3 Steps for Investing in Online Education Marketing

As more students take online courses and universities expand their online offerings, it is incumbent on colleges and universities to invest in marketing these effectively. 

At the undergrad level, the percentage of students enrolled exclusively in online courses in 2019 was 15%. In 2021, that number rose to 28%. At the graduate level, it’s a similar story — the numbers rose from 33% in 2019 to 40% in 2021.

This is happening against a backdrop of students who are increasingly strategic — and even, at times, skeptical — about their education. The student debt crisis, COVID-19 and affordable alternatives have shifted, highlighted and accelerated attitudes about college.

Leaders of online learning at higher education institutions are listening. A 2023 survey of chief online officers showed that 81% have experienced a decline or stagnation in enrollment but a 56% growth in online and hybrid programs. 

Because of this, 66% of those surveyed are adding new online-only programs. At the graduate level, “marketing and enrollment leaders consistently report contraction in their classroom programs while reporting modest growth in hybrid programs, with the most growth coming from fully online programs.” 

Once often supported by OPMs, in part because of their ability to move swiftly, college and university marketing teams must work to build greater capacity and institutional knowledge to market online programs. And this can’t take years to implement. Our schools need bold, innovative support; quick strategic thinking; and a creative team that’s ready to roll up their sleeves.

In-house Marketing in Action

At NYU, we offer more than 35 online degree programs, over 350 online courses and a range of online and hybrid certificates. Our online master’s degrees are one of the fastest-growing parts of NYU’s enormous degree portfolio. 

Recent market research illuminated that online programs often benefit greatly from the halo effect of their university’s brand strength, reputation and prestige. Students highlighted this as the main reason they selected their online program at their universities. As we expand offerings, marketing plays an incredibly important role in maintaining and elevating this existing brand and demonstrating value to prospective students. 

So, although we know that we can easily argue why it’s critical to invest in online education marketing, how do we do it? We’ll let you in on three critical lessons we’ve learned since kicking off this work two years ago. 

1. Create value that “lifts all boats”
2. Adopt a combination of a startup mentality and an agency model
3. Tune in to students’ and market needs

Tip 1: Create value that “lifts all boats” 

Where you’re situated in the university matters. We intentionally designed our online education marketing unit within enrollment management since, as is the case at many colleges, this department supports the full lifecycle of a student. The team offers expert marketing support to individual schools across the university while honoring their autonomy. 

From this perspective, this unit can offer common goods like developing a unique value proposition for online education that differentiates NYU’s offerings and ultimately builds a distinctive position in the marketplace. It also promotes general awareness of NYU’s online offerings and drives top-of-the-funnel leads.

Our marketing colleagues at NYU’s individual schools are first-rate creative professionals. We’re here to supplement the incredible work that they’re doing, not supplant. With a line of sight across schools, we can share and amplify their best practices.

Tip 2: Adopt a startup mentality with an agency model 

The mentality of our team most closely resembles a startup. We’re not afraid to break the mold and be innovative, and we prioritize agility but with a strategic plan. Startups are nimble, flexible and — the best ones — collaborative. These are all characteristics we integrated early on while building our team. 

The structure of our team is similar to that of an agency. We hire for expertise and provide discrete services. Consider the experts and skillsets you need for individual marketing tactics like paid media, content marketing, and SEO. 

We started with a plan to support four separate degree programs; however, we are now working with 12. We originally planned to hire five full-time employees, but we’ve done all this with only three by getting creative about building capacity and efficiency. Find your enterprising rockstars — your hidden advantage — invest in them and empower each person to tackle challenges with big, bold ideas.

Tip 3: Tune in to students’ and market needs

When we began this work, we examined what was happening across the higher ed online program market, who our audiences were, and what they demanded. We conducted labor market research, social media listening, and 20 stakeholder interviews, as well as an online survey of prospective students, faculty, staff and 720 students and alumni. The data informs what we know about student behavior. 

For example, it helped us consider how we talk to prospective students; so much evidence pointed toward the need for authenticity. To be authentic, we must be crystal clear on our offerings. We deploy approaches that not only feel real but are real. Use language that would inspire someone to act. Reach into your intuition and create things that you — yourself — want to consume. 

We also provide market insight reports to our partner schools to help our colleagues understand demand in the marketplace for online programs. This research also helps deans prioritize the many program ideas that are presented to them. The market reports help inform curriculum design, gaps in the marketplace, areas where the market is already saturated, labor demand in general, and how schools can improve the ways they attract interest in existing programs. We’ve already created 22 market research reports for our partners.

Build the Marketing Units Now

Now is the time to build capacity at colleges and universities for marketing online education programs. When we invest in the right places and consider how to provide indispensable knowledge to our colleagues, trust builds and our relationships flourish. 

Not to mention, the brand position expands, our marketing becomes more effective, and ultimately, we better serve our students with programs they want.