University College Advertising Agency Digital Marketing

An average University and College business should spend between $37.5 and $75 million yearly on marketing and advertising expenses, or roughly 7.5% – 15% of annual gross revenue. The total amount may be higher if you are in a highly competitive industry, want accelerated growth, or your business generates high revenue during the holiday shopping season. 

University and College business owners are often heavily involved with the day-to-day operations of their business. Some of the most common challenges for a University and College business include: 

Adapting to Digital Transformation: 

The rise of eLearning and online courses has forced many traditional universities and colleges to rethink their teaching methods. While online education offers flexibility and accessibility, many institutions grapple with integrating technology seamlessly, ensuring quality, and training staff for virtual instruction.

Funding and Financial Constraints: 

Many higher ed institutions depend heavily on tuition fees, government funding, and donations. Ensuring consistent financial health is a significant challenge with rising operational costs and fluctuating student enrollments. Investing in technology for eLearning only adds to these financial pressures.

Maintaining Quality and Reputation: 

With the proliferation of online courses and alternative educational platforms, universities and colleges face the challenge of maintaining their reputational standing. Ensuring that on-campus and eLearning programs meet rigorous academic standards is paramount to upholding their status in the competitive higher ed landscape.

Diverse Student Needs: 

Modern students come from various backgrounds and cultures and have different learning needs. Catering to this diversity, whether by offering varied courses, providing support systems, or ensuring inclusivity in university and online environments, is a challenge that higher ed institutions must navigate.

Staying Relevant in a Changing Landscape: 

The world is evolving, and so are job markets. Universities and colleges face the pressing task of ensuring their curricula stay relevant. They must anticipate industry needs, incorporate practical skills training, and even partner with businesses to ensure their graduates are ready for the workforce.

Because University and College businesses are so focused on these challenges, it often becomes very efficient to bring in outside experts to help manage and ensure specific tasks are done correctly. Marketing and advertising are two of the most commonly outsourced areas businesses use because they are critical to their success. 

University and College Lead Generation 

Many University and College companies are focused on generating leads. This can include building an internal email list for marketing purposes or generating high-value leads that can be quickly contacted to grow revenue. Lead generation typically involves creating a specific incentive, offer, or informational guide and then driving prospects to a landing page to collect their information. You can also collect the prospect’s information on a lead form hosted by the ad platform. Both options can be connected with your CRM or email marketing system so automatic calls, emails, and SMS messages are sent directly to your new prospect. If you want to help set up a lead generation for your University and College office, please contact the team at AdvertiseMint to discuss your options. 

Increasing University and College Sales 

The most popular of all advertising objectives for University and College companies is sales. Increasing revenue is essential for every University and College company to succeed. Many ad platforms have new tools that allow you to pass through values for each customer, which means they associate more weight towards the customers spending the most. This allows them to find more customers like your top spenders. If you want to help grow your University and College, please contact the team at AdvertiseMint to discuss your options. 

University and College App Installs

Perfect for any University and College business that has a mobile app. The mobile app objective allows you to run ads for new app installs or events, which are specific events set up inside your app, such as account creation, payment method added, or transaction completion. It can also monitor usage inside the app or if users reach a certain area. This allows you to display highly targeted ads relevant to each user who sees your ads. The most common types of apps are games, utilities, or informational mobile apps. If you want to help grow sales or usage from your University and College mobile app, please contact the team at AdvertiseMint to discuss your options.  

University and College Local Traffic 

Many University and College companies have locations they are looking to drive local foot traffic to. This can be for a special event, promotion, grand opening, or daily usage. Local ads can be targeted down to a single zip code or a 1-mile radius around a spot on a map. This ensures you can reach the individuals who are located close to your University and College location and get your ads in front of them. If you want to increase foot traffic for your University and College location,  please contact the team at AdvertiseMint to discuss your options. 

University and College Brand Awareness 

As your University and College company grows, it will become essential that you stay ahead of your competition. This is generally done by Brand Awareness campaigns, which focus on reaching a wide number of targeted users consistently over a long period of time. This ensures that your University and College company stays at the top of mind for your consumers, who continue to purchase your products and services. If you want to increase your Brand Awareness, please contact the team at AdvertiseMint to discuss your options. 

