Growth and engineering for institutions that recruit globally
Student acquisition, lifecycle marketing, web platforms and product engineering, delivered by teams that have run this for universities, recruiters and EdTech for over six years.
$37
Cost per lead
Down from a $100 target at Shorelight, at a 6.5% lead to SQL rate
26K+
Student registrations
For QS event campaigns across five regions, at a 46%+ lift in return on ad spend
36 sites
In five months
StudyIn's fragmented estate of nearly 50 sites consolidated into one platform
24 hours
To a partner homepage
Templated university pages for Shorelight, down from weeks
Why switch
Ten reasons institutions grow with Surge
Ordered by what it is worth to the business, not by feature.
Cost
01
Cost per lead that has actually been cut
Shorelight set a $100 target. We delivered $37, and held a 6.5% lead to SQL rate while doing it. StudyIn saw a 22.2% reduction across five Asian markets.
02
A team instead of a headcount problem
A growth pod covers paid, SEO, content, automation and creative as one unit. Hiring that in house is six roles, six recruiting cycles and six salaries.
03
Templates that pay for themselves
Unified design templates for Shorelight's partner universities cut printing costs by 50% and took new partner homepages from weeks to 24 hours.
Revenue
04
Registrations at scale, by region
More than 26,000 student registrations for QS events across Europe, North America, Asia, LATAM and MENA, with a 46% or better lift in return on ad spend.
05
Leads that turn up
Lead to event attendance nearly doubled in Thailand, from 6% to 11%, and doubled in India on a campaign of more than 10,000 leads.
Control
06
One platform instead of fifty websites
StudyIn's nearly 50 fragmented sites became 36 production sites on one multisite in five months, with market teams managing their own content inside a shared brand.
07
Automation you can see into
HubSpot and Marketo implementations with dashboards from lead to MQL, so recruitment teams see the student journey across channels rather than guessing.
Speed
08
Your day does not end at five
Teams in Sri Lanka run overnight against US and UK hours. Requests raised at close of business are done by morning. Shorelight has run this way for six years.
Risk
09
References you can call
Shorelight, StudyIn, QS, Risepoint, Slocoach, BloomTech and Third Space Learning. Named clients with named results, not a capability slide.
10
Engineering that ships
Slocoach's legacy product became three platforms with automated white labelling, SSO, video on Amazon Chime and full CI and CD. That is production software, not a prototype.
Proof
Three things you can check
$37
Cost per lead against a $100 target
Shorelight, over six years, with a 6.5% lead to SQL rate and 12,266 qualified leads on $450K+ of managed media.
36 sites
Delivered in five months
StudyIn's global web estate, consolidated from nearly 50 fragmented sites into one multisite platform with custom CMS synchronisation.
26K+
Student registrations for QS
Across five regions on $425K of managed media, with a 46% or better increase in return on ads.
Every figure here is from client work that can be referenced. Ask and we will connect you.
The commercials at a glance
Size, cost and timeline
Typical engagement
5 to 25 person teams
From a single growth pod to a 25 strong embedded team, as at Shorelight.
What it costs
Diagnostic, then monthly
A fixed fee Growth Diagnostic first, then a dedicated pod billed monthly on a three month minimum. No hourly rate cards. Outcome pricing available on paid media.
Onboarding
2 to 4 weeks
Diagnostic in three weeks, a working pod inside a month, integrated into your tools and your processes.
The deck lists the office line only. Add direct numbers before this goes to a client.
What we do
We have done this in the education sector for a long time
Surge has worked with EdTech, institutional providers and tertiary education services across the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. On the engineering side that means building new products from idea to market, modernising legacy systems and providing ongoing engineering support. On the marketing side it means working directly with decision makers to build and execute digital strategy, whether the need is brand awareness, new market entry, lead generation or student engagement.
Performance marketing
Paid search, social and display across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok and Line, run by region and by intake, with reporting built for recruitment teams.
SEO and content
Conversion focused keyword strategy, programme and course content, blogs and landing pages that drive organic applications.
Marketing automation
HubSpot and Marketo implementation, lifecycle nurture across the student journey, segmentation, A/B testing and dashboards from lead to MQL.
Web platforms
University and partner sites, multisite networks, landing pages and CRO, on WordPress or custom stacks, with the integrations recruitment teams actually use.
Product engineering
Student facing apps, coaching and learning platforms, white label systems, video and SSO, on AWS with proper CI and QA.
