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Author: Lindsey Schultz

  • How to Measure Paid Advertising Success in Higher Education—and Why an Agency Can Help

    A man sitting at a table working on data analysis from his Higher Education Marketing Research Campaigns - Search Influence

    Key Insights

    • Tracking, reporting, and analyzing are three pillars of a successful higher education advertising strategy.
    • From click-through rate to cost per inquiry, several metrics temperature check your paid ad campaign performance.
    • Search Influence and UPCEA collaborated to establish the first industry-wide cost per inquiry benchmark to help higher education marketers assess the state of their campaigns.
    • Tapping into the right metrics and data sources for your university unlocks insights that best optimize your campaigns.
    • When in doubt, partner with an experienced paid advertising agency that is proficient in turning data into decisions.

    According to 2023 research from Invoca, 87% of marketers feel that data is their most under-utilized asset.

    Like a gym membership, full of promise but often underused, data insights are what lead to the most gains in your higher education marketing campaigns.

    But the challenge lies in knowing which numbers matter and where to dig them up.

    Today, more universities than ever rely on paid advertising to attract the new tech-savvy adult learner. The global shift to digital marketing has opened doors to new metrics and tracking capabilities, all of which help gauge your campaigns’ success.

    If you’re a digital marketer, tracking and reporting on the right metrics ensures you use your resources effectively to reach your goals. Here’s what to know about measuring paid advertising success in higher education — and how an agency can help you uncover the metrics that truly matter.

    The Importance of Tracking & Reporting in Paid Advertising

    Diligently tracking and analyzing vital metrics empowers your higher education institution to assess the impact of your digital campaigns. By maintaining a vigilant oversight of the performance of your paid advertising initiatives, you gain the ability to:

    Understand your audience

    Data shows that 71% of consumers expect personalized marketing, and 76% feel frustrated when brands fail to meet this expectation.

    Achieving this level of personalization starts with knowing your prospective student. This goes beyond mere demographics, factoring in their aspirations, challenges, and the digital footprints they leave.

    Through a deep dive into audience analytics, you can segment your prospective students more effectively, crafting campaigns that address their specific needs and interests.

    Whether it’s highlighting flexible scheduling for working adults, showcasing success stories from similar backgrounds, or emphasizing support services for international students, tracking audience insights helps center your messaging around your core audience.

    Optimize your campaigns

    The digital advertising playing field is dynamic, with campaign performance varying by the minute.

    Real-time data analysis plays a critical role in optimizing your campaigns for the best results. It enables you to make immediate adjustments, such as pausing underperforming ads or reallocating the budget to more successful ones, which fosters a cycle of testing, learning, and optimization.

    Staying agile and responsive to campaign performance 24/7 through successful tracking keeps your advertising aligned with your marketing goals.

    Enhance the return on your investment

    The true value of tracking and analysis lies in its ability to reveal not just which channels and campaigns are performing but also why.

    By dissecting the elements of successful ads — be it the magic words, compelling visuals, or the right call-to-action — you can fine-tune your approach, guaranteeing every dollar spent is one working towards greater engagement and higher conversions.

    In doing so, you’ll demonstrate the value of your marketing campaign in ways you want the most: increased return on your investments.

    Effective Metrics for Measuring Paid Advertising Success in Higher Education

    Tracking the right marketing metrics can make the difference between campaigns that meet the mark and ones that fall flat. The following metrics act as vital signposts, indicating the health and impact of your advertising efforts:

    • Click-Through Rate (CTR): gauges the initial appeal of ad copy and visuals, signaling how well your ads grab attention and prompt click
    • Conversion Rate: measures the success of those clicks in achieving desired outcomes, like applications, spotlighting how ads translate interest into action
    • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): assesses financial efficiency, comparing campaign costs against generated revenue to quantify your advertising investment’s return
    • Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): calculates the average expense of attracting a student via paid ads, offering insights into the cost-effectiveness of marketing strategies
    • Engagement Metrics: explores deeper interactions beyond clicks, revealing how compelling and relevant your content is to potential students

    Beyond these widely recognized metrics is a critical but often overlooked indicator: Cost per inquiry (CPI).

    This metric offers a nuanced view of the investment needed to generate a prospective student’s interest, providing a deeper layer of insight into campaign efficiency and the quality of engagement.

    Cost Per Inquiry in Higher Education Marketing

    In higher education marketing, CPI measures the financial investment needed to generate a single prospective student’s interest in your offerings, such as your programs, courses, or services.

    This metric uncovers exactly what it costs to catch the eye of a potential student, whether they’re signing up on your contact form, reaching out by email, or picking up the phone to learn more.

    The “cost” cost component varies based on:

    • The specific marketing campaigns
    • The mix of marketing channels used
    • The capability to track an inquiry back to its origin

    By focusing on CPI, your institution can pinpoint the effectiveness of your ad campaigns, guaranteeing that your allocated budget directly contributes to attracting potential students. This helps you achieve a favorable balance between the cost of attracting inquiries and the quality of interest generated.

