Higher Education Marketing and Enrollment Management Trends

Marketing and Enrollment Management Benchmarks 2025:
Trends in Higher Education Marketing and Student Engagement

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Navigating a Competitive Landscape in Higher Education

The higher education environment is intensely competitive, with institutions constantly striving to attract and retain students amidst shifting demographics, economic pressures and evolving student expectations. Without clear benchmarks, it’s challenging to know where your institution truly stands or where to focus your efforts for improvement. Our latest report unlocks objective data necessary to effectively evaluate your institution’s current performance and strategically plan for future success in a dynamic market.

What is the Marketing and Enrollment Management Benchmarks Report?

The Marketing and Enrollment Management Benchmarks Report is the only report of its kind that delivers highly tactical and operational marketing and enrollment strategies and performance data. Leveraging a blend of primary and secondary data, this annual report provides a comprehensive snapshot of key trends, metrics and best practices that are shaping the industry today.

We’ve done the heavy lifting of comprehensive research and analysis for you, so you don’t have to.

We lead the way in higher education by integrating our exclusive proprietary data with comprehensive secondary analysis. This powerful combination drawing from industry reports academic research and public datasets guarantees a complete and precise understanding of higher education trends and performance. Our expert in-house research team rigorously verifies and contextualizes every piece of data empowering you with reliable actionable insights.

  • Rise of Stealth Applicants
    More students are applying directly to colleges without prior engagement with admissions offices. This requires institutions to refine media spending strategies to connect with these applicants.
  • Program Demand Shifts
    There’s a surge in interest for healthcare and vocational training programs, reflecting a focus on practical skills and direct employment. Conversely, traditional arts and humanities fields are seeing declines.
  • Power of Organic Search
    Organic search remains a highly cost-effective way to attract prospective students, accounting for over a third of all education website visits. Institutions must prioritize website performance and optimize their online presence.
  • Digital Advertising Dominance
    Institutions are increasing investment in digital advertising (Google, social media, mobile video) to align with Modern Learners’ digital-first habits and drive conversions.
  • AI-Powered Personalization
    AI tools like Google’s Performance Max are transforming advertising campaign optimization and content personalization, leading to more efficient and effective outreach.

Optimize your marketing and enrollment strategies to drive real institutional success.

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See beyond the current academic year and predict the trends that will shape enrollment, marketing and student success in the years to come.

Staying ahead means understanding what’s next. It means anticipating shifts in student demographics, recognizing emerging technological tools and adapting to new ways Modern Learners discover and choose programs.

Rapid Market Evolution

Marketing and enrollment strategies must constantly adapt to keep pace with the higher education landscape.

Optimize Resource Allocation

Limited budgets demand efficient spending, making data-driven insights crucial for maximizing your impact.

Data-Driven Decisions

Objective benchmarks are essential to move beyond guesswork, setting realistic goals and proving ROI.

Cross-Functional Alignment

Shared understanding of industry norms fosters more effective collaboration across all institutional departments.

Our Methodology

Our hybrid methodology combines both proprietary data and secondary data analysis to connect high-level industry shifts with practical implications for marketing and enrollment operations, making this report the most valuable tool for strategic decision-making in higher education.

Proprietary Data Collection

We gather unique, first-hand insights from our extensive work with higher education institutions, including direct student surveys (like our 2024 Online College Students Survey) and performance data from our managed marketing campaigns, such as Google Performance Max.

Comprehensive Secondary Analysis

Our methodology integrates robust analysis of existing data from diverse sources, including academic research, public datasets (e.g., NCES, National Student Clearinghouse), and other relevant industry reports.

Rigorous Verification and Contextualization

Our in-house research team meticulously verifies and contextualizes all data, whether proprietary or secondary, to ensure accuracy, reliability, and provide genuinely actionable insights for strategic decision-making.

Cut through the noise. Get the benchmarks that matter.

Download the Latest Report

Explore Previous Editions

Discover how the Modern Learner has evolved. Access our archive of past reports for longitudinal insights and to track emerging trends.

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