Creative and brand
Brand refreshes, templates, guidebooks, social creative, animation and video for institutions and their partner networks.
Case studies
Named clients, named results
Every number below is from client work, taken from our education case study deck without rounding.
Six years and counting. A digital growth and product team of 25 or more, integrated into Shorelight's own processes and infrastructure, using the ten hour time difference to run 24 hour operations for student and partner requests.
$37
Cost per lead, from a $100 target
6.5%
Lead to SQL rate
12,266
Qualified leads generated
$450K+
Paid media managed
50%
Cut in printing costs from unified templates
24h
To a new partner university homepage
Digital strategy across sales, marketing and product
Content, SEO and social
Creative, UI and animation
WordPress sites, partner infrastructure and legacy automation
Marketo management and campaign coordination
Enrollment services bandwidth
Built Shorelight Social, a React Native app on AWS that turns students into creators and gives Shorelight commercial rights to the content.
Before Surge, Shorelight was just drowning in everyday work. We were unable to keep up with demand for content and creative services which became the backbone of this relationship.
Global student recruitment, nearly 100 offices in 40 countries
Surge operates as an extension of the StudyIn marketing team. The headline programme consolidated nearly 50 fragmented country and destination websites into a single WordPress multisite, delivered as 36 production sites in five months, with custom plugins syncing articles, branches and events from StudyIn's own CMS.
36
Sites launched on one platform
5 months
From discovery to delivery
15%+
Average MQL rate
22.2%
Reduction in cost per lead
6% to 11%
Lead to event attendance, Thailand
2% to 4%
Lead to event attendance, India, on 10,000+ leads
Performance marketing across India, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand and Bangladesh
Remote coaching platform, white labelled for sports and education organisations
A full rebuild of a legacy product into three platforms for administrators, coaches and learners. White labelling that used to be done by hand in Contentful and HTML is now automated inside the admin hub with wildcard domains. Region based content delivery cut hosting costs.
3
Platforms: admin, coach, learner
3 regions
CloudFront delivery with replicated read databases
Automated
White label deployment on wildcard domains
SSO
SAML and OpenID Connect
Infrastructure as code with Terraform and Serverless
Proprietary video calling and recording on Amazon Chime with live annotation
In app group chat
Stripe multi currency subscriptions
CI and CD with dev, staging and production and tag based rollbacks
I have largely felt like Surge is an extension of our team and our business. It feels like we are working together as one unit with one common goal and I think that is critical in a startup.
The world's leading provider of services, analytics and insight to higher education
Bandwidth for the QS performance marketing team to deliver registrations for virtual and on site Masters and MBA events, across Google Display, Search and Discovery, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, with weekly, monthly and regional reporting.
26K+
Campaigns managed
$425K
Paid media managed
46%+
Increase in return on ads
26,701
Student registrations across EU, North America, Asia, LATAM and MENA
Online programme management across a UK university network
A flexible content and creative team handling SEO articles, microsite copy, ads, brochures, landing pages, video, webinar assets and email for partner universities, so the internal team could focus on signing new ones.
A coding bootcamp, and a one to one maths tutoring platform
For BloomTech: SEO strategy and content, email, paid media, website optimisation, social, and day to day Salesforce development bandwidth. For Third Space Learning: a redesigned visual identity, positioning, packaging and website, launch ready.
Where QS registrations came from
Student registrations by region for QS Masters and MBA events, on $425K of managed paid media.
Cost per lead at Shorelight
Target against achieved, through continuous optimisation, while holding a 6.5% lead to SQL rate.
How we engage
How we engage
A diagnostic first, then a dedicated team on a monthly basis. No hourly rate cards.
Growth Diagnostic
3 weeksfixed fee
Where the funnel leaks, what it costs, and a 90 day plan with a forecast we are willing to be measured against.
Growth pod
4 to 8people, monthly
Paid media, SEO, content, automation and creative as one team, embedded in your processes. Three month minimum.
Product pod
4 to 8engineers, monthly
Product and platform engineering with design and QA, on your stack or ours.
Outcome pricing
Optionalon paid media
A reduced base with a performance component tied to cost per lead or registrations, where we control the lever.
Included in every engagement
A named lead who has run this for education clients before
Weekly, monthly and regional reporting built for recruitment teams
Integration into your tools: HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, GA4, your CMS
Time zone coverage, so requests raised at the end of your day are done by the morning
Indicative. Final scope and rates confirmed after the diagnostic.