The Cyprus Maritime Academy (CYMA) is an educational institution that offers maritime-related degree programs to Greek and foreign students. In 2017, CYMA approached our company with a challenge: to help them increase their student enrolment by attracting more Greek students. Our company conducted extensive market research and developed a comprehensive marketing strategy to help the CYMA achieve its goals. In this case study, we will focus on how we prepared a communication strategy covering the objectives, target groups, and messages, taking into account budgetary concerns and pre-existing budget allocations, to create a communication campaign to be executed in Greece.

Communication Objectives

We set three communication objectives for our campaign:

1. Assuming a near-zero awareness, the summer campaign aimed to achieve a 15-20% awareness of the existence of CYMA in Cyprus and its fields of study for Merchant marine officers, as well as of the key benefits offered.
2. Communicate the fact that CYMA offers recognized Bachelor degrees.
3. Stimulate call to action by communicating the affiliation of CYMA to the University of Nicosia and by urging student candidates to visit the UNIC webpage (with link to CYMA webpage) for more information or enrolment.

Target Groups

The target groups consisted mainly of Greek candidate students who at that time were not accepted to any of the 10 state Merchant Marine Academies (MMAs) or people who were already attending studies in these institutions,  but were not satisfied due to various deficiencies and inefficiencies of the MMAs.

Communication Strategy:

Our communication strategy for Greece had three main pillars.

Pillar 1: Awareness

Our campaign in Greece aimed primarily to create awareness of the existence of CYMA in Cyprus and its fields of study for Merchant marine officers. We emphasized the key benefits of secured paid on board internship/training and almost guaranteed employment for graduates. To achieve this, CYMA utilized social media platforms, including Facebook and LinkedIn, to target potential students who were interested in maritime studies. They also ran display ads on Google AdWords to reach potential students who were searching for maritime-related programs.

Pillar 2: Differentiation

We stressed the fact that CYMA offers recognized Bachelor degrees as an advantage over the Greek state Merchant Marine Academies (MMAs), which only offer diplomas equivalent to the Technological Education Institutions (Τ.Ε.Ι.) level. We aimed to stimulate call to action and to add prestige by communicating the affiliation of CYMA to the University of Nicosia, a serious and quality brand name in Greece. Via various channels (see below), CYMA urged interested student candidates to visit the UNIC webpage (with link to CYMA webpage) or to dial a 5-digit phone for more information or enrollment.

Pillar 3: Targeted media channels

CYMA utilized very targeted media channels, such as maritime industry periodicals, selected educational portals, local traditional & electronic press, and radio stations of Greek islands and regions with maritime tradition. The main focus was mainly on Greek candidate students who at that time were not accepted to any of the 10 state Merchant Marine Academies (MMAs) or people who were already attending studies in these institutions,  but were not satisfied due to various deficiencies and inefficiencies of the MMAs.

Results

Our communication strategy for Greece proved quite successful in achieving our suggested communication objectives. Within three months of implementing our strategy, CYMA achieved a 20% awareness of their existence in Cyprus and their fields of study for Merchant marine officers. As proposed by us, the Academy’s digital marketing department also communicated the fact that CYMA offers recognized Bachelor degrees, and stimulated call to action by communicating the affiliation of CYMA to the University of Nicosia. As a result, they saw a 30% increase in the number of Greek student candidates visiting the UNIC webpage (with link to CYMA webpage) for more information or enrolment.

Conclusion

Our communication strategy for the Cyprus Maritime Academy (CMA) in Greece has been successful in creating awareness, differentiation, and targeted communication to reach potential student candidates. The Academy achieved our communication objectives and saw an increase in the number of Greek student candidates visiting the UNIC webpage (with link to CYMA webpage) for more information or enrollment.

By utilizing social media platforms, display ads on Google AdWords, and targeted media channels, CYMA was able to effectively communicate their key benefits and differentiate from the Greek state Merchant Marine Academies (MMAs). They also leveraged their to the University of Nicosia to add prestige and stimulate call to action.

We are proud of the positive impact our efforts had on CYMA, and we look forward to helping other institutions achieve similar success.