Higher ed advertising is hard. Start with the sheer volume of messages—apply, visit, attend, sign up, learn more (just to name a few). Add to that a wide range of audiences—prospects, parents, higher ed peers, counselors, alumni, and others—and segment those even further. You have numerous segments within your prospect audience alone, from undergraduate and graduate to subsets like first-generation, nontraditional, high-achievers, student athletes, veterans/military, and international students. Tight marketing budgets then force prioritization of these audiences in an industry that has largely followed market cycles to inform strategy. Together, these various factors often result in generic strategy with limited outreach that doesn’t truly meet the goals of the university.
Let’s look at a deeper level—traditionally, higher ed advertising has been dictated by two things: recruitment cycles and rankings. As a result, we often see institutions flood the market at exactly the same time with very similar messages—typically fall and spring when students are applying and enrolling, and then again when U.S. News ballots are distributed and returned in early spring. It is exactly these types of short-term strategies that leave students disappointed and higher ed marketers struggling to demonstrate the ROI of their efforts.
So what is a higher ed marketer to do? What can help break out of this ‘sameness’ that we’ve all come to expect? Here are two critical steps to take:
Market research. Good market research arms you with data and insights that allow you to build a targeted advertising strategy. It enables you to know your weaknesses, but also your strengths by audience. What are the most important decision factors among your prospects? How do your alumni prefer to engage with you? What are the commonalities among your successfully recruited students and your prospects? Gather data, look for these commonalities and key opportunities, and focus your recruitment and marketing efforts there. Are there key programs or new programs that need an enrollment boost? Focus on those rather than developing a broad strategy.
Targeted year-round digital advertising. Digital advertising allows marketers to use data to reach their target audience at a precise level. A good digital strategy incorporates display, social, video, mobile, and search. You may decide to develop a prospecting/acquisition strategy or utilize remarketing, but you can also run a brand awareness campaign in these environments that engages and excites your audiences. In each of these cases, there is a need to develop an ongoing, year-round strategy that continually builds your audience base and, ultimately, your cookie pool. A long-term strategy should always include some level of investment at all times to maintain the audience you’ve built up. And cost effective digital advertising has made this a reality. Most importantly, digital advertising empowers marketers to test creative, messages, and strategies as needed on a weekly basis, something that can’t be done easily (or cost-effectively) with traditional advertising. Sure, there are wonderful reasons to take advantage of traditional media, out-of-home and promotional/sponsorship opportunities that typically require larger investments, but use them sparingly at key moments throughout the year as a way to amplify your digital efforts.
Interested in more on higher ed advertising? Read my piece on the case against outdoor advertising.
