Higher Education Archives - Propellant Media

Thousands of students showed interest. Only a fraction applied. What happened in between? That space—between inquiry and enrollment—is where most universities lose momentum. It’s not a lack of awareness that holds students back; it’s hesitation, unanswered questions, forgotten deadlines, and…

-->

Higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to attract and enroll qualified students amid declining application numbers and rising competition. At the same time, marketing budgets are often scrutinized, making evaluating how effectively each dollar is spent is critical. Understanding…

-->

In an increasingly competitive higher education environment, institutions must go beyond traditional recruitment strategies to meet enrollment targets. From rising tuition concerns to the proliferation of online learning options, students have more choices than ever before. In this landscape, pay-per-click…

-->

Local Midwest College Utilizing Geofencing Advertising To Drive Admissions

Mount Saint Joseph University (MSJ), a private liberal arts university in Cincinnati, sought to increase awareness and drive prospective student engagement for its undergraduate degree programs — particularly its cITe Scholars program (Center for IT Engagement). The university needed a digital strategy that could reach highly specific student audiences in both traditional and non-traditional channels, while also building brand presence in the greater Ohio and Northern Kentucky region.

What The Client Requested From Our Team?

Our objective was to build a comprehensive, hyper-targeted digital campaign that would:

Generate broad brand awareness
Drive traffic to MSJ’s admissions and program pages
Support on-site event attendance and application growth for niche programs like cITe Scholars
Increase visibility among high school students and parents at key feeder institutions and events

Actual Tactics We Deployed

Over the course of a three-year partnership, Propellant Media designed and executed a full-funnel digital marketing strategy anchored in programmatic display advertising and geofencing. Our approach included:

Event Targeting: We geofenced relevant community and educational events such as the Holy Cross Immaculate Mount Adams Festival, Archbishop Moeller High School events, Northern Kentucky University Latino College Fair, and regional science fair conferences to reach students and families already exploring college opportunities.
Geofencing With High School Targeting: We identified and geofenced priority high schools, including Malton-Verina High School, to ensure persistent visibility among MSJ’s core enrollment audience.
Addressable Geofencing: For highly specific outreach, we utilized addressable geofencing to promote MSJ’s cITe Scholars program, delivering targeted messaging directly to the homes of prospective students based on first-party data and modeled lists.
Site Retargeting: We re-engaged visitors to MSJ’s website, reinforcing messaging and driving them back to relevant program pages to take the next step in their enrollment journey.
Programmatic Display Advertising: Our campaign creative was tailored for multiple audience segments and served across premium inventory in mobile, tablet, desktop, and connected TV environments.

Results of the Campaign

The campaign delivered over 1.6 million impressions and generated more than 2,800 highly engaged clicks from prospective students and families. MSJ saw increased traffic to its admissions and cITe program pages, and the campaign contributed to sustained awareness and pipeline growth over multiple enrollment cycles.

West Coast University Leverages Geofencing & Meta To Drive Healthcare Student Leads

Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS) is a private, nonprofit institution located in Whittier, California. With a long-standing reputation in integrative health, chiropractic, acupuncture, and now nursing, SCU is committed to educating the next generation of health professionals grounded in science, compassion, and whole-body wellness. As the university expanded its Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, they needed a highly targeted digital campaign to identify and convert lifestyle-aligned prospects in a competitive Southern California market.

The Challenge

SCU’s BSN program offers a unique educational experience that blends clinical rigor with a holistic health foundation. Their challenge: reach and convert prospective students whose lifestyle, values, and academic interests aligned with this distinctive approach. Rather than broad outreach, the university needed a precision-focused campaign that would deliver quality over quantity—reaching future nurses who valued wellness, movement, balance, and purpose-driven careers.

The Strategy

Propellant Media developed a multi-channel, full-funnel campaign centered around geofencing, Meta (Facebook/Instagram) ads, and site retargeting. This approach was designed to create a 360-degree engagement loop—from physical location behavior to digital re-engagement—optimized specifically for SCU’s prospective nursing students.

Key Tactics We Executed

Geofencing Over 20 Yoga & Wellness Studios

We geofenced 20+ yoga studios and holistic wellness centers across Southern California. These locations were selected based on their relevance to SCU’s ideal student persona—individuals engaged in self-care, health, and holistic lifestyles. Mobile device data from these physical visits was used to serve follow-up digital ads, creating a localized and highly intentional awareness strategy.

