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HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING CONSULTING
Higher ed marketing that speaks human
Square One Consulting is a higher education marketing consultant specializing in enrollment marketing strategy for colleges and universities. We help institutions improve student recruitment, increase yield, and build audience-first, student-centered communication strategies.
About Square One
HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING & ENROLLMENT STRATEGY CONSULTANT
Hi! I'm Laura Rudolph, M.S.
I’m a higher education marketing and enrollment strategy consultant with nearly two decades of experience in enrollment, marketing, and communications. I’ve worked across institutions navigating enrollment pressure, internal alignment challenges, and the realities of modern student recruitment.
My approach is audience-first and student-centered, grounded in the belief that effective enrollment marketing starts with understanding how students actually think, decide, and engage. I help institutions move from reactive tactics to intentional, aligned enrollment strategies.
I’ve partnered with colleges and universities across the country to strengthen enrollment strategy and improve student engagement.
WHO I WORK WITH
Sound familiar?
The work is real, the pressure is constant, and the resources never quite match the ask. I've spent nearly two decades inside higher education enrollment and marketing — which means I've probably seen exactly what you're dealing with right now. I work with higher education marketing and enrollment teams navigating complex enrollment and communication challenges and identifying where strategy, structure, and messaging need to change.
LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
You're new to your leadership role and discovering what you inherited.
You stepped into your VP of enrollment or marketing role ready to move. Then you started pulling back the curtain. There's no yield campaign. The student communication strategy is held together with duct tape. The templates are dated and there's no intentional recruitment marketing to speak of. You're not behind — you just inherited a starting point that was further back than anyone told you.
LIMITED BUDGET, HIGH PRESSURE
Your budget doesn't have room for a big agency, but you still need real enrollment marketing support.
You've probably already done the math. An agency retainer isn't realistic. But that doesn't mean you don't need someone who can actually think through the strategy with you and then execute it — without layers of account managers, six-week onboarding timelines, or a scope of work built for an institution three times your size. You need a partner who shows up, does the work, and doesn't make you feel small for not having a bigger budget.
STALLED ENROLLMENT STRATEGY
You know what needs to change. You just don't have the time, people or bandwidth to change it.
You're not in the dark. You can see the gaps clearly: the campaigns that need rebuilding, the communications that aren't landing, the strategy that exists only in someone's head. The problem isn't awareness. It's capacity. And the longer it sits on the list, the further behind you feel. That's where I come in — not to consult from a distance, but to do the work alongside you so it stops being the thing you never get to.
UNEXPECTED ENROLLMENT RESPONSIBILITY
Recruitment landed on your plate and nobody handed you a playbook.
Maybe you lead an academic program, graduate program, or health professions department. Somewhere along the way, finding and enrolling students became your responsibility on top of everything else you do. You're not sure who your best-fit student is. You're not sure what you should be saying to them or where. And you're definitely not sure where to start.
If you read any of that and thought 'that's me' — let's talk.
HOW WE PARTNER
How I support your strategy
No matter where you're starting from, there’s a path forward. I work with colleges and universities to strengthen enrollment marketing strategy, improve student recruitment, and bring clarity to how teams communicate and execute.
Student Enrollment Marketing Communication Strategy
& Campaigns
Your students are hearing from a lot of institutions right now. The ones that cut through aren't necessarily the biggest, they're the ones that sound human, show up consistently, and say the right thing at the right moment. I help institutions build enrollment marketing strategies and student communication campaigns that guide prospective students from first inquiry through deposit.
Visit Experience & Event Auditing
Your campus visit is the most important enrollment marketing tool you have. The experience your students and families have on campus has to match what you've been promising them all along. I assess your visit from the outside in, from the invitation through the follow-up, and help you close the gap between what you're delivering and what they are expecting.
Strategic Recruitment for Academic Programs
Most academic programs and departments don't have a dedicated enrollment or recruitment team. They have faculty, a coordinator who's already stretched thin, and a genuine desire to grow — but no clear picture of who their best-fit student is or how to reach them. I help programs build a recruitment strategy that fits how they're actually structured, from audience clarity and messaging to outreach and funnel design.
Fractional Leadership & Hourly Consulting
Sometimes you don't need a full project. You need someone to think alongside you, review what you're building, or step in and lead for a season while your team finds its footing. I embed with colleges and universities as a fractional enrollment marketing consultant, bringing strategy, structure and hands-on support without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
Family & Counselor Enrollment Communication Strategy
Parents and families aren't just along for the ride, they're driving the car (literally and figuratively). They're up at night Googling you, forwarding your emails, and forming opinions long before their student makes a decision. I help institutions improve communication with parents, families, and school counselors — critical audiences in the student decision-making process.
Slate Campaign Creation & Deployment
Slate can do extraordinary things for your enrollment communications, but only if someone actually knows how to build inside it. A lot of institutions have the platform and not the bandwidth or the expertise to make it work the way it should. I build and launch complete enrollment campaigns inside Slate — emails, rules, segmented flows, content blocks and more — so your team isn't leaving capability on the table.
Team Workshops
Your admissions and marketing team is working hard. But working hard and working strategically aren't always the same thing. Higher ed is flooded with data, platforms and competing priorities — what teams actually need is the ability to slow down, think clearly and build habits that hold up when things get busy. My workshops are hands-on, practical and built specifically for professionals who need more than another slide deck.
Have a need you don't see here?
Let's talk.
TESTIMONIALS
In their own words
Podcast features
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EPISODE OF 2025
INSTITUTIONS & NON-PROFITS I'VE SERVED & SUPPORTED
All trademarks belong to their respective institutions. Logos used for identification only.
