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Digital marketing gives colleges and universities more ways than ever to reach prospective students, promote academic programs, generate inquiries, and support enrollment goals. See the 14 mistakes that quietly undercut those campaigns — and exactly how to fix each one.

Digital marketing for higher education enrollment: We do more, you get more! Check out the work we put into a single digital marketing campaign for spring transfers.

Digital marketing for higher education enrollment: We do more, you get more! Check out the work we put into a single digital marketing campaign for nursing.

Question for enrollment professionals: What reporting statistics are the most useful when you’re evaluating the success of a digital recruitment campaign?

At Calculate, our digital marketing campaigns are built to achieve your enrollment goals - not pad our bottom line. They are thorough, robust, and complex. See for yourself. Here’s the work we put into a single general undergraduate campaign.

How do you evaluate the success of a digital recruitment campaign, especially when using a third-party vendor? Which of the many metrics included in the campaign report show success in reaching the right prospects and moving them through the admissions funnel?

I want to share this particular digital recruitment campaign for two reasons: its success in delivering leads and what it says about messaging.

When it comes to digital marketing for higher education enrollment, technology can be a dangerous thing. I’m not referring to the dark web, viruses, ransomware, etc. I’m referring to how technology is often seen as the “solution” to problems when, in most cases, it’s really the tool that facilitates the processes that solve the problem.

The best enrollment manager I know taught me this: great enrollment rarely comes from one big idea or change in approach. Rather, it grows in bits and pieces, from identifying small pockets of potential that lead to recruiting “10 more students here and 20 more here” until it adds up to a significant increase.

Want an enrollment campaign that keeps on giving? Go digital. In addition to the many obvious reasons why college and universities should be recruiting online, here’s another: Digital enrollment campaigns (when done right) fuel all other online recruitment investments — most notably, an institution’s website and social media presence.

The rise of digital marketing has provided higher education marketing teams with an unprecedented toolkit of tactics and methods for reaching their intended audiences. We are now at a point in time where 1 to 1 marketing is not only a reality but it’s an affordable reality. Psychographic and demographic targeting are a marketer’s dream and the inherent nature of the digital medium allows us to modify and manage our campaigns mid-flight.

As former employees of a University’s enrollment management team, the Calculate principals have the unique viewpoint of having been both the client and the consultant on digital advertising projects. Our philosophy on how to properly strategize, produce, and evaluate a digital marketing campaign was born from our own frustration.

More is expected of enrollment management professionals these days than is realistic. Not only are we supposed to be experts in traditional recruitment, but we also need to be skilled digital marketers — a field we all know requires constant vigilance, evolvement and expertise.

This institution — a small, liberal arts university — had experienced a substantial increase in its undergraduate enrollment so turned its attention to graduate recruitment. In particular, the administration wanted to meet enrollment capacity in 4 online master’s programs. Calculate recommended a digital campaign that would attract “perfect-fit” prospects based on demographic and self-reported traits.