One institution. Hundreds of sites. One stack underneath that actually holds.
We work with higher-ed digital, marketing and IT teams on the systems that have to perform under recruitment pressure and survive a 10-year accreditation horizon. Journey first, applicant, faculty, alumni, then experience, data, activation and optimization on Acquia, Drupal, HubSpot, Salesforce and AWS.
You're not running one website. You're running a federation.
Recruitment marketing wants conversion. Departments want autonomy. Advancement wants donor segmentation. IT wants one stack to support, one accessibility posture to defend.
The work isn't picking the right CMS. The work is the federated operating model that lets all of those teams ship without stepping on each other, and the four layers underneath that actually carry the weight.
Four-Layer Assessment
We read experience, data, activation and optimization end-to-end before recommending a re-platform. Written diagnosis in 6-8 weeks, honest about which layer is actually in the way.
Federated By Default
Recruitment marketing, departments, advancement, IT, they don't agree on much, and they don't have to. The governance model we co-author lets each ship on their own cadence without breaking the others.
Acquia + Drupal Fluent, Vendor Honest
Acquia Partner with a deep Drupal bench. HubSpot, Salesforce and AWS appear where they earn their place, not because they're on a slide.
WCAG 2.2 AA On Every PR
Accessibility isn't a launch audit. Board-level commitments hold because the design system enforces them at authoring time, not at QA time.
Senior Staff, No Swap-Outs
The Engagement Director in your kickoff is the one in your readout. Median tenure 7+ years. No offshore hand-off mid-project, no junior pod reporting upward.
Built For The 10-Year View
Decision logs, runbooks, governance docs and brand artefacts are an output, not a request. When the next CIO or accreditation cycle arrives, the file already exists.
Six execution tracks. One institution.
Inquiry-to-application flow instrumented across every surface
- Recruitment microsites and program landing pages that convert
- Application journey instrumented from first touch to deposit
- HubSpot and Salesforce Marketing Cloud lifecycle automations
- Funnel dashboards by program, region and audience
The Four-Layer Framework, on your campus.
A concurrent operating model, not a step sequence. Each layer runs on its own but ships against one shared institutional plan.
Experience
Recruitment microsites, the main .edu, department and program pages, the student portal, the alumni surface. Brand consistency, accessibility and authoring ergonomics for teams who don't write HTML.
- Design System + Component Library
- Authoring Playbook
- WCAG 2.2 AA On Every PR
- Drupal / Acquia / Headless
Data
Program catalog, course inventory, faculty directory, recruitment events, student records. The substrate every site, app and campaign reads from, unified across SIS, CRM, LMS, SSO and the warehouse.
- Canonical Content Model
- SIS / CRM / LMS Integration Map
- Editorial Governance
- Identity + SSO
Activation
Inquiry forms, application starts, donor journeys, event registrations, alumni engagement. The point where a person on a page becomes a record in a system, wired into HubSpot and Salesforce.
- Lifecycle Automations
- Lead Routing + Scoring
- Journey Instrumentation
- HubSpot / SFMC
Optimization
What's actually working, by program, by region, by funnel stage. Reporting, experimentation and AI-assisted iteration that tells recruitment, advancement and IT where to spend the next sprint.
- Funnel + Program Dashboards
- A/B + Content Experiments
- AI-Assisted Iteration
- Quarterly Outcome Readouts
Higher-ed engagements, real outputs.
Operating-model redesign disguised as a website project.
A multi-quarter engagement across the four layers. Recruitment marketing, IT and academic units unified on one platform, with a design system and governance model the internal team now runs on its own. +32% enrollment lift, moved from outside the top-100 to Silktide #22.
Read the caseOne design system across the institution, no manual brand policing.
Design prototype and stakeholder mapping, then an institution-wide build. Brand and accessibility consistency without a policing function, marketing and IT co-own the system. One institution-wide design system, 100% WCAG 2.2 AA at launch.
Case page coming soonMulti-site Drupal consolidation with editorial governance that holds.
State University of New York, Maritime. A multi-site Drupal consolidation with an editorial governance model marketing and IT could actually operate together, not fight over. Platform consolidated on Drupal, joint marketing + IT operating model.
Read the caseThinking for higher-ed digital leaders.
Accessibility Statements In Higher Education: The Document That Stopped Being True
Higher Education Marketing: What An Audit Of 64 UK University Websites Reveals
WCAG 2.2 For University Websites: The Accessibility Work That Also Makes You Readable To AI
Higher Education Digital Strategy: The Three Layers Most Plans Leave Out
AI Crawler Policy For Higher Education: What To Allow, What To Block, And Where
Choosing A CMS For A University Estate: What Actually Decides It
Publish Fees, Entry Requirements And Accommodation Costs So Answer Engines Can Read Them
Student Recruitment Marketing: The Pages That Decide The Campaign
Structured Data For University Course Pages: The Schema Answer Engines Read
SEO For Universities: Fixing The Estate, Not The Keyword List
llms.txt For Universities: What To Publish And What To Leave Out
University Website Design: What To Design Before The Homepage
Five CMS Instances, One University: What Consolidation Actually Requires
Architecting Analytics And MarTech Integrations In Higher Ed CMS Platforms
How Universities Can Use Analytics & Marketing Automation To Drive Enrollments
AEO For Higher Education: How Universities Stay Visible In AI-First Search
Building Conversion-Focused Digital Experiences In Higher Education
Enhancing University Enrolment By Personalizing The Student Journey
Tell us where it's stuck. We'll come back with which layer to start with.
Send the institution, the team you sit on and what's actually in your way, replatform, recruitment funnel, governance, accessibility, donor journeys. A named delivery lead replies within one business day.
A short brief. A named partner replies within one business day.
Six quick fields. Nothing you would not tell a colleague in a hallway.
Replied to by a named partner within one business day.