Service Line: Digital Marketing

In today’s competitive higher education landscape, your website is one of your most powerful recruitment tools. But if visitors aren’t converting—whether that means filling out an inquiry form, starting an application, or scheduling a campus visit—your marketing efforts may not be reaching their full potential.

As more users turn to streaming platforms as their main source of information and entertainment, the prevalence and popularity of Connected TV ads have shot up. Nowadays, CTV is an essential component of any modern digital marketing strategy. 

Google named Carnegie’s digital marketing team as a 2025 Google Premier Partner! This marks over 10 years we’ve been a Premier Partner.

In today’s crowded higher ed landscape, standing out isn’t just important—it’s essential. Recent research from Westwood One reveals a key challenge: dull, uninspired ads require 2x to 2.6x more media spend to achieve the same impact as engaging, creative campaigns. For community colleges operating on tight budgets, ineffective ads limit reach and waste valuable resources.

As student search trends and the higher education industry continue to evolve, Google Ads Scripts provides an effective tool that is utilized to efficiently manage campaigns. These blocks of JavaScript code assist in developing data-driven campaign insights and optimizations that are utilized to further maximize the impact PPC and Performance Max campaigns have on reaching your enrollment goals.

With 2025 already underway, community colleges have a unique opportunity to leverage digital marketing strategies to drive enrollment growth this year. As prospective students continue to rely on online resources to explore colleges and programs, it’s more important than ever that your institution meets them where they are.

Standing out on crowded social feeds can be a challenge—especially for higher education institutions. While organic social media is vital, pairing it with paid advertising strategies has proven to be an increasingly effective way to amplify your reach and impact.

In this digital age, social media platforms are vital tools for universities and colleges to connect with prospective students. However, engaging with prospective students, many of whom are minors, comes with important privacy and safety considerations. Major platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Snapchat, TikTok, and LinkedIn have recognized these challenges and implemented robust safety measures to protect young users. 

It’s hard to imagine social media without TikTok. Over the past few years, this platform has revolutionized the way brands, creators, and even higher education institutions connect with their audiences. But, with increased regulatory and security scrutiny, there are still questions about the future of the platform. Higher education institutions should prepare for potential disruptions.

In higher education marketing, tracking application and yield conversions is essential—but often, the insights stop at the surface. Many institutions face a critical challenge: while it’s possible to track an application or yield conversion through paid media campaigns, gaining deeper context such as the program, term, or student type remains out of reach, especially for an institution with a shared CRM. How is it possible to distinguish an undergraduate from a graduate application?