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Ads for your courses? What’s marketing like for education companies in 2022…

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Ever wondered just how much is spent on marketing higher education and disruptive learning? Short answer: A LOT. In 2020, advertising spending for the education industry reached $2.2 billion. Acquiring just a single student costs as much as $623 for for-profit higher ed institutions. 

The Student Journey

The long marketing cycle that prospective students go through before enrolling explains the skyrocketing acquisition costs in the education space. This is why it’s crucial to ensure your brand’s presence in multiple digital touchpoints where your learners interact.

This is also what separates education advertising from other forms of advertising. Students shopping for a learning provider have long periods of consideration on top of making a decision on the educational track they want to pursue.

However, it’s clear that not all education providers have the resources to spend hundreds of dollars on converting one prospect into a student. And not all students can afford to enroll themselves in prestigious universities. 

Disruptive Education & eLearning

Over the years, traditional education–with its typical years-long degree-acquisition system and high tuition costs–has become less and less accessible to students. The pandemic only exacerbated this phenomenon. In turn, this opened up the demand for shorter, affordable, and more specialized learning avenues. 

So, while traditional education providers are able to advertise using commercials, billboards, and other expensive marketing platforms, how can eLearning providers advertise effectively with their comparatively smaller budgets?

The answer: digital marketing. Students are increasingly turning to the internet to look for the school that meets their learning needs the best. Today, your brand’s online presence can spell the difference between a positive ROI and nonexistent enrollment demand.  

Paid ads, once upon a time, were viewed as a luxury only companies with the capacity to spend big were able to utilize and make money from. Today, the right strategies can make a limited advertising budget generate record-breaking enrollment growth. 


At Grow Enrollments, we engineer winning digital marketing strategies by combining PPC with Conversion Rate Optimization and Paid Social Media Management in a fully personalized-for-you solution designed to increase your brand’s visibility, ROI, and applications.

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