7 of Our Favorite Trends in Higher Education Marketing

Anyone who works in higher education marketing will nod their head in agreement to this timely observation: the pandemic was the final tipping point for the digital marketing trend that’s been eating the lunch of traditional marketing for years (remember when you had a line item for print marketing in your annual budget?).

For those who make their living winning over the hearts and minds of Gen Z (we’re looking at you, higher education marketing pros), you know that digital marketing is now the backbone of your strategies.

This target group expects all information to be easily accessible online, and in different formats to boot! They’re also more likely to expect digital events and experiences.

So which digital marketing trends should you be putting your energy into these days? We rounded up 7 that we think you should put at the forefront of your efforts.

What do campus tours, student events, and “a day in the life” experiences have in common? Prospective students want to see them in video. In particular, on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Short form video is the game here, and there’s no need for highly-edited and polished ones. Authentic content hosted by relatable people (like other students) is your goal.

Creating social video content not your thing? Not a problem. Outline a simple video brief with your main objective and brand parameters, and give some creative freedom to your student ambassadors. Marketing interns are a great at producing these too.

Along with creating your own brand videos, you should take advantage of user-generated ones. Search relevant hashtags for your school, and share and repost your favorites.

On the topic of videos, we have to talk about YouTube. Market data provider, Statista, estimates there are currently 210 million YouTube users in the U.S. alone.

Let’s be clear about one thing: YouTube isn’t social media. It’s a search engine. So videos you post here should keep that in mind.

Create videos around popular search questions you’d expect from your target audience. Questions from prospective students might center around:

• What the campus looks like
• The steps in your admissions process
• What it’s like to be a student there
• What the school is best known for
• What alumni have to say about their experience at the school

We always recommend you create a dedicated channel for YouTube videos, and then embed the best ones into your website.

Just like with YouTube, you need to put on your search engine hat to strategize around Google searches. The best approach we’ve found is adding content to your website that answers your target audience’s most common questions.

With a list of these questions, create an FAQ page on your website where you answer them directly. Be succinct, and use lists and bulleted points wherever possible. The ultimate goal is to win the coveted featured snippet placement on the Google search results page.

There is even more opportunity with this writing tactic: more detailed FAQ answers can be expanded into blog posts for your website.

A college education is a significant time and cost investment. Selecting a college becomes easier when you have clear data to back up the decision.

This is where you come in. Provide specific data on your website about graduation rates, the average salary of graduates in their first year of work, and the percentage of alumni who go on to attend graduate school. Don’t just talk about the data; show it through eye-catching visuals.

While rates and percentages will cover your quantitative data, turn to current student and alumni testimonials to cover your qualitative data. Ask alumni to share reassuring details like their current title, employer, and favorite professional achievement.

We’re big fans of the ad landing page (Gooooo….landing pages!). They’re a natural extension of your paid search ads, and they should cleverly continue the story you started with your ad.

We like an ad landing page can be designed like a choose-your-own-adventure portal. In one visually-interesting page, the visitor can decide whether to jump over to a welcome video, peruse your digital brochure, or head straight to the details of your degree programs.

Going cross-channel is the goal, but don’t forget it all falls under one brand umbrella.

Whether you’re writing copy for your website, captions for your Instagram feed, or scripts for your latest brand video, you need to keep the voice consistent.

This task involves creating a set of brand guidelines that your entire marketing team understands and holds each other accountable to. This part is really fun! Ask: If there was a narrator over a student’s day on our campus, what would the voice sound like?

Draft sample pieces of writing for each type of content for the team to reference. Host discussions where you describe your brand voice in detail. Is it conversational or formal? Is it funny or direct?

It’s all about setting the stage for what your target audience can expect from you, wherever they “run into you” online.

Sure, you can make lots of guesses about what your target perspective student is looking for, but how much better would it be if you asked them? Audience discovery is one of our favorite marketing trends in general. This can take many forms, but we find that user interviews and surveys work best.

In regard to your website, usability research is especially helpful. Ask current and prospective students to spend time with your website and give you feedback. Are their questions getting answered? How quickly? What’s missing? Did anything confuse them? What did they want to see but didn’t?

There are so many more higher education marketing ideas we could toss your way, but we honestly think these 7 are the first ones to turn your focus to.

Of course, every brand’s needs are different, so be sure to set up benchmarks to uncover which marketing tactics work best for you. Then, double down on the winners to increase your marketing returns.

You never have to go it alone, either. The team here at Linea can help you create a marketing plan that’s customized to achieve your marketing goals, whether that looks like audience discovery, a strategic marketing plan, or a website redesign.