Think Orion is the education marketing agency for education providers, institutions, and certification programs that are ready to grow enrollment with paid advertising and content.
1M+
Enrollments generated
50+
Education brands grown
80%
Education ads tracked in our markets
Tracked by our proprietary ad monitor, across the markets we work in.
Trusted by 50+ education brands
Sound familiar?
Growing enrollment on top of two other jobs
WHAT THE WEEK LOOKS LIKE
Paid advertising gets whatever is left of your Friday./Every program wants to be the priority./
Paid advertising gets whatever is left of your Friday./Every program wants to be the priority./
You're the strategist, the copywriter, the media buyer, and the one reading the reports./Your whole marketing team is one person who also does three other jobs./
You're the strategist, the copywriter, the media buyer, and the one reading the reports./Your whole marketing team is one person who also does three other jobs./
Why your ads aren't working
Repeat after us: boosting a post is not a strategy. When spending on ads, you need a clear view of who you're talking to, what they need to hear, and what happens after they click the ad.
A form submission matters when the person knows what they signed up for, is interested in your program, wants to learn more, and is willing and able to pay for it. We build the message and the next step around that understanding.
Make the program clear before the form: who it is for, what it offers, and what happens next. The right people should recognize their own goals and ask to learn more.
About 5% of your market is comparing programs today, and the rest of your competitors are bidding for the same people. Winning that auction means paying more than the school next door.
Will decide within two years
Most of the students who will enroll with you over the next two years aren't searching yet. You need to reach them while their ambition is still forming, so that when they start comparing, you're already on their shortlist.
Serviceable Market
Choose a segment to explore
What we mean by qualified
They understand the program. They’re willing and able to invest.
A qualified conversation is a form submission from someone who understands the program, is interested in joining, wants to learn more, and is willing and able to pay for it.
01They submit the form.
02They understand the program.
03They are interested in joining.
04They want to learn more.
05They are willing and able to pay.
1 to 3 enroll
The other 97
Illustrative enrollment funnel. Qualification is measured at the form.
Your funnel leak problem
A submitted form should mean they want to learn more.
When someone submits a form without understanding the program, admissions has to start from the beginning. The ad and page should make the program clear before your team follows up.
A vague promise can earn a form submission without creating interest in the program itself. Show what people will learn, who the program is for and what they are asking to hear more about.
A submit event counts a completed form. Qualification also records whether the person knows what they signed up for, is interested in joining, wants to learn more, and is willing and able to pay for it.
When every form fill counts the same, your team loses the signal. Count the people who understand the program, are interested, want to learn more, and are willing and able to pay.
Nobody buys a $10K program on a whim (less so when it’s $50k+).
They have to believe you can solve their problem, and that takes time.
A mind minute is a moment a potential student spends with your program next to their own problem.
Think of it as a currency: earn enough of them, and then you can ask for the form fill, the discovery call or the course fee.
Mind Minutes MethodVideo coming soon
Earn attention before asking a prospective student to take the next step.
Free, no sign-up
The tools we built for our clients, free to use
Built on data from 1M+ enrollments across 50+ education brands.
01 · Live
Enrollment economics calculator
Move the four numbers you already know: ad spend, leads, lead-to-enrollment rate and program price. See what an enrollment costs you today and where the gain is.
Everything we test on our own budget is published too, including what didn't work. Read the blog →
How we do it
Six steps that run as one loop
Every step buys more Mind Minutes with your ideal student.
Step 01 of 06
ResearchStudent profilingLanding pages and VALACreativesPaid advertisingFeedback loop
For each program we research: who buys, how aware they are, what they compare you against, what proof you can claim, and the words prospective students use.We build the profiles that are most likely to convert, so that we know who we are talking to and what we need to say.Mobile-first pages that explain the program and make the next step clear. The form captures interest from people who understand what they signed up for and want to learn more.Ads made for the feed rather than a brochure or your website, each carrying one belief.Budget follows the messages and channels that produce qualified conversations: informed, interested people who submit the form to learn more and are willing and able to pay.Form responses, qualification and what admissions hears go back into the research, so each round builds on what people understood and wanted to learn.
