Higher education digital marketing uses search, social media, streaming TV, display, email and SMS to bring prospective students in, move them to enroll and keep them enrolled. The colleges that get the most from it pick channels by stage, send one message across every channel a student sees, and measure against a holdout instead of clicks.
Students and their families have moved to these channels. In Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey, roughly nine in ten U.S. teens said they use YouTube, and about six in ten use TikTok and Instagram. TV viewing has moved to streaming too: Nielsen measured streaming at 49.6% of all U.S. TV viewing in August 2026.
The channel decides who sees a message. The message decides whether they act. Every message we build pairs one of 9 motivational principles with one of 14 behavioral strategies, aimed at the specific step a student has stalled on. This guide covers which channels to use at each stage, seven university marketing strategies that work and how to measure them. To see how we run every channel from one plan, see our platform, and for the stage-by-stage view, our guide to college enrollment marketing.
Digital marketing at each stage
| Stage | Channels that fit | What to measure |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness: get on the shortlist | Streaming TV, social video, display | Reach in target areas; growth in branded search |
| Inquiry: bring in RFIs that enroll | Google search, social (Instagram, Facebook), display, remarketing | Inquiries and inquiry-to-application rate by source |
| Application: get started applications submitted | Social, email, SMS | Submitted applications |
| Yield: turn admits into deposits | Social, streaming TV, email, SMS, direct mail | Deposits; summer melt |
| Retention: get continuing students registered | Social, streaming TV, email, SMS, direct mail | Next-term registration |
| Stop-out recovery: bring former students back | Social, streaming TV, email, SMS, direct mail | Re-enrollments |
The first two stages find new people. The last four work the students already on your lists, which is where email, SMS and direct mail earn their place.
The channels
Search
Students looking for a program search for it. Program pages that answer their questions earn organic traffic over time, and paid search catches demand now. Bid on the program and location terms that bring in applicants, and send each click to the page for that program.
Social media
Social reaches students at every stage, on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube. Use it for reach and video views at the awareness stage, for lookalike audiences and inquiry forms at the inquiry stage, and for step-by-step reminders on your own lists. More in social media advertising for education.
Streaming TV
Streaming TV puts a 15- or 30-second spot on Hulu, Peacock, Roku, Disney+ and other services, served to new audiences in the places you choose or to the households on your list. It reaches parents, families and adult learners. More in connected TV.
Display and remarketing
Display keeps your name in front of people who saw a spot or visited the site. Remarketing brings back visitors who didn’t act the first time with a message about the program they looked at.
Email and SMS
Email carries detail; a text carries a deadline. Tie both to the steps a student has to take, and send them from the office that owns the step. Texts go only to students and families who have opted in. More in marketing automation in higher education and our white paper, Inbox fatigue is real.
Direct mail
Mail isn’t digital, but it belongs in the plan. A postcard reaches every student at home, including the ones who have stopped opening email. More in traditional vs. digital marketing.
7 university marketing strategies that work
- Match the channel to the stage. Streaming TV and social video build awareness; search and social bring in inquiries; email, SMS, social and mail move students on your lists.
- Send one message across every channel. A student who sees your streaming spot should get the postcard and the text that match it, each timed to the step they’re on.
- Build audiences from your best students. Lookalike audiences built from students who enrolled and stayed bring in more students like them.
- Make program pages do the work. Each page should answer cost, length, format, outcomes and start dates, with one clear next step.
- Send from the office that owns the step. A text from Admissions or Financial Aid tells the student who to contact and why it matters now.
- Make creative for each channel. A streaming spot, a story ad and a postcard need different cuts of the same idea. More in creative services for education.
- Measure enrolled students, not clicks. Judge every channel and source by cost per enrolled student and by lift over a holdout.
More in a full-funnel strategy for digital ad campaigns and personalized marketing for colleges.
What this looks like in practice
At a top-300 four-year institution, the university split its existing leads in half. Half received a sequenced social campaign built to get started applications submitted; the other half received nothing from us. Leads in the campaign group submitted 350% more applications than the holdout, a result significant at 95%.
Want to see what this does on your own list? Start a pilot with one list and one goal: submitted applications, deposits or registrations.
How to measure higher education digital marketing
- Track cost per enrolled student by channel and source. Cost per click and cost per lead don’t tell you whether a student enrolled.
- Track conversion between stages. Inquiry to application, admit to deposit and continuing student to registered show where each channel pulls its weight.
- Use one holdout across every channel. Keep a random group of students out of the campaign, the same students the whole time. One holdout measures the lift of all channels together. New Motimatic campaigns hold out a random 5% of the list. More on how we measure.
Common questions about higher education digital marketing
Which channel works best? It depends on the stage. Search and social bring in inquiries; email, SMS, social, streaming TV and mail move students who are already on your lists.
How much should a college spend? Start from what an enrolled student is worth over their time with you and what each source costs per enrolled student. Spend more where that ratio is best.
Do we still need direct mail? For yield, retention and stop-out recovery, yes. It reaches students at home who have stopped responding online.
How do we show leadership that digital marketing worked? Report enrolled students and cost per enrolled student by source, and the lift over a holdout. Those answer whether the money moved students.
Should we run digital marketing in-house or with a partner? Keep strategy and the brand in-house. Bring in a partner for the channels, creative and measurement your team can’t run at the volume you need.
Keep reading on higher-ed marketing
- A full-funnel strategy for digital ad campaigns for universities
- Social media advertising for education
- Connected TV: the key to reaching audiences
- Marketing automation in higher education
- Personalized marketing for colleges
- Creative services for education
- Everything on channels and creative
