As higher ed enrollment becomes more competitive and a larger share of the recruitment journey takes place in a crowded online space, colleges and universities must unify marketing and student data to deliver better recruitment experiences and draw faster, better enrollment marketing insights.
While nearly every enrollment and marketing leader has a deep understanding of the institutions they compete with, other colleges and universities are not the only ones vying for the attention of the prospective student segment.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers — these are companies that sell directly to their consumers — have long used customer data platforms (CDPs) to centralize customer data and create personalized, highly optimized marketing machines … and they’re spending more than ever to win.
Total U.S. digital ad spending is expected to hit $298.4 billion in 2024. Compared to 2023, total digital ad spending increased 10% and digital ad spending per person increased 8.5%. Based on current projections, the growth will only continue over the next several years, exceeding $400 billion by 2027.
While their goal differs from colleges and universities, these consumer brands are in the same online spaces, competing for the same attention from the prospective student audience.
Adopting more advanced, data-centric enrollment marketing practices is critical for higher ed institutions to keep pace. An integrated, full-funnel view of marketing performance, combined with predictive modeling and AI, allows universities to:
- Get a clear view of what’s working and what’s not.
- Understand their trajectory toward enrollment goals earlier in the cycle.
- Make course corrections faster.
- Focus on the marketing efforts that will make the greatest impact.
Integrating data and analysis through the recruitment journey helps enrollment and marketing leaders make the most of budgets that are often limited and close the strategy loop, constantly refining their efforts based on real-time marketing performance.
Taken from the new Capture Higher Ed white paper, “The New Rules of Enrollment Marketing: The biggest trends facing higher education enrollment and marketing leaders — and what you can do about them”
