How Acadex Created Demand for Georgia as a Study Destination and Generated 200+ International Student Leads
Background
Acadex is an education consultancy based in Tbilisi, Georgia, helping international students pursue higher education through university selection, admissions, academic guidance, and related support services. The company primarily assists students looking to study in Georgia, with a particular focus on making the process of choosing and applying to universities simpler and more accessible.
Paid advertising was used as the primary customer acquisition channel, with the objective of generating a consistent flow of qualified student enquiries for the counselling and admissions team while maintaining an efficient cost per lead.
Challenge
The challenge was to generate student enquiries in a market where students were not actively looking to study in Georgia. While Georgia offered a compelling proposition, particularly for medicine, prospective students were often considering multiple destinations before deciding where to apply.
This added complexity to lead generation, as choosing a study-abroad destination is itself a high-consideration decision involving significant financial and personal commitments. For Acadex, this was reflected in a sales cycle of around two months, with the admissions team often required to further educate and convince both students and their parents.
Paid advertising therefore needed to communicate Georgia’s value proposition effectively enough to generate leads that were qualified for further counselling and guidance.
Approach
Georgia had a strong proposition for international students, particularly medicine aspirants, with advantages around affordability, living costs and international recognition. The opportunity was to leverage these inherent strengths to position Georgia as a credible alternative to other study-abroad destinations.
Student-centric messaging, witty copy and visually engaging concepts formed the core of the campaign, designed to capture attention and make Georgia’s advantages more distinctive and appealing to prospective students than other study-abroad destinations.
Prospective students across the Middle East and South Asia were targeted through Meta Ads, which served as the primary acquisition channel. Low-commitment engagement routes like counselling and brochure downloads were used for students to explore Georgia further with the admissions team.
Results & Impact
Over two months, Acadex generated 208 student leads across the Middle East and South Asia, with 187 leads from Meta Ads at an average CPL of ~$2.30, 10 leads from Google Ads at a CPL of $7.87, and a further 11 leads from organic sources.
Total leads
208
Total ad spend
$509
Cost per lead
$2.45