Designing Impactful Ads: A Guide for Higher Ed Marketing Teams
By Ally Lopez
The media budget has been approved, the plan has been finalized, and now you need creative assets! We all know that paid media campaigns are a powerful tool in higher education marketing, and when done right, they can significantly boost brand awareness, drive qualified inquiries, and ultimately increase enrollment. But designing effective ad creative can feel more like an art than science. We’re here to tell you, it’s kind of both.
“Creating effective ads requires a strategic approach.”
When this process feels overwhelming, we can take it all the way back to grade school and remember the 4-W’s; who, what, when, and where. Using this framework, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide for higher ed marketing teams on how to design ads that capture attention and deliver results:
WHO: Understanding Your Target Audience
- WHO are you trying to reach? Identify your ideal prospective students – their demographics, interests, aspirations, and pain points.
- WHO resonates with them? Understanding who your audience is also provides information on the images that would best drive them. With this question your team can begin thinking about how your audience would like to see themselves represented in your marketing. For some audiences, direct representation of smiling people who look like them is key. Others might prefer images without a central figure but of team collaboration instead. This is a time to get curious about who you’re talking to, and how you can begin that work visually.
An MBA program looking to attract more diverse groups of young women. The program touts flexibility, support, and networking opportunities.
A “Lifelong Learning” program looking to increase applications from retired applicants from diverse backgrounds.
By the time you’re designing your ad creative, you’ve likely had conversations with various teams about the target audiences for this work. These decisions are often informed by enrollment data and enrollment goals when designing the media plan. At this phase in creative development, we can look to more qualitative pieces of information, such as persona development.
- Personas: a detailed profile of target audiences that encompasses demographics, psychographics, behaviors, motivations, goals, and pain points. Personas provide a clear framework for making data-driven decisions about who your target audience is, and how to speak directly to them. It also provides guidance on the types of images that will resonate most.
WHAT: Crafting Your Campaign Message and Marketing Creative
- WHAT’s your unique value proposition? Clearly articulate what sets your institution apart. Is it your renowned faculty, innovative programs, vibrant campus life, or career outcomes? Think back to your “WHO” questions to help inform what unique selling propositions your target audience is most likely to respond positively to.
- WHAT type of ads will best convey your message to your audiences? Choose the formats that align with your goals and budget:
- Image Ads: Simple and effective for showcasing campus visuals and delivering a concise message.
- Image Ads: Simple and effective for showcasing campus visuals and delivering a concise message.
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- Video Ads: Engage viewers with dynamic storytelling and highlight student experiences.
- Carousel Ads: Showcase multiple programs, student stories, or campus features
- Lead Generation Ads: Collect contact information directly within the platform for follow-up, sometimes in exchange for an immediate download with useful insights to the prospect.
WHEN: Planning When They’ll See Your Ads and Marketing
- WHEN do you serve these ads? This one is a bit of a cheat, but when/where in the marketing funnel your ideal audiences receive your ads will affect the framing of your on-ad creative and descriptive copy.
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- Awareness: On-ad copy and descriptive copy can introduce your institution early in the process with broader messaging.
- Consideration: This may be the spot to provide in-depth information about specific programs or offerings. Perhaps you’d like to highlight the flexibility of your programs, or their academic rigor. This is the phase to include that type of messaging.
- Evaluation: Providing prospective students with more information about how your school and your programs are the right fit. This is a great place to focus on student success stories, faculty research highlights, alumni profiles, etc.
- Decision: Encourage applications or inquiries with targeted ads and strong calls to action. For some this may look like an “apply now” button, and for others this may involve more psychological messaging such as “invest in your future.”
WHERE: Designing for Specific Marketing Platforms
- WHERE are your ads running? This is usually decided in the media planning phase, so you may be limited in your choices, but understanding where your ads will be running is crucial to creating strong ad creative.
Each platform (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) has specific ad formats, image sizes, character limits, and content restrictions.
“Familiarize yourself with these guidelines because it’s important to know those rules before you strategically break them.”
It’s in the gray areas where your team can consider which platform suggestions to adhere to, and which to break from in order to get your messaging across. This is a great place to include A/B testing in your campaigns.
Below are links to help guide you through the platform logistics:
Understanding your target audience, crafting compelling messages, placing your ads strategically, and designing for the right platforms, can go a long way in supporting your strategic media plans and enrollment goals.
To help you and your teams get started, we’ve created a toolkit with steps to ensure you’re thinking about the 4-W’s as you design your next great ad.
Need Help?
If you’re looking to dive into marketing your alternative credentials but aren’t sure where to begin, we’re here to help! Send us an email or schedule a call for more strategies to get the ball rolling.