Email Marketing
Pittsburgh Technical College has been where knowledge meets know-how for 75 years (they celebrate their 75th Birthday in 2021). They are a non-profit college offering two-year degrees, four-year degrees, and certificate programs minutes away from downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their focus on hands-on education and immersive curricula has stayed consistent throughout their existence and as they continue to grow as an institution.
Celsius’ longstanding and collaborative relationship with PTC involves hundreds of email marketing campaigns ranging from newsletters, campus updates, automated email campaigns, and much more. These emails have been sent to a variety of audiences including potential students, current students, alumni, employees, and PTC supporters.
Pittsburgh Technical College Email Marketing Campaign
For more than 75 years, Pittsburgh Technical College (PTC) has prepared students for career success through hands-on learning, immersive academic experiences, and industry-focused education. Located just minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, PTC offers associate and bachelor’s degrees, as well as certificate programs, designed to bridge the gap between classroom learning and workforce readiness.
As a longstanding strategic partner, Celsius Marketing & Interactive was tasked with helping PTC strengthen engagement with audiences across every stage of the student lifecycle. What began as a series of email campaigns evolved into a comprehensive email marketing ecosystem supporting recruitment, enrollment, student success, alumni engagement, institutional communications, and advancement efforts.
PTC needed a solution that would:
The challenge was managing communications for multiple audience segments while ensuring every message remained relevant, timely, and action-oriented.
Celsius approached email marketing as a strategic relationship-building tool rather than simply a communication channel.
Working closely with PTC leadership and admissions teams, Celsius developed a comprehensive email marketing framework designed to support audiences from initial inquiry through enrollment, graduation, alumni engagement, and beyond.
The strategy centered on three key principles:
Different audiences require different conversations.
Prospective students need enrollment information and guidance on applications. Current students need timely updates and resources. Alumni and supporters need opportunities to remain connected to the institution.
Audience segmentation, behavioral data, and engagement analytics were used to ensure communications remained relevant and impactful.
Celsius developed and maintained a series of automated communication workflows connected directly to PTC’s lead management system.
These nurturing sequences guided prospective students through the enrollment process with strategically timed messages focused on program exploration, application completion, financial aid deadlines, campus visits, enrollment milestones, and class start reminders.
Each workflow was designed to reduce friction and encourage continued progression through the admissions funnel.
Every campaign combined compelling storytelling, strong visual design, and clear calls-to-action.
PTC’s bright, modern brand identity served as the foundation for a mobile-first creative approach that incorporated engaging imagery, custom iconography, dynamic layouts, vibrant call-to-action treatments, accessibility best practices, and responsive design optimized for mobile devices.
With more than half of email consumption occurring on mobile devices, every campaign was designed to deliver a seamless user experience regardless of screen size.
Over the course of the partnership, Celsius planned, designed, deployed, and optimized hundreds of email campaigns serving a wide range of institutional objectives.
One notable example was PTC’s Fourth Presidential Inauguration Celebration.
Celsius collaborated closely with institutional leadership and event organizers to create a sophisticated email campaign that mirrored the design and prestige of the formal printed invitations. The campaign helped elevate the event experience while maintaining consistency across every communication touchpoint.
Behind every campaign was a commitment to performance and deliverability.
Using innovative HTML development techniques, advanced coding practices, and rigorous testing protocols, Celsius ensured emails were visually compelling, accessible, mobile responsive, optimized for deliverability, and consistent across devices and platforms.
The result was a highly reliable communication system capable of reaching audiences at scale while maintaining exceptional performance standards.
Stellar creative is used in every email. We incorporate eye catching imagery, iconography, and weave in PTC’s bright and fresh brand colors. Call-to-actions throughout the email contain vibrant colors to entice clicks by the reader. We also design mobile-first which counts for more than half of where PTC’s users consume their emails, media, and more.
PTC’s casual and direct brand voice is used when piecing together the messages that make up their emails. We always start with thinking of who our audience will be and let the copy form itself. Certain campaigns also include collaboration and suggestions from PTC staff.
The partnership delivered measurable improvements in engagement, website traffic, and communication effectiveness while establishing email as one of PTC’s most successful marketing and engagement channels.
The email marketing ecosystem became a critical communication platform supporting enrollment, retention, advancement, alumni relations, and institutional engagement initiatives.
By combining strategic audience segmentation, automated nurturing workflows, award-winning creative, and technical excellence, Celsius helped transform email from a tactical communication tool into a strategic asset that strengthened relationships across the entire PTC community.
The result was an award-winning communication program that delivered the right message to the right audience, at the right time, helping Pittsburgh Technical College stay connected to the people who matter most.
During PTC’s 4th President’s Inauguration Celebration, Celsius worked tirelessly alongside the event organizers to create and deploy emails that looked almost exactly like the formal invitations to be mailed out to recipients directly. These emails were well-received, and the President appreciated the hard work and dedication to the project that Celsius team members demonstrated.
Using innovative HTML solutions and clever coding techniques, Celsius has endeavored to design emails that are beautiful, accessible, and—most important of all—deliverable. Celsius maintains an email delivery success rate of over 95%, leaving no stone unturned in optimizing and maximizing the delivery of messages to their intended audiences.