    Benchmarking your CPI against the wider industry

    In collaboration with UPCEA, Search Influence established the first industry-wide CPI benchmark to help higher ed marketers like you better assess how you measure up to others in your industry.

    Our 2024 Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Report revealed that while 73% of marketers track the source of inquiries for their professional, continuing, and online (PCO) programs, less than half (46%) of higher education marketers track CPI.

    For those who are tracking this key metric, the average PCO CPI is $140, with a median of $106 and a range of $29.03 – $450.

    The research study also unveiled a strong link between metric tracking and satisfaction with results. In fact, 92% of those confident in their tracking abilities also report being satisfied or very satisfied with their marketing campaign performance. This finding reinforces the old adage that “what gets measured gets managed,” emphasizing the importance of diligent tracking in achieving impactful marketing outcomes.

    Key Data Sources to Track for Campaign Success

    Charts and graphs showing the results of Higher Education Marketing research results - Search Influence

    Where you track matters just as much as what you track. At Search Influence, we recommend leaning on the following data sources to keep a steady pulse on your campaign success:

    • Website Analytics: Tools like Google Analytics are indispensable for observing how users interact with your site. They offer a window into which paths lead towards inquiry or application and highlight the landing pages that work best.
    • CRM Integration: By syncing CRM data with your digital campaigns, you gain a comprehensive view of the prospective student’s journey, from first contact to enrollment, helping to pinpoint effective strategies.
    • Social Media Insights: The rich data from social platforms can inform you about engagement levels, reach, and which content types drive actions, allowing for agile strategy adjustments.
    • Other Prospect Data Sources: Don’t overlook additional touchpoints like email interactions, webinar participation, or content downloads. These can provide valuable insights into your audience’s preferences and behaviors.

    Tracking cost per inquiry

    Cost per inquiry is a more individualized KPI, with extra flexibility in how you can measure it to best fit your institution.

    Most marketers track CPI as a KPI for:

    • Specific Digital Marketing Channels: Differentiated CPI from paid search, organic search, etc., for precise adjustments to strategy and budget
    • All-Platform Digital Marketing Spend: Comprehensive CPI across all digital channels to understand the overall budget impact and guide comprehensive financial strategies

    However, some marketers may find it more fitting to track:

    CPI Per Program: Segmented CPI analysis for individual academic programs to enable targeted marketing enhancements

    Organic CPI: CPI exclusively from organic search to refine SEO and content tactics

    Overall CPI Across All Marketing Expenses: CPI from all marketing activities for a global perspective on investment efficiency

    Whichever way you look at CPI, it’s a versatile metric designed to suit the distinct objectives of your institution and unveil whether your marketing dollars are spent wisely.

    Maximizing Results Through Agency Partnerships

    Struggling to keep track of your paid campaign’s success? Partnering with an experienced advertising agency can help take the weight off your shoulders.

    With an agency’s robust tracking, reporting, and analysis capabilities, you’ll be equipped with the insights needed to make informed decisions and refine your strategies. You’ll gain the advantage of knowing:

    • Precisely what to measure
    • How to tailor your optimization efforts
    • The best ways to integrate these insights into your campaigns for enhanced performance

    Agencies are data specialists. They know how to interpret your school’s results, provide actionable next steps, and ensure your strategy always aligns with the latest industry and software changes.

    Are You Tracking the Right Metrics?


    Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Study 

    At Search Influence, we pride ourselves on our ability to obtain results, track them, and report them back to your institution.

    We’re here to eliminate the guesswork from tracking the essential metrics that propel your success forward. To get you started, we’ve crafted a comprehensive, free worksheet designed to simplify the calculation of your CPI.

    Need more context on how you measure up to competitors? Download our 2024 Higher Ed Marketing Metrics Research Report to gain a clearer picture of your standing in the industry.

    Images Courtesy of Luke Chesser and Towfiqu Barbhuiya

  • 4 Steps to Demonstrate the Value of Your Higher Education Marketing Strategy

    Key Insights:

    • Define relevant SMART goals for your marketing strategy to provide clarity on the results you want to achieve.
    • Utilize research-backed data to demonstrate how your campaign’s messaging and platforms help reach your target demographic.
    • Tailor your presentation to your audience to convey how your strategy helps each stakeholder reach their unique goals.

    A person making charts and graphs on a computer

    After you’ve created your marketing plan, your next step is to present your strategy to key stakeholders to demonstrate how it will improve the organization’s results. Effectively presenting this information is essential for gaining stakeholder trust and aligning your organization’s goals. In this post, we will outline the four-step formula for demonstrating the value of a new marketing strategy.

    #1: Share Your Goals

    Discussing the goals of your campaign allows stakeholders to visualize the end result of your higher education marketing strategy and understand the expected returns. Furthermore, sharing your goals conveys you have thoroughly examined how this plan impacts the organization.