Third-Party Behavioral Targeting

To complement location data, we leveraged third-party audience segments including:

Yoga & holistic health enthusiasts
Individuals exploring nursing degrees or health sciences
Users researching wellness careers or holistic living
Women aged 22–38 with patterns matching allied health program seekers

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Geofencing + Retargeting

We ran a parallel Meta campaign targeting users who had been to geofenced locations. In addition, we launched a Meta site retargeting strategy, serving remarketing ads to users who visited SCU’s nursing program landing page but didn’t yet convert. These users saw program-specific creative, testimonials, and calls to action related to enrollment deadlines and info sessions.

Site Retargeting (Programmatic Display)

All traffic to the nursing program’s landing pages was captured and re-engaged using animated and static display ads, reminding prospective students to revisit, download brochures, or schedule a virtual consultation.

Ad Messaging Examples

“Your Path to a Holistic Nursing Career Starts Here”
“Train to Heal, Lead, and Grow—The SCU BSN Program Is Accepting Applications”
“Nursing Meets Wellness—See How SCU Is Changing the Future of Care”

Results
The results of the 8-week campaign showed strong top- and bottom-funnel performance across channels:

Channel	Tactic	Results
Programmatic Display	Geofencing + Behavioral	494,118 impressions, 409 clicks, strong on-site engagement
Meta (Facebook/Instagram)	Geofencing + Site Retargeting	30+ qualified leads generated for the BSN program
Cross-Platform Retargeting	Site Visitors	Increased time on page, return visits, and application start behavior noted by SCU team

Through a smart blend of geofencing, behavioral targeting, and retargeting across both programmatic and Meta platforms, Propellant Media helped SCU connect with high-fit nursing prospects in a deeply relevant and cost-effective way. The combination of physical location data and digital behavior created a full-funnel campaign that didn’t just drive leads—it attracted students who were culturally and academically aligned with SCU’s mission. This campaign now serves as a model for future holistic health program promotions across the university’s portfolio.

How A New Jersey University Used Google Ads & Paid Media To Increase Student Housing Leads

Stevens Institute of Technology did most of their marketing in-house for many years. Similar to Kennesaw State University, in 2020 Stevens came to us to give them access and expertise on geofencing marketing and programmatic display advertising. It’s now grown to manage digital campaigns across all channels, including programmatic, geofencing, Google Ads, YouTube, Meta, and LinkedIn for multiple graduate programs and brand awareness.

Propellant Media is now engrained with their entire marketing and admissions team executing lead generation and brand awareness campaigns.

Instead of producing specific metrics for any respective campaign program, we wanted to speak to the campaign strategy we developed for a unique segment of their marketing team that needed our assistance in reaching in-market students for summer housing in New York.

Overview & Objective

Stevens, despite being located in Hoboken, their objective was to reach students looking at summer internship housing options in New York and direct them to Stevens’ housing options. Our team was already used to the brand awareness and lead generation campaign we were running, but this was a one-off request that they needed assistance with.

They were wanting to market their properties for housing to students both in New York and around the country. Despite this being a one-off request, we implemented a strategy that incorporated mostly Google Ads.

The Strategy For Stevens Institute Of Technology

Our team is very methodical in how we consider ad campaigns for higher education brands. And knowing we had a limited budget to work with, we came up with the following strategy on Google Ads. Use in-market “summer housing” terms, but split out the campaigns as geo-specific campaigns with a high intention of specific terms in each of them.

For example, if we targeted students in New York City, we wanted to leverage similar terms below that we pulled from Google Keyword Planner that had respectable demand.

But for geospecific regions outside of New York and students looking at New York City for summer housing, we built a campaign for just that region alone. The campaign was called Summer Housing (Outside Of New York). We leverage geospecific terms for that campaign including:

New York intern summer housing
New York city summer housing
Manhattan summer housing

This approach allowed us to segment campaigns accordingly by keywords and geography, limit waste of students who are solely looking for summer housing options in New York, and compare campaign performance of the two campaigns (Outside New York vs Inside New York).

Results Of The Campaign

Despite the budget being limited, we constantly received feedback that the summer housing rooms were being booked and the general interest team for summer housing was receiving an uptick in requests compared to prior years.

Higher Education Nursing Program Leverages Meta Advertising To Produce $10 Cost Per Student Leads

The University of Arizona College of Nursing is a nationally recognized institution known for its innovative, research-driven curriculum and commitment to excellence in healthcare education. Offering programs ranging from BSN and MSN degrees to Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and PhD pathways, the school prepares students for leadership roles in nursing and healthcare.

However, the program was facing significant challenges in student recruitment due to underperforming digital campaigns managed by their previous agency. The client expressed frustration over:

Low lead volume and high cost-per-lead (CPL) from past campaigns.
Lack of transparency and communication from the prior agency.
Ineffective ad placements and audience targeting, leading to wasted ad spend.

Seeking a fresh and strategic approach, the University of Arizona Nursing Program turned to Propellant Media for help in executing a highly targeted digital campaign that would generate qualified prospective student leads at scale.

