Driving College Applications Through Paid Media

5,000+

additional course applications delivered YoY
13%

YoY increase in Paid Media conversions
24%

YoY increase in Google Ads conversion rate

Coleg Gwent is one of Wales’ largest and top-performing further and higher education colleges. With ambitious annual recruitment targets and increasing competition for student applications, Coleg Gwent partnered with Loom Digital to maximise course applications and attendance through Paid Media.

The Challenge

The further education sector is highly competitive, with multiple institutions competing for prospective students across similar geographic areas and course categories.

Coleg Gwent needed to:

Increase course applications across multiple campuses and course types
Drive attendance to recruitment events and open days
Maximise return from paid media investment
Improve conversion efficiency from key platforms, particularly Google Ads
Ensure year-on-year growth against ambitious recruitment targets

Sustaining growth while improving efficiency required a more integrated, data-driven and strategically aligned Paid Media approach.

What we did

Our Approach

We developed a fully integrated recruitment strategy designed to influence prospective students at every stage of their decision-making journey – from initial awareness through to completed application.

Our strategy focused on:

Aligning media investment with recruitment priorities and seasonal demand, ensuring activity intensified during critical application windows while maintaining consistent visibility throughout the academic cycle.

Capturing high-intent prospective students at the point of active course research, maximising application volume during peak consideration periods.

Delivering relevant, audience-led messaging, tailored to distinct learner groups and aligned to key recruitment milestones such as open events and deadlines.

Expanding reach strategically to reinforce consideration, increasing visibility among priority audiences at moments that matter most.

Prospective students don’t make decisions in a single moment, they move through phases of research, comparison and intent. Our role was to ensure Coleg Gwent was visible at every stage, while intensifying investment when application intent peaked. By aligning spend to real recruitment behaviour and optimising for efficiency, we drove significant application growth without simply increasing budget.

Romy Paid Media Specialist

THE RESULTS

The strategy delivered significant commercial impact across the client’s national development portfolio.

5,000+

additional course applications year-on-year
13%

YoY increase in total Paid Media conversions
24%

YoY increase in Google Ads conversion rate
8.6%

Google Ads conversion rate

Beyond headline figures, this marked a strategic shift:

Improved efficiency across channels
Greater visibility during critical recruitment windows
Stronger platform foundations to support future academic cycles

Paid Media is now a core driver of recruitment performance for Coleg Gwent, with continued focus and investment into the next academic year.

“Loom has been instrumental in helping us achieve all of our event and recruitment targets this year. Their expertise, dedication, and collaborative approach make them a trusted partner who consistently delivers outstanding results.”

Dale Adams Digital Marketing Manager, Coleg Gwent

Ready to strengthen your recruitment strategy?

This campaign demonstrated how a structured, data-led Paid Media strategy can deliver not just incremental growth, but thousands of additional applications that directly impact institutional performance.

If you’re looking to transform your Paid Media into a scalable growth engine, we’d love to help.