HIGHER ED - PLATFORM ADOPTION - CASE STUDY
How we got badge earners to
care about a credential
they already had
NMU’s Global Campus built a skills based hiring platform, but most learners didn’t yet understand why it mattered to them. We helped turn higher ed speak into something people actually connected with.
THE SITUATION
NMU's Global Campus had spent real time and real money building something that could genuinely help people: a platform that turns a digital badge into a living, shareable resume, one that speaks the language of a job market that's starting to care more about what you can do than where you went to school. The problem wasn't the product.
The problem was that students didn’t know what it was worth and no one had shown them how to use it.
This is the quiet crisis running through the learning and employment records space right now. Credentials get issued, learners log off, and the value just sits there, invisible to the exact people it was built for. It's not cynicism or apathy. Students are busy. They're going from class to class, they're getting dozens of emails a week, and frankly, "digital badge" doesn't sound like it's going to change their life. It takes something more than an announcement to change that.
A credential with real value and an audience that had no idea.
THE APPROACH
Lead with what they already care about.
audience first
Enter their world before asking anything
Every subject line, every webinar topic, every email opened where the audience already was — thinking about getting hired, standing out, figuring out what their degree is actually worth right now. We didn't mention the platform until we'd already earned a seat at the table.
earn the ask
Give something real before you ask for anything
The three-part webinar series was content learners were already looking for: how to use AI without losing your voice, how to stand out when every resume looks the same, how to walk into an interview feeling like yourself. MySkills wasn't the pitch. It was just the most useful thing to do once the session was over.
make them feel chosen
Recognition drives engagement
The opening email didn't say "sign up for this platform." It said: you've been recommended. Because they had been. These were people who'd done something real and earned something real — and nobody had bothered to tell them yet. Leading with that recognition is what got them to open, click, and actually show up.
build for longevity
One campaign, assets that keep working
Nothing here was built to be used once and forgotten. The webinar recordings live on. The email sequences run for the next cohort. The nurture automation handles itself. NMU's team is small and already stretched — so we built this whole thing with that in mind from the start.
audience first
Enter their world before asking anything
Every subject line, every webinar topic, every email opened where the audience already was — thinking about getting hired, standing out, figuring out what their degree is actually worth right now. We didn't mention the platform until we'd already earned a seat at the table.
earn the ask
Give something real before you ask for anything
The three-part webinar series was content learners were already looking for: how to use AI without losing your voice, how to stand out when every resume looks the same, how to walk into an interview feeling like yourself. MySkills wasn't the pitch. It was just the most useful thing to do once the session was over.
make them feel chosen
Recognition drives engagement
The opening email didn't say "sign up for this platform." It said: you've been recommended. Because they had been. These were people who'd done something real and earned something real — and nobody had bothered to tell them yet. Leading with that recognition is what got them to open, click, and actually show up.
build for longevity
One campaign, assets that keep working
Nothing here was built to be used once and forgotten. The webinar recordings live on. The email sequences run for the next cohort. The nurture automation handles itself. NMU's team is small and already stretched — so we built this whole thing with that in mind from the start.
Here's the thing about promoting a platform nobody knows they need yet: if you lead with the platform, you've already lost them. Students aren't thinking about LERs. They're thinking about how to get hired in a job market where everyone's resume looks the same because everyone used the same AI to write it.
So we didn't start with MySkills. We started with what was already on their minds. We gave them something genuinely useful — real, practical career content they would have Googled on their own. And at the end of that value? The platform was right there, waiting to be the obvious next step. We gave first. The ask came after.
THE WORK WE DELIVERED
What was built.
We built a drip email campaign to get badge earners in the door, a three-part live webinar series to give them real value once they were there, and a suite of handouts they could take home and actually use. Here's what that looked like in practice.
Drip Emails
Platform invitation campaign
A targeted email campaign to introduce badge earners to MySkills@NMU and invite them to activate their profiles. We wrote a personalized invitation email and a follow-up reminder — with two separate versions, one for students and one for NMU employees, so the messaging actually felt relevant to who was receiving it.
Webinar
Bring It & Get Hired — 3-part webinar series
Three live sessions built, hosted, and delivered end-to-end. Full slide decks, talking points, email sequences for each session, and bonus handouts for attendees. We hosted Webinar 2 with NMU’s Center for Student Enrichment to bring in an extra layer of credibility and reach.
Handouts
Bonus resources that actually got used
Every session came with a take-home handout so attendees left with something concrete. Webinar 1 got an AI Prompt Worksheet. Webinar 2 got the 1% Edge Scripts — a set of practical, real-world templates for follow-ups, networking outreach, thank you notes, and interview prep. The kind of stuff people screenshot and keep.
Drip Emails
Platform invitation campaign
A targeted email campaign to introduce badge earners to MySkills@NMU and invite them to activate their profiles. We wrote a personalized invitation email and a follow-up reminder — with two separate versions, one for students and one for NMU employees, so the messaging actually felt relevant to who was receiving it.
Webinar
Bring It & Get Hired — 3-part webinar series
Three live sessions built, hosted, and delivered end-to-end. Full slide decks, talking points, email sequences for each session, and bonus handouts for attendees. We co-hosted Webinar 2 with NMU’s Center for Student Enrichment to bring in an extra layer of credibility and reach.
Handouts
Bonus resources that actually got used
Every session came with a take-home handout so attendees left with something concrete. Webinar 1 got an AI Prompt Worksheet. Webinar 2 got the 1% Edge Scripts — a set of practical, real-world templates for follow-ups, networking outreach, thank you notes, and interview prep. The kind of stuff people screenshot and keep.
THE RESULTS
Real-world value translated well past the campaign
NMU walked away with more than campaign metrics. They walked away with a content library, a communication framework, learners who finally understood what they had, and a campus that was paying attention. Here's what that looked like.
Conversion
Engaged learners converted at 80%.
Among learners who attended the webinars, roughly 80% went on to create a SmartResume account and begin building their profile. That number doesn't happen by accident. It happens when your audience actually understands what they're signing up for and why it matters to them. The webinars did that work before the platform ever asked for anything.
Content Value
Every deliverable became a long-term asset.
With over 15 pieces of content built and documented, a small team that was already running at capacity can now execute future campaigns in a fraction of the time, repurpose across channels without starting from scratch, and show up to every internal conversation with something ready to use. The campaign paid for itself once. The assets pay for it again every time they use them.
Credibility
The right stakeholders finally heard them.
Getting campus stakeholders aligned had been a persistent challenge before this campaign. An outside voice coming in to validate the value of skills-based hiring — and position the career center as a resource, not a competitor — changed what people were willing to hear. By the end of the engagement, Brad and Stephanie were being pulled into new campus initiatives around workforce development and credential packaging. The campaign launched a platform. The credibility it built opened doors they hadn't even knocked on yet.
Working with the right
communications partner is important
Results matter.
Relationships matter just as much.
Have an audience that isn’t engaging with something important?
let’s figure out a way to reach them.