Higher Education Digital Marketing Strategies: Leveraging Multiple Sources for Greater Success

Colleges and universities looking to attract students and grow recognition of their schools have many options today. 

If used appropriately and thoughtfully, digital marketing strategies for higher education can boost the perception of a brand to help increase the ROI for various goals – whether that’s attracting donors, engaging alumni, increasing enrollment or encouraging participation in school events.

When backed by undeniable data and powerful insights, many digital marketing strategies can help you grow your brand, gain trust with your audience, improve your online presence and boost your return on investment.

Solutions for Digital Marketing in the Higher Education Sector

From creating personalized email marketing communications to posting engaging videos that tell your story, there are many ways to leverage digital marketing tools to meet your goals. Keep in mind that, regardless of which types of strategies you initiate, basing your decisions on data is essential, and personalizing communications whenever possible has been proven to increase conversion rates.

Following are several effective digital methods to promote your school:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Ensure that your website speaks for you. Your website should be a reflection of who you are, the programs you offer and how you can make a significant impact on students’ lives, both professionally and socially. 

Although it has changed significantly over the years with technological advancements and varying trends, search engine optimization (SEO) is still essential for organic marketing and search engine marketing if you are hoping for a long-term, consistent return on investment and growth for your school. It’s no longer about ranking for certain words, but more about genuinely answering students’ questions or helping visitors solve a problem.

Website optimization is about the long game. It’s about consistency, and it’s about showing your visitors that you want them there.

For that reason, the User Interface/User Experience element of search engine optimization is critical. There are many technical elements involved in UI/UX, many of which require a website developer’s skills. However, the overall concept is to make your website easy to navigate and easy on the eyes. 

UI/UX principles include mobile responsiveness. The website should function quickly and properly on a mobile device, or you will risk losing those visitors. The website and mobile sites should be mirror reflections of one another as much as possible, which will help the students, faculty and administrators navigate the site easily as they return time after time. This also helps to ensure brand consistency; the colors, images and messages should be the same on desktop and mobile devices.

When optimizing your site, don’t forget about Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. It is very technical and detailed, but some of the high-level concepts and most common elements are:

• Including a few words of alternative text to explain what is happening in an image, which can help the search engines understand the image as well as present audio or text to humans in the event that the image cannot be viewed.
• Best practices for color contrast, image layouts and font styles.
• Using a more readable font size — although there are no formal standards, the generally agreed-upon minimum font size on a website is 16px.
• Addressing accessibility in videos.
• Ease of use for navigation and operation.

While it’s not directly a ranking factor, ADA compliance helps ensure that the website is accessible to everyone, making it a better user experience – and that will affect how well your site performs.

2. Search Engine Marketing and Paid Advertising

Whether it’s via pay-per-click, display advertising or video advertising, search engine marketing can be a very powerful tool. Paid advertisements can provide quick results but are not typically ideal for long-term, organic growth unless they’re used as one element of a comprehensive, omni-channel marketing plan.

As you are creating advertisements for your college or university, be sure to use attention-grabbing, relevant and timely messaging to attract your audience. Optimizing the ad for local search can help you attract the ideal audience as well, especially if your college or university has a high percentage of commuter students.

Search engine marketing and paid advertising can be costly, however, and spending more money doesn’t always equal higher gains. In fact, in some cases, you can spend less money and gain more – particularly if you are targeting the right people, at the right time, with the right message. 

Afterward, it’s important to keep an eye on your analytics to determine what was effective and what was not. It’s a complicated, tedious process that requires certain skillsets. Working with a skilled marketing solutions provider can help you optimize the paid advertising strategies for your higher education institution.

Content Marketing

Content marketing strategies for colleges and universities can be effective on multiple fronts.

Content is not just text. Content also refers to photos, infographics, games, surveys, quizzes, podcasts, videos and more. Providing engaging information about programs, admissions, campus life, faculty, classes and life tips can promote your school as a helpful resource of knowledge and inspiration – for students, alumni, teachers, community members, supporters and prospective students.

Following are a few forms of content that can be helpful for higher education digital marketing:

1. Social Media Posts

Social media marketing for higher education appears simple, but it’s important to look beyond the surface to recognize how deep, meaningful and effective it can be with proper planning.

Regularly posted, thoughtfully articulated and well-designed social media posts – especially as part of a more comprehensive content marketing plan – serve many purposes:

• They keep your school top-of-mind with current students, families, prospective students, alumni and supporters.
• Social media posts make you real. It’s social media, after all, so this is your opportunity to personalize your brand by communicating with your audience in a natural, genuine fashion that complements and strengthens your brand’s image.
• Social media posts drive viewers back to your website and/or to your other social media channels, such as YouTube or TikTok.
• They provide you with an opportunity to engage followers.
• You can communicate urgent information quickly.
• You can promote new classes, seminars or events organically on social media. Make it easy for them to sign up for these classes and events. If you need a boost, place some advertising dollars behind the posts.

