TTMC drives insight-led, EMEA-wide new business development into higher education for Coursera

Coursera is a global online learning platform that helps organisations develop the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly evolving digital economy. Founded in 2012, Coursera partners with leading universities and industry organisations including Google, IBM, Microsoft, Meta and Stanford University to deliver high-quality, career-relevant learning programmes and recognised credentials.

Through Coursera for Campus (C4C), the organisation helps universities and higher education institutions enhance curriculums, strengthen graduate employability and integrate industry-recognised microcredentials into academic programmes.

Coursera works with thousands of institutions worldwide, helping education providers and learners access world-class education and develop the skills required for the future of work.

Campaign objective and project background

Coursera engaged The Telemarketing Company (TTMC) to support business development activity for Coursera for Campus (C4C) across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

The objective was to generate qualified meetings with senior decision-makers responsible for addressing skills development, employability, workforce readiness and AI literacy challenges. The campaign targeted higher education institutions, focusing on Deans, Provosts and curriculum leaders seeking to enhance graduate employability through industry-recognised microcredentials and career-aligned learning.

Project execution

TTMC worked closely with the client to design a targeted programme that aligned outreach with campaign priorities and maximised engagement with decision makers in the target sector.

Data supplied by Coursera, including website downloads, webinar registrations and seminar attendees, was supplemented with additional contacts sourced by TTMC through Cognism. Records were loaded into the agency’s proprietary calling platform and segmented by audience, geography and campaign focus. Given the mix of data types, close data management was vital to enable precise targeting and performance tracking.

The client provided a detailed briefing on Coursera's proposition, competitive positioning and the specific challenges facing the higher education sector. Conversations centred on graduate employability, curriculum enhancement and the integration of industry-recognised microcredentials.

TTMC applied a consultative approach, using open questions to uncover organisational priorities, challenges and future initiatives. Discussions explored topics such as industry certifications, digital and AI skills development, and responsibility for curriculum, learning and workforce programmes. This enabled the team to identify organisations with a genuine need for further engagement while generating valuable market insight. Calling activity was coordinated with wider marketing initiatives such as paid ads on social media, and messaging tailored according to each prospect's previous engagement, including webinar attendance, registrations and other interactions.

Throughout these conversations, TTMC positioned Coursera as a global leader in online learning, highlighting flexible, job-specific and certified learning pathways aligned with evolving workforce requirements. By linking organisational objectives to measurable learner and employment outcomes, the team was able to position the brand and differentiate Coursera within a highly competitive market.

Appointments were qualified against agreed BANT criteria, ensuring meetings aligned with the client's target customer profile and sales objectives. As the programme covered multiple regions across EMEA, calling schedules were adapted to accommodate different time zones. Meetings were booked directly into the calendars of the relevant regional sales teams via Calendly, with detailed qualification notes and call recordings provided to support more informed follow-up conversations.

TTMC also provided ongoing access to call recordings, performance data and analytics through its real-time reporting portal, enabling continuous review and optimisation. Regular feedback sessions, detailed lead notes and voice-of-customer insights helped Coursera better understand market demand while informing future marketing, webinar and event strategies.

Results

The programme has deepened engagement with senior stakeholders across the higher education sector, creating a strong pipeline of qualified opportunities aligned with Coursera's growth objectives. On average, one qualified result was generated for every 15 hours of calling activity.

Beyond appointment generation, agents were able to gather valuable market intelligence, combining relationship building with structured profiling questions to drill down and understand each prospect’s priorities, challenges and buying intent. This included valuable feedback to strengthen future webinar and seminar programmes, improve attendee experience and better understand the reasons behind non-attendance.

Over the course of the 12-month programme, a trusted partnership has developed between Coursera and TTMC. The campaign continues to evolve through ongoing collaboration, with discussions underway to shape the next phase of activity.