Proven Higher Education Marketing Strategies to Drive Maximum Impact

In the always-evolving landscape of higher education, institutions face the dual challenge of meeting the expectations of tech-savvy students while also differentiating themselves in a crowded market. They must balance academic excellence with market competitiveness and stakeholder expectations while staying in-budget.

To thrive, higher education marketers must adopt a targeted and nuanced approach tailored specifically to prospective students’ unique decision-making funnels. Here, we explore digital marketing strategies proven to amplify your institution’s appeal and drive enrollments and potential student engagement.

(Don’t worry, there won’t be a test at the end.)

Cater Higher Education Marketing Campaigns to the Decision Funnel of Potential Students

Understanding the specific needs and intents to reach prospective students at each stage of their decision-making journey is critical in increasing student recruitment:

• Awareness: At this stage, potential students may not even be sure they want to pursue a degree. They may also be unaware of what your institution offers its current students. For this target audience, effective marketing strategies should focus on broad visibility and brand introduction.
• Familiarity: Now aware of their options, individuals begin evaluating whether they want to pursue further education and what higher education institution might suit their needs. Content that showcases your school’s unique attributes and strengths can be highly impactful here.
• Consideration: Prospective students know they want or need a degree and are weighing their options among specific programs and institutions. Targeted digital marketing that highlights program success, alumni achievements, and unique educational opportunities can be crucial for higher education marketing teams.
• Decision: Ready to enroll, these students make their choice. Persuasive, decision-driving video content like virtual tours and student testimonials, as well as detailed program information in line with the latest marketing trends, can make all the difference.

Targeting Savvy Higher Learners

Today’s students are digital natives, making them highly discerning and responsive to innovative, data-driven marketing efforts like dynamic campaigns. Dynamic campaigns engage prospective college students with creative, mobile-optimized campaigns, and short-form videos that reflect their digital-first POV.

The limitations of traditional marketing methods are glaring in university marketing. Higher education marketers must understand the need for highly engaging digital content that leverages the right digital marketing channels and tools to build brand awareness and attract students.

At Digital Remedy, we are here to equip and support you as an extension of your marketing team. Together, we can achieve maximum impact from your higher ed marketing campaigns with proven strategies.

Digital Audio Engagement

A significant portion of the prospective student pool consistently and actively listens to podcasts and streaming music. According to College Rover, 38% of students report streaming music as they study, and 48% of Gen Z report having listened to a podcast in the last month.

Keep your institution at the forefront of students’ minds, even with everything they’re consuming daily. With the premium audio publishers at Digital Remedy, you reinforce your brand identity and deliver your message more effectively across multiple formats and mainstream media channels.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) Advertising

DOOH advertising extends the reach of your campaigns beyond digital screens, capturing attention in physical spaces. With DOOH, you can boost brand familiarity with engaging ads in real-world environments to reach students wherever they are and stay top of mind. With Digital Remedy as your partner, you can:

• Increase reach and deliver sequential messaging across various locations such as airports and buses.
• Convert movement data into actionable insights for engaging, contextually relevant campaigns that pair dynamically with other media channels to drive holistic performance.

Social Media Targeting

Capitalize on a high-volume, high-traffic channel to keep users engaged. Social media platforms are an indispensable tool for reaching and engaging students.

With Digital Remedy, you can employ a performance approach to social media audience targeting—from look-alike audiences to micro-audience optimization and location targeting that gets you in front of the right people. Let’s capitalize on a high-volume, high-traffic channel and keep users engaged.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A robust SEO marketing strategy connects your campaigns to the audience’s active search intents and enables continuous optimization through A/B testing, competitor analysis, and ongoing keyword expansion to ensure your search ads capture the right attention.

A content marketing strategy focused on search analytics and best practices should include the following tools:

• Targeted branded + non-branded keywords
• Thorough competitor analysis to fill keyword gaps
• Write and re-write ad copy with A/B testing variations to pinpoint the most effective ads
• Monitor direct competitors and utilize research to grow brand awareness
• Continuously expand keyword lists from search query data
• Remarket ads to past visitors as they browse websites and apps

Over-the-Top (OTT) and Connected TV (CTV) Strategies

Leverage the growing popularity of streaming services to deliver targeted, engaging content with premium placement. With 86% of U.S. higher education intenders watching ad-supported CTV/OTT streaming TV is a compelling and effective advertising channel for higher education institutions.

At Digital Remedy, we help you get the most out of OTT and CTV. By combining high-impact storytelling with precise digital targeting, we can deliver a much more memorable impression on prospective students. 

Delivered alongside premium content, these ads make a real impact as they are highly targeted, undeniably unskippable, totally trackable, and beautifully brand-safe.

Video Advertising Strategies

Video and its diverse formats remain a powerful tool for engaging younger audiences. From in-stream to native video, use varied content delivery methods to maintain engagement and interest across different platforms.

• Out-Stream Video
  • Engage students within a seamlessly integrated user experience
• In-Stream Video
  • Reach younger, savvier audiences with high-impact online ads
• Native Video
  • Highly engaging video ads in an environment consistent with user experience

Elevate Your Higher Education Marketing Strategies with Digital Remedy

Want to deliver comprehensive, high-impact higher education campaigns that outshine the competition? If the answer is yes, it’s time for an experienced higher education marketing partner to deliver proven performance.

With 61% of institutions lacking a reporting system, it’s clear many marketers do not have access to the know-how, resources, or time to keep a steady pulse on their campaigns leaving key metrics to fall to the wayside—entirely overlooked. In fact, only 46% (less than half) of survey respondents report satisfaction with their campaign’s performance, and only 29% are satisfied with their ability to track such success.

By implementing dynamic higher education marketing tactics and strategies, institutions can capture and retain the attention of younger audiences. Let’s drive higher engagement together: leverage Digital Remedy’s specialized digital marketing solutions to craft campaigns that fit your needs and pull in the right prospective students at the right time. Ready to get started?