Each cycle costs less than the one before it, because the profiling gets sharper every time round.
Four kinds of education business, four different reasons enrollment stalls.
From our client work
25%
reduction in cost per application.
Udacity EGFWD, a national tech education program, in 30 days.
From our client work
50%
lower cost per lead, with lead quality up.
Avado Learning · historical campaign result.
From our client work
3.25
marketing efficiency ratio.
UAV Coach · historical campaign result.
From our client work
125%
revenue growth in a year, six to seven figures.
Conor Harris · historical campaign result.
Partners in this model
The creative
Creative that students stop for
Branded, UGC and high-production formats, made in-house and built for the feed. Every concept comes out of the program's research, so we can say why an ad exists and what evidence backs the argument it makes.
MBA investment advice · UGC
AI career program · Branded · Static
Career skills program · Branded
FE electrical exam advice · UGC
Drone filming skills · High production
Event planning course · UGC
Women in leadership · Branded
Back pain education · UGC
Creative like this comes with a plan, made in-house.
The first two weeks go on diagnosis, setup and measurement. We agree what a qualified conversation means for your program: someone submits the form, knows what they signed up for, is interested, wants to learn more, and is willing and able to pay. From there we review the quality and cost of those submissions and use what we learn in the next round of ads and content.
The parts only you can do stay with you: a face on camera, a live session, a conversation with a student. Those earn more attention than anything we can make for you. Research, setup, landing pages, creative production, media buying, nurture and tracking move to us, and most partners give us a bi-weekly call and sign-off on creative.
By connecting the attention we earn to qualified conversations. Videos, student stories and useful program information help people understand what they are considering. When they submit the form, they should know what they signed up for, be interested in the program and want to learn more. We track the cost of those qualified submissions and what happens after them.
No. Whether that's one person or a department, we work with them. Strategy, creative production, media buying, tracking and nurture are the parts we take on; brand, program decisions and sign-off stay with your team. We also talk with whoever speaks to your students, admissions, sales or support, because what they hear is what the next round of creative should answer.
We build the research, message, creative and qualification around informed interest in your program. A lead counts as a qualified conversation when they submit the form, know what they signed up for, are interested, want to learn more, and are willing and able to pay. We connect that definition to your CRM and follow-up, so the report distinguishes those people from raw form submissions.
Then we tell you, with the numbers. The first two weeks are diagnosis, and we look at the program's economics, its price, the demand for it and how it compares with the alternatives before we look at the ads. If the data says the marketing isn't the constraint, the plan changes: adjust the offer, move budget to a program with more demand, or hold spend until the offer is fixed. Spending more to push a program the market isn't asking for is the one thing we won't recommend.
Fit depends less on what you sell than on how the decision gets made. Universities filling intakes, exam prep sold online, course businesses selling direct and funded scholarship programs all run on the same loop, because in each case someone spends time deciding before they act. We're a strong fit when people are already looking for a version of what you offer, your team is willing to put a face and a point of view in front of students, and the decision takes longer than one ad. We're not a fit for a program that has to sell this week from a cold ad, or for a team that wants the ads switched on with everything else left as it is.
Access to the ad accounts and the CRM, the numbers from your last few intakes or launches, time with the people who speak to your students, and anything you already know about your applicants; the rest we research. Beyond that, a willingness to show up in the content: a founder or faculty member on camera, a live session, a student story we can tell in full. We produce and edit; the faces and the substance come from you. The first two weeks are diagnosis, and we don't recommend anything until the numbers are in.
Bring us your numbers. We'll look at how many leads understand your program and want to learn more, where the spend is leaking, and what we'd change first.
A persona deck from the kickoff
