A Higher Education Marketing Case Study

Higher education recruitment is a competitive market, especially at the graduate level. Reaching a qualified audience at the right time isn’t easy, and higher education marketers face increased competition from other institutions, online alternatives, and a labor market with historic wage gains over the past two years.

With those challenges in mind, an elite East Coast university contacted Oneupweb’s paid media team to create awareness and find students for a new and important graduate program.

The Problem

The client was launching a new online program in Religion and Public Leadership. Their experience with past online efforts was unfruitful, and they knew they would have to reach out to a partner with expertise in higher ed marketing to “shake the tree” and find enrollees. They contacted Oneupweb’s higher education marketing pros to take a closer look.

The Solution

We identified a few opportunities to improve PPC results. We started with a strategy we refer to as the “Breathe In, Breathe Out” approach.

• On the out-breath, expand your keywords and reach to gather initial data and results.
• On the in-breath, narrow your focus to the keywords, audiences, and ads that get results.

This allowed our team to focus on improving spend efficiency, lowering cost per conversion, and optimizing return on ad spend during the first three months of the agreement. After six months, we’d made considerable improvements to the client’s paid performance; all numbers below reflect performance from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024, compared to the same period the previous year.

We also quickly spotted the need for dedicated awareness and Demand Gen campaigns to augment the primary search effort. Within a few weeks, even the prospecting campaign generated conversions at a conversion rate (CVR) of 6%. Across all three campaigns, the average conversion rate improved by 110%, improving efficiency and preserving the budget for seasonal enrollment fluctuations.

Related: 5 Higher Ed Marketing Strategies to Increase Enrollment

Not all higher education marketing case studies focus on improved ad spending. One of the most impactful ways Oneupweb helped our client was by delivering nearly identical results while reducing paid media spending by 39%. There are only so many openings in the master’s program, so we focused on optimizing acquisition costs and adjusting spending based on enrollment needs.

We achieved these results by improving tracking and analytics accuracy on Meta’s channels, Facebook and Instagram. With better data and a more focused strategy, we increased leads from Meta from just 4 in the first six months of 2023 to 107 in the same period in 2024. Leads from Facebook outpaced Google leads during the period and did so at an average CPC roughly half that of Google’s ($1.31 vs. $3.21).

What’s Your Education Marketing Challenge?

For more than twenty-five years, Oneupweb has been head of the class when it comes to higher ed marketing. From paid media to SEO, we’ve helped growing and established colleges and universities increase enrollment, spotlight key programs and partnerships, and keep marketing budgets in check. Market smarter, not harder, with a hand-picked team of experienced higher education marketing experts. Get in touch or call (231) 922-9977 today to start the conversation.

*Like many higher education marketing case studies, we’ve been asked to keep our client’s identity private.