6 Issues Higher Education Marketers Face
Despite all the advantages that PPC advertising offers, higher education marketers still face a number of challenges when it comes to attracting and converting leads.
Students are unique consumers with an elaborate decision-making journey. Deciding what program or institution to enroll in is a big financial and time-consuming commitment that has a massive impact on a student’s future.
As a professional trying to increase enrollment rates, creating a strategy that resonates with prospective students at every touchpoint is critical.
This article explores common issues higher education marketers encounter during ad campaigns.
1. Not understanding the student decision-making journey
A successful campaign revolves around creating ads that provide value to your prospective students. However, doing this well goes beyond just understanding them demographically.
There’s a lot to consider, including an institution’s location, tuition, cost of living, academic quality, culture, and post-graduation opportunities. This results in a lengthier and more complex decision-making process.
The key is ensuring your content addresses the needs of students at each stage of their decision-making journey.
2. Not changing ads based on time of year
The school year is dynamic. Ads that were pertinent in one season can be irrelevant in the next.
Whether they’re looking into summer classes, planning for the fall or spring semester, or requiring guidance post-graduation, students have different focuses and priorities throughout the year.
Running the same ad year-round means you’re ignoring the nuances of the academic calendar and missing opportunities to deliver value to your prospects when they need it. The key is tailoring your ads based on the challenges and opportunities students face at different times of the year.
3. Forgetting to target students who were accepted for enrollment
Higher education marketers frequently overlook retargeting students who have been accepted but have not yet enrolled.
Students usually apply to multiple schools at once to make sure they have at least one option in case they aren’t accepted to their top choices. Even if accepted, they may still be undecided about which school to attend, making this a prime opportunity for targeted marketing efforts through personalized emails, exclusive promotions, paid ad campaigns, and other digital marketing efforts.
Until students officially enroll, they remain in the decision-making stage. Retargeting them through various channels can effectively persuade them to choose your school.
4. Not knowing how or having time to optimize campaigns
Launching ads is just the start of your campaign, but getting them to attract the right people and convert them into paying customers requires constant monitoring, testing, and refining.
There are a handful of considerations to keep in mind for optimizing Google ad campaigns. For instance, understanding how to bid effectively and use match types and negative keywords is crucial for improving your targeting and ensuring your ads are shown to the right users. These factors play a big role in determining costs per click, which impacts your return on investments.
Optimizing campaigns can be challenging with limited experience. And spending extra time manually adjusting campaigns is something in-house higher education marketers can’t always commit.
In many cases, the most successful advertisers are specialists with a deep understanding of digital marketing, analytics, and platform-specific policies. They dedicate hours to daily review and adjustments.
5. Getting hung up on compliance issues
Higher education marketers can get hung up on compliance issues that halt campaigns.
These compliance issues stem from the complexity of understanding platform ad policies, particularly for those without extensive experience.
For instance, trademarked terms frequently pose significant problems. If your institution’s marketing relies heavily on branded terms, not having permission to use them can severely limit your campaign’s reach and effectiveness. To avoid disruptions, compliance requires thorough platform-specific knowledge and proactive measures, like seeking permissions.
Without a clear understanding of the different ad platforms’ policies, marketers risk having their ads rejected or their campaigns paused.
6. Struggling to attribute marketing activities to student enrollment
Higher education marketers frequently struggle with attributing leads to specific marketing efforts, making it tough to optimize strategies.
However, accurately tracking these conversions can be tricky. If Google Tag Manager (GTM) isn’t set up correctly, important actions like filling out forms might not get tracked. This could be due to incorrect tag configuration, browser cookie restrictions, or ad-blockers.
To fix this, schools need to ensure GTM is properly set up and regularly checked. Using advanced analytics tools can also help capture comprehensive data for better attribution and optimization.
Properly tracking conversions helps refine marketing campaigns and improve enrollment rates.
Conclusion: Overcoming obstacles in higher ed PPC
Higher education marketing is challenging and requires a nuanced approach to overcome its unique hurdles.
Schools can significantly increase enrollments by understanding the student decision-making journey, targeting students even after acceptance, optimizing campaigns effectively, tailoring ads to the time of year, and accurately attributing marketing activities.
Each factor is crucial for improving conversions because it ensures your marketing efforts deliver value to students at every stage of their journey. Addressing these common issues allows schools to make informed, strategic decisions that drive better engagement and higher conversion rates, ultimately leading to more student enrollments.
Learn all the crucial enrollment-boosting tips for your higher education marketing campaigns.
Contact the digital marketing experts at Perfect Search Media to fix these issues and turn your higher education marketing campaign into an enrollment-winning machine success.