Digital and traditional marketing chase the same goals, but the execution can be very different – especially in higher ed.

As higher ed marketers, you know you’re up against a multi-layered, ever-changing landscape. It’s up to you to find new ways to stick out from the crowd while reaching students from every demographic, location, and interest – all while maintaining a cohesive brand.

How do you do it?

In our new whitepaper, “Unibuddy Higher Ed Digital Marketing Guide: What You Need to Know in 2023,” we discuss ways to help your team build their digital marketing strategies faster and more effectively. 

Here are four things you can implement right now.

How to plan higher ed digital marketing strategies

Understand your audience

You can’t market effectively if you don’t know your audience. When considering the students you’d like to recruit, do you know what they need? Ask yourself the following:

What type of language do they want?

In a word: Authentic.

According to Unibuddy research, Gen Z – the students you’re trying to reach – responds best to initial encounters that feel authentic and familiar. 

So, soften up your language! Swap the cold, institutional tone for a more relaxed, informal one instead. It should sound like the language your potential students use in their everyday interactions. 

Related: How to Foster Authentic Personalization in Student Recruitment

Once you’ve found your voice, make sure it’s consistent across all digital assets, from your social media to your homepage. It’s the best way to help Gen Z make informed impressions.

If you’re feeling stuck, student ambassadors are a great resource for developing a brand voice that speaks to prospective students in their language. In fact, it helps a staggering 92% of Gen Z along their student journey! 

Are you giving off what they consider to be “good vibes”?

Authentic language will only get you so far: one in 10 Gen Z students will leave your website if they don’t get a good vibe.

Everything from your language to your digital assets needs to also give off what we call “good vibes” by featuring values that your prospective students can connect with on an emotional level.

Related: The Gen Z Journey to Higher Education

Keep this in mind when considering things like logos, color, font, and other things that can influence your digital brand, such as accessibility. 

Come up with a digital content strategy

As you build and move through your digital marketing strategies, remember, you can’t create content just to create them – every piece of content that you put out there must serve a purpose. 

It should work with other digital assets to form what we call a digital content strategy. In a well-thought-out strategy, all assets should be relevant to your target audience and provide a clear pathway to a predefined KPI metric. That metric is up to you – it could be conversion, prospective students interacting with your student ambassadors, or even application numbers.

Related: 5 Higher Ed Marketing Trends in 2023

As you enter 2023, keep the current trends in mind. Aim to strike a balance between evergreen content (content that remains relevant even as time passes) and real-time content, such as on-campus interviews with faculty, ambassadors or current students. 

Providing both allows Gen Z students to pre-qualify themselves with evergreen content while simultaneously using current content to determine if your institution is a good fit overall. Don’t believe us? According to our research, nearly 3 in 4 say they do exactly that.

Use multiple digital channels

In this day and age, it seems like there’s a new digital channel every day. Take advantage of them!

Gen Z is the first generation of digital natives, which means they use technology in most – if not all – facets of their lives, from keeping in touch to, yes, choosing their higher education institution. 

Your prospective students are interacting with your content anywhere at any time, across multiple channels and devices. As marketers, we have to be ready to meet them where they are. This means using all channels, from social media to YouTube to your blog. Whether you’re posting infographics, creating the latest trends or sharing a look at campus life, an omnichannel mix will attract and engage your prospective students.

Related: How to Stop Playing Catch-up with Edtech in Higher Ed Recruitment

Doing so isn’t a part-time job or an afterthought – to be as effective as possible, use the resources you have readily available, like your student ambassadors. Freelancers are also a great option, as they can boost output with little guidance, allowing you to focus on other projects.

Build an effective distribution plan

You can employ all of the tactics we’ve just talked about, but without a great distribution plan, the point is moot. 

A distribution plan that involves social media, paid ads, paid social and more is the key to your digital marketing success. Unibuddy partners with higher education institutions to provide platforms that make it easier to create and distribute an effective plan.

You can learn more about how to create a great distribution plan in our whitepaper, “Unibuddy Higher Ed Digital Marketing Guide: What You Need to Know in 2023.”