A strategic higher education enrollment marketing funnel should align messaging and data across the entire student journey. Through one coordinated system (not disconnected cross-channel campaigns), this marketing strategy must drive student enrollment.
This happens via connecting awareness, consideration, and conversion efforts.
Moving forward, universities need to remember this: student enrollment funnel performance depends on how well stages synergize, not just on the individual performance of each channel.
From initial awareness through application to enrollment yield management, a higher education enrollment marketing funnel should deliver tangible results.
Introduction
As a strategic partner in higher education lead generation, ZGM has noticed a concerning pattern: higher ed marketing often gets siloed by channel.
This then leads to seemingly strong vanity metrics, followed by weak enrollment outcomes. When universities experience this, it’s a clear indicator their student enrollment funnel has leakage.
The solution is clear: a strategic higher education enrollment marketing funnel that aligns awareness, consideration, and conversion. In the funnel should be programmatic. This helps universities scale reach and target prospective students in the earlier stages.
From there, CRM should take over to drive conversion.
Why Do Isolated Campaigns Fail to Drive Enrollment?
Isolated campaigns fail to drive enrollment for three reasons:
- Fragmented messaging creates inconsistent student experiences.
- Students aren’t reached via multiple touchpoints before conversion.
- Channels aren’t optimized for enrollment, but instead for different KPIs.
| Isolated Campaigns | Full-Funnel Strategy |
|---|---|
| Channel KPIs | Enrollment KPIs |
| Siloed messaging | Unified messaging |
| No journey visibility | End-to-end visibility |
| Tactical focus | Strategic funnel design |
What Is a Full-Funnel Enrollment Marketing Strategy?
A full-funnel enrollment marketing strategy aligns awareness, consideration, and conversion. This then fosters higher education lead generation, guiding prospective students through the funnel from discovery to enrollment.
Here’s a breakdown of the funnel stages:
- Awareness: Programmatic, social, display
- Consideration: Retargeting, content, email nurture
- Conversion: Paid search, landing pages, CRM follow-up
How Does Programmatic Support the Entire Funnel?
Programmatic supports the entire higher education enrollment marketing funnel with data-driven segmentation and sequencing.
This goes beyond just awareness. Programmatic has been consistently proven to support consideration as well, all while ensuring the continuity of messaging improves conversion efficiency.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Awareness: Programmatic introduces programs and institutions
- Consideration: Programmatic reinforces messaging through retargeting
- Conversion: Programmatic drives action with targeted prompts
How Should Marketing and Admissions Align Across the Funnel?
Across the higher education enrollment marketing funnel, marketing and admissions teams should follow a three-step alignment model:
- Agree on funnel definitions
- Define lead handoff process
- Align on shared enrollment goals
Throughout the higher education lead generation process, marketing teams generate and nurture demand. Admissions teams, on the other hand, convert and close enrollments.
Without cross-funnel alignment between marketing and admissions, universities become more susceptible to lead dropoff.
What Are the Most Common Funnel Gaps?
Here are the most common funnel gaps:
- Strong awareness but weak inquiries → messaging problem
- Strong inquiries but weak applications → nurturing gap
- Strong applications but weak enrollments → admissions follow-up gap
Here is a simple funnel flow:
Awareness → Consideration → Inquiry → Application → Enrollment
Final Thoughts
A higher education enrollment marketing funnel must align marketing and admissions around a shared student journey. Likewise, integrating programmatic as a connective layer streamlines efficiency and engagement throughout the funnel, while boosting overall enrollment outcomes.
Source: AACRAO report
Here at ZGM, we’ve spent years helping institutions with higher education lead generation. Book a call with us today to see how ZGM builds enrollment funnels for universities.