A chart visualising how customer intent data enables smarter audience segmentation, driving more qualified enrolment leads for NUS SCALE.

4. Digital Ads for a Custom Audience

With the identified audiences in hand, we crafted highly targeted ad creatives that resonated with their specific career goals, aspirations, and educational needs.

These creatives included dynamic messaging about the unique value propositions of NUS Scale’s programmes, such as career advancement in digital transformation and entrepreneurial opportunities in venture creation.

The custom audience ads were designed to drive both awareness and lead generation, prompting users to take action. 

Samples of digital ads Brew crafted for NUS Scale, informed by audience intent data and tailored to resonate with professionals seeking advanced, career-driven education.

5. Creating a Recruitment Video for NUS SCALE

To further strengthen NUS SCALE’s positioning and appeal, we produced a recruitment video that brought their story and campus to life.

We set out to showcase NUS SCALE not only as a world-class institution but also as a vibrant, diverse community where ambitious thinkers from across Asia come to learn, connect, and grow.

Key themes featured in the video included:

  • Life on campus at NUS, capturing its dynamic, collaborative, and globally connected environment.
  • The diversity of students from across Asia and beyond.
  • NUS’s reputation as the best university in Asia and a top-ranked institution globally.
  • The energy and vibrancy of the NUS SCALE learning experience.

 

Delivering Value and Efficiency Through Data-Driven Strategies

The strategic approach we implemented for NUS Scale significantly boosted lead generation while simultaneously reducing advertising costs. Here’s a closer look at the key outcomes:

E

34% increase in lead volume

This surge in lead generation reflects the precision of our targeting, ensuring that we were reaching individuals who had a clear intent to pursue niche, high-demand educational programmes.

The focused use of custom audience ads meant that our messaging was tailored and highly relevant, driving more qualified prospects into the funnel.

E

68.5% reduction in CPMs (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) and CPCs (Cost Per Click)

 

Despite the high value and specificity of the audience, we achieved a 68.5% reduction in CPMs and CPCs. 

By focusing on users with high intent, we were able to increase the likelihood of engagement while keeping costs significantly lower than traditional advertising approaches. With lower costs per impression and per click, we were able to help NUS Scale reach a larger audience and generate more leads for the same amount of investment.

 

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.

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