Get to know Square One

I've been where you are.

Most of the people who work with me are new in their seat with a clear idea of where they want to take enrollment or marketing, but a pile of things standing between them and that vision.

Sometimes the CRM is broken. Sometimes the comm flow doesn't exist yet. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to build and just need someone who can build it with you.

I've spent nearly two decades inside admissions offices, enrollment funnels and marketing teams at institutions of every size. I know the pressure. I know the pace.

Consider me your right hand, your cheerleader and your getting-it-done person.

Let's get to work.

Laura Rudolph, M.S.

Higher Education Enrollment Marketing Consultant.

Slate Strategist. Founder of Square One Consulting.

Laura Rudolph is a higher education enrollment marketing consultant and the founder of Square One Consulting. She helps colleges and universities build enrollment communications strategies, implement Slate CRM, and develop yield campaigns that move prospective students from interest to enrolled — with the kind of infrastructure that actually holds up after the engagement ends.

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HOW I WORK

About me

I started my career as a storyteller. It was a move into higher education — into admissions offices, enrollment funnels, yield campaigns and CRM systems — that turned that instinct into something I could build a practice around.

Over nearly two decades, I've worked across admissions, marketing, student services and athletics at institutions ranging from small liberal arts colleges to regional universities to newly launched graduate and professional programs.

I founded Square One Consulting in 2019 because I kept seeing the same pattern: talented teams at good institutions, stretched thin and stuck — not for lack of effort, but for lack of infrastructure.

I also spent eight years as a Slate Captain — which means I've seen what a well-built Slate implementation can do, and I've seen what happens when it isn't built well. I know the difference, and I know how to fix it.

MY PARTNERS

Who I work with

Square One Consulting partners with colleges and universities across the country from a home base in Kentucky. My partners are most often:

Vice presidents of enrollment, chief marketing officers and vice presidents of marketing stepping into a new role and inheriting a team, a tech stack or a strategy that needs work.
Leaders at small and mid-size institutions, including private liberal arts colleges, regional universities and faith-based institutions, where the expectations are big and the internal resources are lean.
Teams launching new graduate, professional or online programs that need a full enrollment communication strategy built from scratch.
Institutions using Slate CRM who need an experienced strategist to audit, rebuild or optimize their deliver.

If you're a new VP or CMO in your first year and trying to figure out what to fix first, that's a conversation I have a lot. Start there.

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WHAT SETS ME APART

What makes the difference

The rare combination

Enrollment strategy, marketing execution and Slate fluency in one engagement. No handoffs. No translation layer. You're not paying three people or vendors to coordinate.

Built for the people who have to run it

I build for practitioners. Things that are easy to edit, easy to hand off and designed to keep working after I'm gone. You shouldn't need a consultant on retainer to run your own communication plan.

Systems thinking in chaotic environments

I find the logic underneath the mess, untangle it and build something that makes sense. Order out of chaos is one of my favorite problems to solve.

Let's trial it

I work the way your team does. I'm in your meetings. I'm in your Slate instance. I'm constantly iterating. I'm in the weeds with you, not reporting back from a distance.

THE BENCH

Trusted partners

Square One is a solo consultancy, but no one does this work alone. When a project calls for specialized skill, I bring in people I've worked with, know and trust and you pay the same affordable price.

Meghan Grace, Ed.D., PMP

Founder, Grace Strategies and Insights

Meghan is a researcher, strategist and speaker who helps organizations make sense of complexity and move forward with clearer direction. She leads research, assessment and insight projects that surface what matters and what to do about it. When a Square One engagement calls for listening sessions or educational research, Meghan is who I call. We've partnered on major brand overhauls for non-profits in the education space, ranging from establishing new visual design systems to messaging frameworks, membership recruitment and marketing plans.

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Founder, Rita Winthrop Consulting Co.

Rita is a marketing consultant with more than 15 years in marketing, communications, higher education and edtech. Her approach is simple: keep things human, keep things clear and make the complicated feel doable. She brings sharp messaging and reliable execution to engagements that need both strategy and follow-through. We've partnered on strategy and copywriting for full parent communication journeys.

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Rita Winthrop

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