For education marketing, 2022 is less about finding new marketing tools and more about optimizing existing campaigns to adapt to the changing digital landscape. This year, education marketers have invested more in expanding reach than any year before due to factors like social media marketing, crowdsourcing, and micro-influencer marketing. Even more exciting is that almost everyone is targeting the same demographic: Gen Z. Whether it’s running enrollment-based marketing campaigns or conquesting new students, there has never been a better time to be in education marketing.  And, with 36% of campuses seeing a fall in campus visit requests, universities and other higher education institutions are adopting digital marketing to enhance their student recruitment.

Appealing to Gen Z

Not only was higher education marketing conquesting Gen Z, but they were also adapting to Gen Z students in lockdown. They leverage videos, post photos, and share relevant written content to help students make informed decisions. 20% of the Gen Z students said that YouTube videos play a significant role in their enrollment decision. It has been said that connecting with Gen Z can be difficult if not approached correctly. Gen Zers have also been accused of having a short attention span, not checking emails, or distrusting brands. While all of these are valid criticisms, they are also the most logged-on generation EVER and are willing to become vocal advocates for anything that they deem valid. 

Education Marketing without Cookies

In 2020, Google announced its plan for the retirement of third-party cookies and has since moved the timing to late 2023. However, one thing that didn’t go unnoticed was Google ending the production of their annual search terms report. This report was a key source of data that helped digital marketers across industries optimize campaigns, queries, and keywords. Shortly after in 2021, Facebook and Apple made it harder to target users with cookie-based ads. With worldwide digital ad spending expected to rise to $441.12 billion in 2022 (making up 58.7% of total media spending), it becomes more important than ever to ensure that campaign scale and reach are as precise as possible. As we inch closer to a cookieless future for digital targeting, education marketers can benefit from utilizing Dstillery’s ID-free targeting solutions to help replace the loss of scale and reach in their campaigns. 

Research also revealed that a typical educational institution spends 11% of its annual revenue on education marketing and digital marketing activities. With that in mind, it’s best to focus on precise and ready-to-scale solutions to drive brand growth. Combining your digital marketing due diligence with expanding the subject matter of your digital presence is a sure-fire way to attract not only parents of students but the students themselves. To be an institution now is about more than name recognition; it’s about being compelling, showing that you have a perspective, and are an attractive place to continue education.