Higher Education Marketers: Take your Omnichannel Advertising ROI to the Next Degree with Audience-First Strategies

In higher education, it is imperative to connect with the right audience throughout the consumer journey. To efficiently drive enrollment, increase donations, and build awareness, institutions need a data-driven approach that ensures their message reaches not only demo- and geo-based audiences, but high-intent individuals ready to take the next step on their path to higher education. Cadent + AdTheorent developed a solution to connect higher ed brands with high-intent individuals and drive results that matter using precisely defined audience segments. By leveraging behavioral, transactional, and location data to inform campaign strategies, marketers can maximize ROI, reduce waste, and deliver personalized messaging that resonates to ultimately drive their campaign outcomes. 

Why Higher Education Marketers Need Audience-First, Omnichannel Strategies 

Whether you’re seeking to engage prospective students, graduate school candidates, donors, or administrators, it is important to align your message with relevant content categories that target content related to college life, graduate school, or business studies. 

Cadent + AdTheorent’s Audience Direct ensures that higher education campaigns are seamlessly activated across CTV, linear TV, digital, and mobile platforms. This approach guarantees:   

• Consistency: Unified messaging across touchpoints.   
• Relevancy: Contextually relevant content delivered to the right audience.   
• Efficiency: Optimized spend by focusing on high-intent individuals. 
• Performance: Increased requests for information, tours, and enrollment, or new donations. 

Connect with High-Intent Audiences Using Audience Direct 

Cadent + AdTheorent’s curated Audience Direct packages help higher education marketers reach high-intent audiences across premium channels. Audience Direct packages match data from our robust data marketplace of third-party partners to our proprietary household identity graph to reach audiences that matter, including:  

• Behavioral Data: Students likely to attend college this fall, parents of college students, and decision-makers at academic institutions.   
• Transactional Data: Individuals likely to donate to colleges and universities.   
• Location Data: College campus visitors and students recently engaging with test prep resources. 

As a vertical that is dependent on reaching the youth demographic, it is important to consider the impact certain types of media have on this group. Gen Z is reshaping media consumption, with more than 90% of this generation regularly streaming video on CTV. For higher education institutions, this means that CTV is a must-have. CTV provides a unique opportunity to connect with this digitally-savvy audience in an environment where they are highly engaged and receptive to tailored messaging. 

Why Choose Audience Direct Packages? 

Today’s prospective students and their families engage across multiple platforms—streaming on CTV, browsing social media on mobile, and researching programs online. Audience Direct ensures seamless campaign activation across CTV, linear TV, mobile, tablet, and desktop, ensuring that the institution’s message reaches audiences wherever they consume content. 

Cadent + AdTheorent’s Audience Direct packages drive measurable results across the funnel, from building awareness to driving application submissions. With the ability to reach more than 125 million households and maintain precise targeting, Audience Direct enables institutions to scale their campaigns efficiently without compromising accuracy. Marketers also benefit from flexible execution options, with the ability to utilize Cadent + AdTheorent’s Self-Service DSP, managed service offering, or Cadent + AdTheorent’s SSP – Aperture MX, to integrate their own DSP for a customized approach. 

Let’s Get Started 

Ready to drive better outcomes and ROI from your higher education marketing efforts?

Learn how Cadent + AdTheorent can help you achieve your goals.