In an era where digital interactions dominate, universities and colleges embrace innovative methods to reach prospective students and engage alumni. Content marketing has emerged as a pivotal strategy in this context, transforming the traditional approach to advertising in the higher education sector.

Narrating Campus Life: 

What sets one university or college apart from another? Beyond the academic curriculum, the on-campus experience, the culture, and the lifelong bonds formed. Through content marketing, institutions can vividly narrate these experiences. Blogs detailing a day in the life of a student, videos showcasing vibrant campus events, or alumni testimonials can provide prospective students with a virtual tour, making the essence of college life palpable even from a distance.

Promoting Online Offerings: 

The rise of eLearning and online courses has reshaped the landscape of higher ed. Universities and colleges can harness content marketing to highlight the strengths and uniqueness of their digital offerings. Interactive webinars, sample online class sessions, or insights into their state-of-the-art eLearning platforms can effectively demonstrate the quality and flexibility of online education, making it appealing to a global audience.

Educational Content Beyond the Syllabus: 

Learning isn’t confined to textbooks. Content marketing allows institutions to produce and share supplementary educational materials, be it podcasts from renowned professors, articles on current research breakthroughs, or tutorials on complex topics. This positions the college or university as a thought leader and offers students and lifelong learners tangible value.

Engaging the Alumni Network: 

Alumni are the torchbearers of an institution’s legacy. Content that resonates with their campus memories or highlights their achievements strengthens this bond. Regular features on distinguished alumni or platforms where they can share their journey post-graduation can keep the alumni network engaged and proud, making them effective brand ambassadors.

Driving Conversations in Higher Ed: 

Higher education is constantly evolving. Whether curriculum changes, research innovations, or discussions on global educational trends, universities and colleges stand at the forefront of these dialogues. These institutions can lead and shape these conversations through content marketing, reinforcing their status as pillars of education and knowledge.

The world has changed for Universities and colleges looking to increase their marketing and advertising efforts using AI. Various new tools enable automation and AI to be used in areas like sales, graphic design, video production, content creation, voiceovers, spokesperson, video creation, blog writing, and more. 

The current average cost per click (CPC) on Google ads for the term “University and College” is $2.40 and is expected to increase over time. SEO generates these same clicks from targeted keywords for free. SEO has tremendous value as you can generate high traffic for your critical business segments. However, SEO is a long-term investment. We recommend that University and College companies should be willing to plan for 6-12 months of SEO services before expecting an increase in results from these efforts. Please know that with SEO, the work is foundational, which means each task builds on top of each other. Each action ads more credibility to your website in the eyes of Google and other search engines. AdvertiseMint only believes in high-quality SEO, or long-game efforts, when building SEO. Most SEO tricks or gimmicks often work for a bit but later hurt your University and College company when updates are made to the search engines. The only way to move forward regarding SEO is by doing a lot of the right things and doing them faster than your competitors. University and College SEO involves three main areas. The first is onsite optimization, which means the pages of your website contain content and are optimized for the search engines. The second step is to build more topical authority around your business to help Google understand that you are an expert in the University and College area. This is done by writing consistent blogs between 500-2000 words on core topics relating to your business. The final area is off-site linking, meaning other websites link back to your site and use specific anchor text. This can be achieved by public relations, outreach, and building relationships with other websites. When these three are done together, the result is that your University and College SEO will improve, and your organic ranking will start to increase, thus sending more traffic to your website. If you are looking to improve your SEO, please contact AdvertiseMint. 

Yes. Every University and College should have email and SMS marketing for their company. Email marketing has continually been one of University and College companies’ most profitable marketing channels. Email marketing allows you to reach your prospects and customers with specific messaging based on their location in your customer journey. These “flows” can be set up so that every person experiences the same informational process regardless of when they join. This ensures your company communicates 24/7 with the people most interested in your University and College services and products. SMS messaging is also becoming highly profitable for breaking through all the noise and reaching your most valuable prospects via text. There are many rules regarding SMS marketing and how to add and remove people from your University and College SMS marketing. If you want to learn more about optimizing your Email and SMS marketing for your University and College company, AdvertiseMint is here and ready to help. 

