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GET A PARTNER WHO TURNS MEDIA INTO MOMENTUM

Higher education digital marketing is boring.

Wait, did we say that out loud? But how many ads have you seen with a perfect stock image and a statement like “Advance Your Career,” “Prepare for What’s Next,” or “Gain Real-World Experience”? These goals may be accurate, but the typical higher ed ad fails at making the experience feel personal and connected to who students really are as whole people—and the amazing minds they’ll be learning with. Viv connects the stories of your students, alumni, and faculty to air-tight audience strategy, highly customized paid media plans, story-led landing pages, content-rich nurture experiences, and clear analytics so every click tells a story and has a clear job to do.

As a higher education digital marketing agency, we care about more than traffic and lead volume.

We Build Digital Marketing Strategies for Higher Ed That Position You as the Only Right Fit for Your Prospects

Students may indeed want to “advance their career,” but sharing a testimonial from a mom of two who got a promotion after earning her Executive MBA while working a full-time job makes you trustworthy. Offering an inside look at a star faculty member’s exciting work on genetic testing for better medical treatments makes you impressive. Providing how-to’s on applying, securing funding, or building a professional network makes you helpful. Delivering all this together? That makes you the clear top choice. Viv pairs radically human storytelling with strategy and analytics to improve your conversion rates from first impression to application and enrollment.

Better Outcomes Start with Tighter Feedback Loops

Higher education digital marketing campaigns should get smarter every week. Viv works in tight feedback loops, testing message, audience, creative, channel, and conversion path, then using the data to make strategic adjustments. Unlike some agencies, we don’t believe that a flurry of activity and a massive data dump usually translates to improved performance.

Instead, we provide streamlined biweekly reports that drill down into the most useful data points and use those observations to discuss possible adjustments with you. You see what we see: what’s working, what isn’t, where lead quality is changing, and what we’d like to try next. We show our work and push for improvements every week.

+33%

increase in conversions across all Google ad campaigns agency-wide with only a 9% spending increase, showing continual improvement

18%

CTR and a 10% increase in app starts for Babson College graduate programs thanks to strategic creative

+25%

increase in enrollments YOY for Simmons University graduate programs

+35%

increase in accepted offers YOY for Boston University School of Hospitality Administration

Meet the Digital Marketing Team

Audra DeLaney-Hallin Providence, RI
Lauren Wamelinkin Chapel Hill, NC
Kayla Farrisin Hattiesburg, MS
Parth Mehtain Toronto, ON
Aaron Katzin Beverly, MA
Helen Williamsin Dedham, MA
Steve Lipscombin Mountain View, CA

Launch Digital Campaigns Built for Enrollment Outcomes

Our higher education digital marketing services connect the full campaign system rather than handling each channel separately.

Paid Media Strategy & Execution

Build your audience, channel mix, budget, testing plan, and optimization rhythm around your enrollment goals. Viv’s higher education paid media services span paid search, paid social, programmatic display and video, connected TV (CTV), streaming audio such as Spotify, digital out-of-home (DOOH), and retargeting. Our higher education paid search services and approach to PPC for higher education connect channel performance to the next action we want prospects to take. Effective digital marketing for universities gives each channel and funnel stage a defined role in the journey.

Campaign Concepting & Creative

Turn audience insights and positioning into campaign concepts, copy, art direction, and adaptable creative systems that earn attention across channels via radically human storytelling and psychographically anchored messages. Then test the variables most likely to improve engagement without losing the core differentiating idea.

Landing Pages & Conversion

Create landing experiences that carry the campaign promise forward, answer the questions prospects need resolved, and inspire them to take that next step. We connect messages, design, form strategy, and testing to reduce friction and improve conversion.

Lead Nurture Strategy & Implementation

Plan and implement lead nurturing for higher education across email, SMS, phone, events, and admissions outreach. We help every follow-up feel timely, relevant, and connected instead of like a string of disconnected reminders.

CRM Strategy & Management

Strengthen your internal systems and data with a customized CRM strategy and build that addresses segmentation, lead routing, data hygiene, automation, workflow management, and reporting. The goal is a cleaner handoff from marketing to admissions and a more useful view of each prospect’s progress.

Analytics, Attribution & Reporting

Connect digital marketing data to qualified inquiries, application starts, completions, deposits, and enrollments. You’ll get reporting that explains what the data means, clarifies what influenced the outcome, and points to the next strategic choice.

Bringing Viv on board was one of the best decisions our team made. The approach was collaborative, always aimed at our needs andparticular complexities. From the moment the team came on, we knew that we’d found a great partner who would be committed to our goals.”

Tara Pope

Former Director of Marketing at Tufts University College

More Connection, More Impact

Viv’s integrated growth planning method doesn’t just create better ads. It drives better-connected decisions.

You deserve higher education digital marketing that’s planned as part of a larger growth system. Strategy clarifies the target. Brand makes the message memorable. Search builds discoverability. Nurture and enrollment operations turn interest into key actions. That is how campaigns learn faster and your budgets work harder.

See Branding & Storytelling See SEO & AI Search See Growth Strategy

FAQS

Get answers to frequently asked questions about higher ed digital marketing.

How can universities improve their digital marketing strategies?

Start by connecting your enrollment goal to a defined audience, a clear message, the right offer, and a measurable conversion path. The strongest digital marketing strategies for higher ed also create a steady testing rhythm, so teams can improve creative, targeting, landing pages, nurture, and budget allocation with real evidence.

What are the best digital marketing channels for higher education enrollment?

The right mix depends on audience and intent. Paid search can capture active demand. Paid social and video can create awareness and build relevance. Retargeting can support longer decisions. Email and SMS can move known prospects forward. Strong higher education digital marketing gives each channel a specific role instead of asking every channel to do everything.

How can colleges improve the quality of leads from digital advertising?

Define fit before launch, target for audience and intent, make the program value specific, and ensure the landing experience matches the ad. Then evaluate lead quality by source, message, and audience. Better PPC for higher education comes from optimizing toward downstream behavior, not just the cheapest form fill.

How should universities measure paid media performance?

Measure the full chain from reach and qualified traffic to inquiry quality, application starts, completions, deposits, and enrollments. Higher education paid media services should make those connections visible where data allows and clearly separate leading indicators from final outcomes.

How can colleges reduce cost per application or enrollment?

Cutting cost starts with finding the leak. The issue may be targeting, messaging, creative fatigue, landing page friction, follow-up speed, or application abandonment. Improve the weakest point first, shift budget toward sources producing right-fit prospects, and judge efficiency against quality as well as volume.

What digital channels work best for pre-college recruitment?

Paid social, search, short-form video, retargeting, email, and parent-focused communications can all play a role. The best mix reflects how students discover options, how families evaluate trust and value, and how quickly the program needs them to act.

Ready to get started?

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