Case Study: Marketing Funnel Strategy That Boosted Lead Quality and Student Enrollments

Discover how a smarter funnel strategy boosted lead quality, empowered the sales team, and turned marketing from a numbers game into a growth engine.

About Chartall Business College

Chartall Business College is a private higher education institution based in South Africa, offering flexible, career-focused qualifications for working adults. They specialise in helping students upskill and fast-track their careers through online learning, workplace-based education, and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) programmes. Chartall Business College’s practical, supportive approach makes it a great choice for ambitious professionals, but in a competitive market, reaching the right students is essential.

The Challenge

Chartall had no trouble generating leads. Their campaigns on Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) consistently brought in enquiries.

The problem?

The quality of leads was low.

Most prospects weren’t ready to buy, didn’t fully understand the value of the qualifications, or weren’t a good fit for the programs at all.

This created two major issues:

• Sales team frustration: A lot of time was being spent chasing leads that went nowhere.

• Lower enrollment conversion: Even with a strong product offering, the sales-to-lead ratio was below where it needed to be.

High volume, low quality meant wasted budget, wasted time, and missed opportunities.

The Solution: A Marketing Funnel Strategy That Boosted Lead Quality and Student Enrollments

To turn things around, I introduced a new marketing approach centred on audience clarity, aligned messaging, and layered targeting.

Here’s how we did it:

1. Redefined the Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)

   We got crystal clear on who Chartall’s real buyers were; their goals, pain points, buying readiness, and decision drivers.

   
   

2. Aligned Messaging to Pain Points

   Instead of immediately advertising the qualification, we started by speaking to the broader problems that prospective students already knew they had. (Example: feeling stuck in their career without the right qualification.)

   
   

3. Built a Two-Layer Advertising Funnel

   • Top of Funnel (TOF): Awareness-stage ads introducing the problem their audience was feeling.

   • Middle of Funnel (MOF): Retargeting ads offering Chartall’s programs as the solution.

     
     

4. Created Dedicated Landing Pages

   Each campaign led to a landing page tailored to the audience’s stage of awareness, improving message match and conversion rates.

   
   

5. Trained the Team for Ongoing Success 

   I didn’t just build it, I taught the Chartall marketing team:

   • How to set up and manage audience targeting

   • How to write effective ad copy for different funnel stages

   • How to build landing pages that actually convert

   • How to monitor, optimise, and troubleshoot campaigns

   
   

The Results

• Lead quality skyrocketed (higher buyer intent)

• Sales team focused on serious prospects, not time-wasters

• Enrollments improved… without increasing ad spend

• Funnel-based marketing became a core engine for growth

Client Insight:

"I found Zia to be very passionate about her work. She is the first marketing person that I have ever come across who really listens to the sales team and tries to understand them. She is always open to different suggestions or viewpoints. Her marketing has changed our whole sales dynamics for the better. She has amazing ideas, and it is really a pleasure to work with her." — Estelle, Sales and Marketing Manager, Chartall Business College

Quick Look: Before vs After

Before	After
High lead volume, but low quality	Consistent flow of high-quality, motivated prospects
Sales chasing unready leads	Sales engaging with serious buyers ready to enroll
Ad spend wasted on poor-fit audiences	Ad spend driving real enrollment growth
Marketing feeling reactive and hit-or-miss	Marketing running on a clear, repeatable system

The Lasting Impact

Today, Chartall’s marketing team uses this approach as a core pillar of their student acquisition strategy. They have a clear playbook for how to consistently attract, nurture, and convert the right students, turning marketing from a volume game into a value-driven pipeline.

Key Takeaways for Prospective Clients

If your business is facing lots of leads but not enough sales, you don’t necessarily need more leads. You need better alignment between your customer’s real problems, your messaging, and your advertising funnel.

The right strategy can help you:

• Improve the quality of your leads

• Increase sales without increasing ad spend

• Empower your team to scale the results independently

Ready to turn your marketing into a real growth driver?

Let’s talk.