Advertising restrictions for universities and colleges vary by country and sometimes by region within a country. While each jurisdiction might have its specific regulations, there are some general themes and principles that often apply:

1. Truth in Advertising: Educational institutions, like other businesses, are typically required to ensure their advertising is truthful and not misleading. They must not make false or unsubstantiated claims about their programs, faculty, facilities, or student outcomes.
2. Accreditation Claims: Institutions must be truthful about their accreditation status. Misrepresenting this status can have serious consequences, including legal penalties.
3. Comparative Advertising: If a university or college compares itself to another institution in its advertising, the comparison must be accurate, fair, and verifiable.
4. Testimonials and Endorsements: When using testimonials or endorsements, they must be genuine, and the institution should have permission to use them. They shouldn’t be taken out of context or altered to change their meaning.
5. Use of Terms: Some jurisdictions regulate the use of certain terms, like “university” or “college.” Institutions must ensure they’re authorized to use such terms in their advertising.
6. Data and Statistics: If an institution chooses to advertise success rates, employment rates, or other data-driven claims, it should have evidence to back up these claims. Often, this data must be recent and collected in a methodologically sound manner.
7. Financial Aid and Tuition: Claims regarding financial aid, scholarships, and tuition costs must be clear and accurate. Institutions should not mislead prospective students about the total costs of attendance.
8. Images and Representations: Visuals used in advertising should accurately represent the institution. For instance, if pictures of a campus are shown, they should genuinely depict the institution’s facilities.
9. Online and Distance Learning: For institutions that offer online or distance learning, there may be additional regulations to ensure that students understand the nature of the programs, the technology required, and any differences in outcomes or recognition.
10. Regulatory Approvals: In some jurisdictions, advertising materials might need to be approved by a regulatory body before they can be published or broadcast.

You can find examples of University and College competitor ads online in several places. Here are the instructions for how to view competitor ads running on Facebook, Google, and TikTok ad platforms. 

View University and College Competitor Facebook Ads 

1. Go to Facebook Ad Library 
2. Select the country where the ad appeared. 
3. Select ad category (All, Politics, Housing, Employment, Credit).
4. Search by keyword or advertiser.
5. Review Facebook ads.

View University and College Competitor Google Ads 

1. Go to Google Ads Keyword Planner
2. Sign into Google Ads.
3. Click ‘Tools and settings’ in the top nav.
4. Click ‘Keyword Planner’ under the ‘Planning’ heading.
5. Click ‘Discover new keywords’
6. Type a relevant keyword into the box.
7. Click ‘Get Results’
8. Review Top of page bid and Google ads. 

View University and College Competitor TikTok Ads 

1. Go go TikTok Ad Library 
2. Select ad target country 
3. Select ad type.
4. Select ad published date.
5. Enter in the desired keyword or advertiser.
6. Hit search. 
7. Review TikTok ads. 

For most companies, revenue is the KPI (key performance indicator) we monitor when determining whether marketing and advertising efforts are successful. The revenue can be used to determine the ROI or ROAS for your campaigns over a set period of time. ROI (Return on Investment) is calculated by subtracting the initial cost of the investment from the final value, then dividing this new number by the cost of the investment, and finally, multiplying it by 100. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is determined by dividing the total revenue by the total ad spend for a specific period of time. 

In addition to revenue, other companies may use metrics such as CPL (Cost Per Lead), CPA (Cost per Acquisition), or CPI (Cost per Installs) for mobile apps. Monitoring these costs over time can help understand factors increasing or decreasing these numbers. They can be affected by various factors, such as landing page optimization, time of the year, and competitors. 

Many digital ad platforms offer a brand lift study tool for companies interested in branding and spending over $100,000 on advertising. This study is used to measure the impact on the perception of your brand when running ads. A brand lift study splits a specific audience into two groups. The first group is shown your ads over a specific period of time; the second group sees none of your ads. At the end of the study, users in both groups were shown a survey by the ad platform. The difference between the first and second groups is called the brand lift, or the increased consumer awareness of your brand due to running advertising.