CSU Drives 51% Engagement with Learning Partner Employees Using Hyper-Personalized ABM
To support employees of existing Learning Partner organizations, Columbia Southern University (CSU) and Level Agency launched a targeted B2B2C campaign leveraging Demandbase’s account-based marketing (ABM) platform. With personalized creative and a tightly defined audience, the initiative significantly outperformed industry benchmarks—delivering measurable impact and actionable insights for future campaign strategy.
THE CHALLENGE
CSU wanted to drive awareness and interest in its degree programs among employees of organizations in its Learning Partners Program, who receive additional discounts for their organization’s relationship with CSU. Rather than running a broad-based awareness campaign, CSU and Level Agency needed a strategy that would:
- Target specific employees within existing Learning Partner organizations
- Personalize the creative using the employer names and employee domains
- Generate measurable actions—such as form fills or interest in admissions
- Validate the B2B2C approach and inform next-phase rollout strategies
THE STRATEGY
The campaign followed a two-phase approach designed to engage employees of CSU’s Learning Partner organizations and nurture them through the decision journey:
- ABM Precision: Leveraged Demandbase’s advanced targeting to ensure ads were only shown to CSU’s Target Account List (TAL).
- Phase 1: Prospecting Campaign – The initial launch focused on broad awareness, using Demandbase’s ABM targeting to reach employees at Learning Partner companies. Personalized creative included the company name and messaging about CSU’s flexibility, affordability, and support. The goal was to drive interest and site visits, building a qualified audience.
- Phase 2: Retargeting Campaign – After about a month of prospecting, Level and CSU launched a retargeting effort focused on accounts that had demonstrated increased engagement with CSU content. These users were served slightly refined creative—maintaining consistent messaging but with a warmer tone designed to re-engage and drive deeper funnel actions, such as form submissions or admissions inquiries.
THE WORK
The campaign was structured to guide users through a full-funnel experience, from awareness to action:
- Custom Prospecting Creatives: Personalized display ads featuring the partner company name were used to establish credibility and relevance, encouraging users to learn more about CSU’s offerings.
- Retargeting Creatives: A secondary set of ads was launched mid-campaign to re-engage users who had visited CSU landing pages—reinforcing the value propositions and encouraging them to reach out to admissions or complete an interest form.
- Optimized Landing Pages: All ads directed to landing pages designed for conversion, with messaging tailored to partner employees and multiple CTA opportunities.
- Conversion Tracking: Visits to the “Thank You” page after form submission served as a strong signal of user intent and a proxy for lead generation.
THE RESULTS
Campaign Performance
Both campaigns outperformed industry benchmarks in Reach, Clicks, Visits, Interactions, and Lift
51% of accounts on CSU’s TAL clicked on at least one Demandbase ad
65 target accounts / 89 visitors reached the “Thank You” page—a strong proxy for conversions
Business Impact
- Validated the B2B2C approach for engaging Learning Partner employees
- Demonstrated high value in personalization via company-specific creative
- Built a foundation of performance metrics to inform broader rollout
Client Quote
“Our collaboration with Level Agency and Demandbase has proven pivotal to how we approach employee engagement within our Learning Partner network. By leveraging account-based marketing to deliver highly personalized and targeted messaging, we succeeded in our goal of developing a scalable B2B strategy.”
Dale Leatherwood
Chief Marketing Officer, Columbia Southern University
