Webinar: 7 Paid Ad Campaigns Universities Should Be Running (But Aren’t)
Get more clicks at a lower cost with these highly effective but often-overlooked campaign strategies.
PAID MEDIA
Google Display Ads for Higher Education
Reach prospective students wherever they browse online, and turn impressions into inquiries, applications, and enrollments.
Why Display Still Matters, Especially in Higher Ed
Google display ads are the banner, image, and rich-media units that appear across millions of sites and apps within Google’s network. In higher ed digital advertising, they keep your programs in front of prospects long after the first search click by building familiarity, driving return visits, and nudging applications.
Tomorrow’s students are streaming highlights, skimming articles, and scrolling social feeds across the open web. Google display ads place your campus on 35 million+ sites and apps, capturing their attention for a fraction of the cost of paid search.
For colleges and universities, those impressions work hard: re-engaging past visitors, keeping programs visible mid-funnel, and prompting deadline reminders that search alone can’t deliver.
The payoff is warmer inquiries, lower cost-per-application, and attribution data your finance team will appreciate.
Everything You Need to Win the View (and the Click)
- Strategic campaign schedule tied to enrollment milestones
- Multi-layer audience targeting (demo, affinity, custom intent, CRM look-alikes)
- Thumb-stopping creative (static, responsive, HTML5, video, rich media)
- Full-funnel remarketing with frequency caps
- Built-in compliance (WCAG-AA, GDPR/CCPA)
- Brand-safe, fraud-free placements
- Live performance dashboard and weekly insight calls
- Quarterly strategy summits and annual media planning
Vital’s Approach to Managing Google Display Ads for Higher Education
We pair rigorous testing with inspired creative thinking to launch Google display campaigns that outclass the competition.
#1. Weekly Status & Data Calls
Once we’ve kicked off your campaigns, we meet with you weekly to review the metrics that matter most to your institution, get your input, and plan tests, tweaks, and optimization strategies to keep growing your return on ad spend.
#2. In-depth Monthly Reports
Once a month, we go deep into the data to deliver a comprehensive picture of your Google Display ads performance. We identify areas of potential growth and recommend new campaigns, content enhancements, fresh lead-gen offers, and more.
#3. Quarterly Strategy Sessions
We meet with your enrollment marketing team at the start of our engagement and every quarter after that. Each check-in is a chance to align on goals, evaluate how our results are impacting your institution, and adjust as needed.
Together, we shape a plan to boost brand awareness, increase website traffic, and drive more leads from right-fit prospective students.
The higher education marketing agency that combines fanatical discipline with inspired creativity
Walk through Vital’s halls and you’ll meet ad-ops nerds who can break down the latest Google bidding algorithm in plain English and creatives who dream up HTML5 concepts that stop the scroll. Most days, they’re the same people. We live for uncovering placement insights your competitors miss and turning them into attention-grabbing banners and rich-media experiences that move prospects from first glance to final click. Pull up a chair; we’re always happy to talk shop.
Who We Serve
Every higher education institution is different, and success starts with understanding your audience, your goals, and your challenges. We bring a unique combination of higher education-specific expertise and out-of-the-box thinking that drives enrollment and revenue growth for a wide variety of institutions. Here are a few of our specialties:
- Graduate degree programs
Boost program growth through approaches tailored to today’s advanced degree seekers. - Online Degree Programs
Compete in the fastest-growing segment of higher education.
- Professional Development, Certificate, and Course Programs
Attract more career-focused learners. - Traditional on-campus universities and colleges
- Specialized and technical schools and programs
- And more!
Essential Reading
Let’s Talk
Ready to turn all those impressions into applications? Let’s make it happen.
