shorelight
Shorelight is a global education marketing company that helps international students apply to and succeed at US universities. The audience largely includes ESL students and parents (along with campus staff). We help international students choose a university, apply, get a visa, arrive, acclimate, and graduate successfully.
I was the content lead for the Shorelight marketing team—managing UX, marketing, and editorial projects for 20+ high-touch client universities, internal stakeholders, and a global sales team. I oversaw the content calendar, managed two copywriters, and hired a six-person freelance stable.
content management + ux writing
Collaborated on UX with design agency and managed content coordination for a templatized web build for 20+ universities. Project included massive data collection, content creation, and Salesforce/Contentful sync and (gasp!) manual entry of 10,000+ field inputs, including majors/minors offered, application deadlines, housing options, tuition rates, city info, student success stories, and more.
View all universities + colleges “School at a Glance” pages on Shorelight.com >>
University of South Carolina / Housing Module
Colleges offer certain housing options to certain students — freshman only vs graduate level and the like. Our students need to know that so our system needed to know that, while selling the campus and clarify top questions. Crafted uniform dorm and apartment deions and amenities (because international students want to know whether they have to bring sheets or buy a coffee maker).
editorial + marketing
Collaborated on launch of SEO-driven student-first content program to align with business and university needs, including lead-gen testimonials, student advice, and university profiles. Teamed with internal stakeholders and campus staff to develop content strategy and publishing cadence. Researched, developed, wrote, copyedited, assigned, and published content in line with planned calendar and ad hoc needs. Analyzed traffic and mined internal data to develop new content and improve existing.
Mental Health Advice for International Students
The mental health impact of COVID was felt by all of us. The international student audience was even more susceptible, given the added stressors and challenges of being a non-native speaker, homesick, culture shock, and even xenophobia. I interviewed campus staff, students, and an psychologist/SME about specific advice for the audience.
Read “Mental Health Advice for International Students” on Shorelight.com.email campaigns + demand gen
20+ schools with undergrad, grad, and ESL tracks required getting “template lean” for our lead campaigns. Worked with demand-gen team to develop email campaigns and testing options for each client school.
b2b marketing + sales enablement
Worked with UX developers and agency on B2B site launch aimed at global sales team and student recruiters. Project included customer journeys, headlines, dynamic CTAs, landing pages, and more.
us news global education
Shorelight built a demand-gen partnership with US News & World Report, the leader in US college rankings. Worked with product and dev teams to align content to student journey phases—research, decision, application, acceptance, and campus arrival.
print collateral + event marketing
College fairs, global markets with spotty Wi-Fi in rural regions and non-techy parents meant that, yes, Shorelight had to produce a lot of paper. Oh, and of course there were QR codes and interactive displays, too.