Driving Prospective-Student Growth Across Multiple University Programs
A multi-channel paid media strategy that helped a Canadian university reach prospective students across different programs, markets, and recruitment cycles while improving conversion efficiency.
PROJECT AT A GLANCE
Industry
Higher Education
Location
Canada
Platforms
Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Programmatic
Engagement
1+ Year
Focus
Multi-Program Student Recruitment
Goal
Increase qualified program interest and application-focused actions
Reaching Different Student Audiences Across Multiple Programs
Over more than a year, I managed paid media campaigns for a Canadian university across multiple undergraduate, graduate, professional, engineering, education, social work, and continuing-education programs. Each program had a different audience, recruitment window, geographic focus, and level of existing demand. The strategy therefore needed to adapt by program rather than relying on one standard media plan.
The focus was on reaching prospective students at the right stage of their decision journey, increasing meaningful program engagement, and continuously improving performance across multiple recruitment cycles.
One University. Very Different Student Journeys.
Each faculty required its own strategy. A graduate applicant, an undergraduate student, and someone exploring a professional program do not research or make decisions in the same way. At the same time, multiple campaigns needed to support different recruitment priorities, application deadlines, markets, and budgets.
The challenge was to:
- create program-specific strategies instead of generic university advertising
- reach students at different stages of decision-making journey
- allocate budget effectively across multiple programs and markets
- adapt messaging as application deadlines approached
- improve conversion efficiency while maintaining reach and relevance
The goal was not simply more traffic. It was more meaningful engagement from prospective students who were genuinely considering the university’s programs.
Matching the Right Strategy to Each Student Journey
Instead of applying the same media plan to every program, I used audience intent, recruitment goals, and performance data to determine how each campaign should be structured and where budget should go.
Capture Existing Demand
Google Search helped reach prospective students already researching specific programs, degrees, and education options. Campaign messaging and targeting were tailored to the program so the experience stayed relevant from the initial search through to the program page.
Build Awareness Beyond Search
Many students begin their research before they know exactly which program they want. For selected programs, social, video, broader Google campaigns, LinkedIn, and programmatic advertising helped introduce programs earlier in the research process and keep them visible as students compared their options.
Adapt by Program, Audience & Market
There was no one-size-fits-all audience strategy. Campaigns were adjusted depending on whether the program targeted undergraduate students, graduate applicants, working professionals, or more specialized audiences. Geographic performance also helped guide investment, with Alberta and major Canadian markets such as Toronto and Vancouver showing stronger demand for selected programs.
Optimize Throughout the Recruitment Cycle
Campaigns were continuously adjusted as new performance data became available and application deadlines approached. Budgets, messaging, audience targeting, and campaign priorities shifted toward the programs and markets showing the strongest opportunities. This allowed the strategy to evolve throughout each recruitment period rather than relying on one static campaign setup.
Performance Highlights
Together, these results showed that combining high-intent Search with broader awareness and consideration activity could generate efficient prospective-student actions across different stages of the recruitment journey.
853
Tracked program actions from a key Google campaign at $5.01 per conversion
264
Tracked actions from Demand Gen at $7.37 per conversion
9–10%
Search CTR across high-intent campaigns
53%
of conversions generated by Performance Max in a key enrollment campaign
Different students needed different paths to conversion.
Complex organizations perform better when paid media reflects how different audiences actually make decisions.
In this project:
Search captured active demand.
Students already researching programs could be reached with highly relevant messaging.
Broader channels expanded the opportunity.
Social, video, display, and other paid channels helped selected programs reach students earlier in their decision process.
Strategy changed by program and market.
Audience behaviour and performance determined where budget and attention moved next.
Optimization continued throughout the recruitment cycle.
Campaigns evolved as demand, deadlines, and performance changed.
The result was a more flexible recruitment strategy that supported multiple programs and audiences while maintaining strong conversion efficiency.
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