Social media marketing will be especially beneficial when you can identify which social media channels your audiences are most likely to visit, which goes back to the vital need for reliable data to help you make your decisions. 

2. Blogs, Press Releases and Other Newsworthy Articles

Publish regular content on topics relevant to prospective students, such as application tips, student experiences, successful job placements and career advice.

Posting press releases and news-based articles as well can help readers see that you are modernizing your school and keeping up with trends in higher education. An added bonus is that trending topics are more likely to be searched online, so providing this information on your site can help boost traffic or improve search volumes.

By focusing on presenting a blend of evergreen content and timely items, you can leverage the benefits of both: content that never gets old and that nurtures your organic marketing goals, as well as trending content that will encourage activity on your website and social media pages.

3. Case Studies

Case studies are your opportunity to truly demonstrate your school’s excellence. By showing, telling and proving that your school offers wonderful advantages, you may increase conversions and enhance your brand’s image.

4. Videos

Undoubtedly, video-based marketing and communications appear to be here to stay for a while. According to Statista, there were over three billion internet users watching streaming or downloaded video at least once per month in 2023. Video has also grown drastically over the past several years, especially due to TikTok and the pandemic. The number of live video viewers in the United States jumped from 126 million people in 2019 to more than 151 million in 2020, and it has steadily increased to more than 161 million in 2023.

Therefore, posting engaging video content showcasing campus tours, student testimonials, faculty interviews and classroom activity on your TikTok, YouTube and other social media channels will make your school come to life on screen and contribute to the growth of the social media channels.

Email Marketing

For higher education, email marketing is essentially a culmination of all other forms of marketing. It is best when it is personalized, backed by data, relevant and timely. Email marketing also complements social media, content and video marketing strategies, and it can increase conversion rates by taking people directly to your website.

Segmenting email lists based on interests, position in the enrollment funnel, demographics and behavior can make recipients feel special, enticing them to take an action. Personalized emails make recipients feel like you “get them” and, when coupled with relevant content and calls-to-action, can increase conversions.

Personalizing communications to certain audiences has been proven to be effective in raising conversion rates. In fact, according to 2023 data from HubSpot, segmented emails drive 30 percent more opens and 50 percent more click-throughs than unsegmented emails. As long as you are following FERPA and other privacy rules, you can reach audiences based on their interests, demographics and general area of residence.

Because making a decision about where to go to school can require several steps, a drip campaign can be especially helpful for higher education marketing. For instance, a student who visits campus for the first time during an open house may receive an introductory email, but as she starts looking more seriously into the curriculum, housing options, class times, financial aid and then finally receiving an acceptance letter, you can follow her along the journey with helpful, personalized emails.

A college, university, tribal school or trade school that has a majority of students who commute to campus can especially benefit from a combination of personalization and local SEO. 

Digital Fundraising Strategies for Colleges and Universities

Digital marketing can help colleges and universities not only increase enrollment, but also improve the results of fundraising efforts. As you are developing your website and implementing SEO strategies, remember to make it easy for donors and volunteers to support your school. 

The following are only a few of many digital marketing strategies that higher education institutions can use for fundraising or volunteer support:

• Create landing pages on the website about a particular fundraising event and then begin a social media campaign with links directly to the landing page.
• Add call-to-action buttons throughout the site, where appropriate, that invite people to donate to certain causes, and make sure that link goes directly to a donation page, preferably the above-mentioned landing page.
• Create and post case studies on your site that reflect the impact that donors can make. Then, create social media posts with links to these case studies, which will bring viewers to your site.
• Begin an email marketing campaign that targets those who are most likely to donate, such as alumni, local business owners, and businesses or individuals who would be particularly motivated to support your specific event or cause.

Gaining Momentum for Your School

Insights-based digital marketing for higher education institutions is essential for many reasons. 

• It enables you to remain competitive.
• It allows you to engage your alumni network and convert them into brand ambassadors.
• You can highlight your differentiators.
• It allows you to maintain a consistent brand voice and identity across your website and social media channels.
• You can increase fundraising dollars and enrollment numbers.
• By enhancing and highlighting your school’s positive image, you can attract the highest-caliber instructors, administrators and operational team members.

In higher education marketing, there’s so much to think about and do – but also so many opportunities for progress. 

Phoenix Innovate, owner of the EMPOWER Student Information System, has been providing transformative and sustainable marketing solutions for colleges and universities for more than 10 years. Our omnichannel approach features digital marketing, direct response marketing and technologies such as EMPOWER that help universities, colleges, trade schools, tribal colleges, medical schools and other continuing education institutions meet their enrollment and fundraising goals.

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