“We don’t have enough media budget.”
Each of us in the higher ed marketing space have said some iteration of that sentence at one point or another in our careers. But here’s a secret: you’ll never have enough budget. There’s always more you could be spending, channels and tactics that would be better served with a larger investment, and additional audiences you could reach if only you had the resources.
So how do you make the most of what you do have?
At VisionPoint we often talk about the marketing and admissions cycle as a funnel. The top of the funnel is for brand promotion, garnering awareness and interest in your institution. The middle of the funnel is for lead generation, the consideration and conversion stage of the student journey. And lastly is lead nurturing, the bottom of the funnel where you focus on applications, yield, and retention.
So with that funnel structure in mind, here are a few proven frameworks for maximizing limited marketing resources at various budget levels.
Media Budget Less than $50k
If your media budget falls under $50,000, the best approach is to stay focused and intentional. With limited resources, investing paid media dollars in top-of-funnel awareness tactics is typically not recommended (there are other, organic ways to build your brand). Instead, the majority of your spend—about 70% to 80%—should go toward the consideration and conversion stage (middle of the funnel), where you’re nudging interested students to engage and inquire. The remaining 20% to 30% should support applications, yield, and retention efforts, helping to convert those prospects and keep them moving toward enrollment.
At this budget level, the “must-have” channels for consideration and conversion include Google Search and Meta (Facebook and Instagram). These platforms offer strong targeting capabilities and a proven ability to drive performance. For yield and retention, retargeting is essential. You’ll want to allocate budget to Google Retargeting and Meta Retargeting, ensuring your message stays in front of prospective students who have already interacted with your brand.
At such a low budget level, you’ve got limited room for experimentation. It’s critical to optimize for the bottom line. The goal at this level is simple: spend where it counts to drive the best possible return. The impressions and even clicks don’t matter much here – conversions and cost-per-conversion are the KPIs you should care about most.
Media Budget $50k-$200k
A media budget between $50,000 and $200,000 affords you the flexibility to support a more comprehensive full-funnel strategy. This means you can invest in brand awareness while still maintaining a strong allocation toward conversion and yield tactics.
With this budget range, consider allocating 20% to 40% of your spend toward awareness and interest. Channels like YouTube, Display, and TikTok (where applicable) are highly effective for reaching new audiences and building visibility. If your budget allows, platforms like Snapchat, radio or podcast sponsorships, and Reddit can serve as nice-to-have additions that expand your reach.
The majority of your budget—typically 50% to 70%—should still go toward consideration and conversion. Google Search and Meta continue to be “must-have” platforms here, delivering strong performance and the ability to reach users actively researching educational opportunities. LinkedIn is a valuable nice-to-have channel for this stage, especially if you’re targeting adult learners or graduate students.
Yield and retention should make up 10% to 30% of your budget. Google Retargeting and Meta Retargeting remain essential to your strategy, but if you’re looking to add some additional tactics, geofencing and Snapchat Retargeting can provide hyper-targeted ways to re-engage your audience.
Media Budget $200k-$500k
With a media budget in the $200,000 to $500,000 range, institutions can execute a well-rounded, full-funnel marketing strategy with room for creativity, channel diversification, and a healthy allocation toward robust program-specific campaigns. This budget range allows you to build brand awareness, drive consideration, and maintain engagement through the yield and retention phase.
For awareness and interest, plan to allocate 20% to 60% of your total spend. At this level, you can confidently invest in platforms like YouTube, Display, TikTok, Snapchat, radio and podcast placements, and Reddit. These channels help cast a wider net and introduce your brand to new audiences. If you’re looking to add more depth to your awareness strategy, consider streaming video, Twitch, or geofencing as nice-to-have enhancements that allow for even more immersive and targeted storytelling.
The consideration and conversion stage should receive the largest portion of your budget—typically between 20% and 70% (Why such a huge range? Because your institution’s total enrollment needs, admissions selectivity, and inquiry-to-enrollment rate will heavily influence the total number of leads you need in the funnel to achieve your enrollment targets.). This is where platforms like Google Search, Meta, and LinkedIn Conversation Ads become essential, allowing you to reach prospective students actively researching their options. If your audience includes adult learners or professionals, LinkedIn Sponsored Content can be a valuable channel to layer in for additional precision targeting.
Finally, for yield and retention, set aside between 10% and 30% of your budget. Google Retargeting and Meta Retargeting remain must-haves for keeping your institution top-of-mind among prospects who have already interacted with your brand. Geofencing and Snapchat Retargeting can be leveraged as advanced retargeting tactics to drive urgency and maintain engagement during critical decision-making windows.
Media Budget Greater than $500k
When your media budget exceeds $500,000 (congrats!), you gain the ultimate flexibility to customize your strategy and adapt to your institution’s specific goals. Not only can you allocate resources across the full funnel with ease (the prior section’s recommendations remain applicable here), but you also open the door to premium opportunities and experimental initiatives. You can afford to have a little fun, trying emerging channels and innovating to find optimal strategies for your institution and your audiences. .
This level of investment supports creative top-of-funnel efforts such as sports sponsorships and large-scale video campaigns. It also gives you the freedom to run robust portfolios of program-specific campaigns, ensuring you can market individual academic departments or offerings with tailored messaging. Additionally, competitor targeting becomes feasible, allowing you to capture attention from students considering peer institutions.
At this budget level, you’re also well-positioned to A/B test different platforms, messages, and formats to identify what resonates best with your audience. You can double down on what works while still leaving space to innovate.
Final Considerations
While we’ve provided best practices that have been proven across our vast portfolio of higher ed campaigns across the country, there’s no exact recipe for success. Put another way, these are starter frameworks for higher ed media planning, not strict rules. You’ll need to optimize, test, and make your media plan work for your institution’s specific needs. So here are a few final considerations for your institution’s paid media efforts.
- Audience Size: Every service area is different—large adult population, more rural than urban, internet access, competition—and all of these will affect budget allocations and recommendations.
- Your Inquiry-to-Enrollment Rate is Key: The better you convert inquiries into enrolled students, the less you need to invest in filling the funnel. And the opposite is true, if your funnel is leaky, you’ll need to heavy up your upper-funnel spend while dialing in your targeting to over-fill the funnel with hopefully better-fit prospects.
- Don’t Stretch Too Thin: There reaches a point where you can split your budget so much that you won’t compete on any of the channels.
- Deep and Wide: As budget levels increase, it’s not just about adding more channels, but also getting more specific and becoming more competitive on the channels in which you’re invested.
- Diversify the Portfolio: Media and audiences are ever-changing. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, and don’t get married to any one channel or tactic. But remember, whatever media mix you land on, always measure your overall average cost-per-lead, cost-per-application, and cost-per-enrolled student. Optimizing for those overall KPIs will help hold you accountable to finding a healthy mix for your situation.
And if you’re unsure whether you’re getting the engagement, the leads, and the applications you deserve, we’re here to help. Sign up for our complementary second opinion media analysis where we’ll assess your current campaign strategy and channel mix and provide key takeaways, identify the strengths in your approach, and pinpoint our priority recommendations for improvement.