    When sharing goals, focus on quantitative measures primarily, but don’t forget to bring in some qualitative measures to show the whole picture. Start by defining important qualitative goals, and then turn these into more tangible measures by adding quantitative metrics. These goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. SMART goals clarify what results you are trying to achieve and the time frame you aim to achieve them.

    After defining these goals, let your stakeholders know how often you will update them on your progress. This will keep you accountable to the measurement of your performance and lets your stakeholders see your commitment to achieving results.

    #2: Relate Your Goals to Your Target Demographic

    After you have defined the goals of your marketing strategy, it is essential to demonstrate how these goals impact your target demographic. This helps you convey to stakeholders how this direction aligns with your organization’s goals. To demonstrate this, start by researching industry data on the demographic makeup of the platforms your campaign is utilizing.

    The good news is that you can find an abundance of reliable data on the demographic makeup of popular social media platforms in the age of digital marketing. Knowing where your target demographic is consuming information can aid you in conveying the power of your higher education marketing strategy and stay ahead of the curve. For example, here are the largest age groups on major social media platforms:

    You should also research how much time your target demographic spends on each platform. This will allow you to determine how effectively your marketing strategy will reach these users. For example, 20% of Gen Z spends more than 5 hours every day on Tiktok. This data can convince stakeholders that TikTok can be a very effective platform to reach Gen Z due to its high engagement with that demographic. Take a look at this breakdown of the average time spent per day on each popular social media platform:

    • Facebook: 38 minutes per day
    • Instagram: 29 minutes per day
    • Twitter: 3.53 minutes per session
    • TikTok: 45+ minutes per day

    Including this demographic information while presenting your strategy allows stakeholders to understand the effectiveness of this plan. Additionally, showcasing these key statistics helps gain stakeholder buy-in and aids in preparing you for any potential objections.

    During a strategy presentation, use this research-backed data to justify the messaging of your campaign. You can use this data to explain what challenges your target demographic faces and how your messaging drives conversions.

    For instance, let’s say you are a higher education institution trying to reach Gen Z students applying to college. You do research and find that 67% of Gen Z students indicate their top concern is being able to afford college. Using this data, you can adjust your campaign’s messaging to speak to this concern. You can convey this by highlighting your programs’ affordability or by providing resources on applying for financial aid.

    Then, when demonstrating the value of your marketing plan, make sure to include these key statistics that helped you determine your target consumer’s needs. Presenting research-backed data that supports your campaign’s platforms and messaging can help gain stakeholder buy-in.

    #3: Compare and Contrast to Your Current Strategy

    When you present a new marketing plan, you must emphasize why the current strategy doesn’t meet your organization’s goals. Comparing and contrasting it with your proposed tactics will clarify the necessity of a new approach.

    To compare and contrast with your current strategy, pull data on which audiences your current campaigns reach and what results it has achieved. You can do this by looking at Facebook, Google Ads, and Google Analytics campaign results. Use this data to highlight where your current campaigns fail to meet your goals and reach your target demographic. Then, emphasize how your proposed strategy will fill in the gaps and deliver more results for your organization. You can convey this by using research-backed data and SMART goals to demonstrate to stakeholders the results you expect with this new campaign.

    #4: Tailor Your Presentation to Your Audience

    Depending on who you are presenting to, it is beneficial to make slight adjustments to how you explain your strategy and what data you bring to support it. Different stakeholders have unique needs and interests, and tailoring your presentation assists you in conveying how this higher education marketing strategy will benefit them in particular. Furthermore, your stakeholder’s personality can help determine the most successful approach. Using personality assessments like the DISC method can help you understand how best to reach different personality types.

    Be sure to tailor your metrics depending on the different stakeholders you are talking to. Tailor the data you include based on what is most important to your audience and the funnel stage of your campaign.

    For instance, different stakeholders may respond better to macro or micro metrics. Macro metrics are actions that directly contribute to the primary objective of your campaign, such as cost per enrollment and return on investment. Macro metrics are useful when presenting to stakeholders that may not be as familiar with marketing terms and are more invested in the overall picture. On the other hand, micro metrics are secondary conversions that support the overall goal, such as cost per click and click-through rate. These metrics are more likely to be effective when presenting to stakeholders with marketing experience.

    In addition, the stage of the marketing funnel you are targeting will help determine which metrics to present. For instance, awareness campaigns might focus on metrics such as website visits and impressions, while conversion-focused campaigns are more suited for tracking metrics like return on investment and cost per new student. By tailoring the data and messaging in your presentation to each audience, you can more effectively communicate how your plan will drive results by using language your audience is familiar with.

    marketing KPIs by funnel stages

    In order to gain stakeholder trust in a new higher education marketing strategy you should define goals that align with your target demographic; compare these to your current strategy, and tailor the presentation to your audience. By following this guide, you can use research-backed data and targeted messaging to convey the value of your marketing plan to any stakeholder.

    To learn more about how Search Influence handles higher education marketing strategy, fill out a form to get access to our on-demand webinar series.

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