Heart of Peace Building & Interreligious Education

Hartford International University

How Hartford shed the seminary label and became known for interreligious education


Becoming Hartford International University for Religion and Peace

Due to a changing competitive landscape, persistent enrollment challenges, dependency on endowment returns to support operations, and a desire to broaden the communities it serves, Hartford Seminary had restructured its revenue model, its degrees/programs, and needed a new approach to outreach. To this end, Hartford has already begun to shift its focus from offering a diverse collection of religious studies and interfaith programming to initiatives that emphasize interreligious & peace studies, executive and professional education, religion research and global & community partnerships.

The three R's of Prosperity: Reputation, Revenue, and Rankings

Campaign Strategy

To reflect Hartford’s transformation, Elliance renamed the university, re-imagined its logo as the ascending dove, articulated a new position, redesigned its website, and launched a new blog titled “Religion & Peace”. Furthermore, Elliance deployed enrollment campaigns to launch its new degree programs.

Hartford's logo was updated from Hartford Seminary to Hartford International, using an ascending dove
A new brand identity handbook
Brand Identity Guide
The new website homepage
New Website Homepage (click to expand)

Results: Growing inquiries and applications for newly created masters programs

Inverted admissions funnel: Content SEO marketing accelerates higher volume conversions
Paid advertising provides a boost to immediate conversions (traditional admissions funnel). Content/SEO marketing accelerates higher-volume conversions, creating the inverted admissions funnel. The combination of these approaches generates right-fit leads.

Elliance ran Paid Advertising and Content Marketing Campaigns for Hartford International University. We created a new Programs Microsite which was a destination for our Paid Advertising campaigns and focused on getting right fit prospects through campaigns on Google and LinkedIn.

Screenshot of Hartford International landing page
Programs Microsite (click to expand)
Ads we placed on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Ads
Ads we placed on Google
Google Ads
Screenshot of Hartford International landing pageAds we placed on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Ads

Impact

1760+ Leads generated annually

The content marketing campaign focused on starting a thought leadership blog to celebrate interfaith and peacebuilding work done at Hartford International University. The blog content focused on highlighting the work of faculty, students and alumni and provides a perspective on the importance of this work in the current landscape. At the same time it gives information to prospective students about the value of an interreligious education.

Blog homepage
HIU Blog homepage
2x Increase in website traffic
3x Increase in blog traffic
70+ Google Page 1 Rankings
  • Ranked on page 1 for “interfaith dialogue”
  • Ranked on page 1 for “interreligious studies”
“I have worked closely with Elliance for five years now, and I can say that the company truly cares about its clients. We have seen a tremendous response to our new structure and identity. I’m not sure how we would have done it without Elliance.”
Susan Schoenberger, Director of Communications at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace