The Pilot School
The Pilot School, located in Wilmington, DE, is dedicated to helping children ages 5-14 with language-based learning differences thrive through custom-designed, flexible curricula. While they’ve long been a leader in specialized education, they needed support in connecting with the families who could benefit most from their exceptional programs. That’s where we came in. Partnering with The Pilot School, we’ve worked to boost enrollment through digital marketing initiatives, including a website redesign, social media support, and search engine advertising—helping their message reach the right audience.
Scope of Work
- Website Copywriting, Design, and Development
- Search Engine Optimization
- Organic Social Media Management
- Paid Social Media Advertising
- Search Engine Marketing and Ad Landing Page Design
- Local Media Advertising
- Print Design
Storytelling Meets Strategy
For a specialized school like The Pilot School, connecting with the right families is critical. Recognizing the need to expand their reach, they partnered with us in 2019 to break into digital advertising. We crafted a targeted, research-driven strategy to share their story and drive enrollment. To amplify their efforts, we also refined their traditional marketing approach, ensuring every channel worked together seamlessly to engage prospective families and deliver results. The strategic shift was to move advertising spend away from traditional media, and into more targeted, trackable, and optimizable digital channels, while maintaining the right mix of prestige and presence in traditional spaces.
Creating a More Engaging Digital Experience
The heart of this transformation was a complete website redesign that makes The Pilot School’s values and approach clear, engaging, and accessible. The new site connects with families by outlining who they serve (and who isn’t the right fit), showcasing inspiring alumni success stories, and giving a detailed look at their unique approach to academics and support services. One of the highlights is the “Day in the Life” timeline, offering parents an inside look at what their child’s day might include.
To strike the right balance between approachable and professional, we brought the site to life with colorful visuals, bold patterns, and subtle animations. We even added a playful 404 page where visitors can create their own doodles. Beyond the aesthetics, we enhanced functionality by integrating tools like the family portal, application system, and donation forms—making it easy for both current and prospective families to find everything they need.
Reaching Prospective Families with Targeted Digital Marketing
This included a mix of SEO and targeted advertising across social media, search, and display networks. By honing in on specific audiences, ad groups, and learning differences related keywords, we successfully raised awareness and boosted leads. In addition to paid ads, we enhanced their organic social media efforts to further amplify their reach and engagement.
4.5M
social media ad
impressions
6.6%
blended CTR
$1.58
blended CPC
First Ascent has been a guiding force through a number of projects. They’ve helped us pretty much across the board with everything, and we have appreciated their guidance over the years.
First Ascent has certainly raised our understanding and productivity in terms of the marketing that’s been done. They’re so responsive, patient, and easy to work with. They’ve really been just a wonderful professional eye to help us achieve what we’re trying to get, and I absolutely recommend them for your overall marketing needs.
JANET LUKE
Director of Development & Communications, The Pilot School
award-winning results
Our partnership with The Pilot School has delivered measurable success, earning a Silver W3 Award for the website and exceeding key performance goals. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, our digital marketing efforts consistently drove engagement, with a cost per conversion far lower than traditional methods.
From June 2022 to 2024, website sessions grew from 19,925 to 134,661, with total users increasing by 153,219. Engagement remained strong, averaging 54.98% in 2024. On the advertising side, we drove significant awareness and traffic through targeted campaigns, achieving notable performance metrics across channels.