Propellant Media was given the challenge of:

Rebuilding the digital marketing strategy from the ground up, focusing on a combination of geofencing, Facebook, and Instagram advertising.
Targeting prospective nursing students across different career stages—ranging from recent high school graduates to professionals looking to advance their careers.
Optimizing ad spend to maximize lead volume while maintaining a cost-effective CPL.
Creating compelling ad creatives and messaging tailored to different audience segments.

Given the competitive nature of nursing programs nationwide, we needed to stand out in the digital space while ensuring that the campaign would deliver high-quality, engaged leads ready to explore the University of Arizona’s nursing programs.

The Tactics We Deployed

To achieve these goals, Propellant Media developed a multi-channel digital strategy, combining geofencing, social media advertising, and advanced audience segmentation.

1. Geofencing Strategy: Precision Targeting at Key Locations

We deployed advanced geofencing technology to pinpoint and engage potential students based on their real-world behaviors and locations. This included:

Geofencing Hospitals & Healthcare Facilities – Targeting working nurses and healthcare professionals who might be considering career advancement through BSN, MSN, or DNP programs.
Geofencing Community Colleges – Capturing interest from students currently pursuing associate degrees in nursing (ADN) and looking to transfer into BSN programs.
Geofencing Competitor Nursing Schools – Identifying potential students considering alternative programs and presenting University of Arizona as the best option.

2. Facebook & Instagram Advertising: Hyper-Targeted Social Campaigns

To maximize visibility and engagement, we launched a data-driven paid social strategy on Facebook and Instagram, focusing on:

Custom Audience Segments – We built precise audience segments including:
- High school seniors exploring nursing as a career.
- Healthcare professionals seeking advanced nursing degrees.
- Working adults interested in online and flexible nursing programs.
Lookalike Audiences – We leveraged existing student data to create lookalike audiences and expand the reach to individuals with similar interests and behaviors.
Engaging Creatives & Messaging – We tested multiple ad variations highlighting:
- Arizona’s world-class nursing faculty and career outcomes.
- The flexibility of online and hybrid degree programs.
- The growing demand for nurses nationwide, making nursing an in-demand career path.
Landing Page Optimization – We streamlined the lead capture process, ensuring that prospective students could easily submit inquiries without friction.

3. Real-Time Campaign Optimization: Maximizing Performance

Throughout the campaign, we closely monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) and made real-time optimizations to:

Reallocate budgets to the best-performing audiences.
Adjust messaging based on engagement data.
Eliminate underperforming ad placements to improve cost-efficiency.

Results From The Campaign

In just two weeks, the campaign delivered:

87 high-quality leads from prospective students.
Cost-per-lead (CPL) of just $6.00 – $9.00 – a significant improvement over previous campaigns.
Increased engagement across Facebook & Instagram, with higher click-through rates (CTR) and lower bounce rates compared to past efforts.

By combining precision geofencing with hyper-targeted social media advertising, we helped the University of Arizona College of Nursing dramatically improve lead generation efficiency while ensuring they were reaching the right audience—individuals genuinely interested in pursuing a career in nursing.

The University of Arizona Nursing Program’s partnership with Propellant Media marked a turning point in their digital marketing strategy. By leveraging geofencing and social media advertising, we helped the client:

Rebuild trust in digital marketing after frustrations with their previous agency.
Enhance student recruitment efforts through advanced targeting strategies.
Establish a scalable framework for future digital advertising campaigns.

This successful launch is just the beginning, as Propellant Media continues to refine and expand the campaign, ensuring that the University of Arizona Nursing Program continues to attract high-quality nursing candidates and strengthen its position as a leader in nursing education.

The higher education landscape in 2025 presents a myriad of challenges: declining enrollment rates, intensified competition, shifting demographics, the proliferation of online learning platforms, and evolving student expectations. Institutions must adapt by meeting prospective students where they are—digitally, socially, and…

-->

New Jersey College Grows Their Student Engagement For Their Summer Housing

Propellant Media is now engrained with their entire marketing and admissions team executing lead generation and brand awareness campaigns.

Overview & Objective

The Strategy

For example, if we targeted students in New York City, we wanted to leverage similar terms below that we pulled from Google Keyword Planner that had respectable demand.

But for geo specific regions outside of New York and students looking at New York City for summer housing, we built a campaign for just that region alone. The campaign was called Summer Housing (Outside Of New York). We leverage geospecific terms for that campaign including:

New York intern summer housing
New York city summer housing
Manhattan summer housing

Results Of The Campaign

Local State University Defies Expectations During Covid 19 At $10 Cost Per Lead

The Challenge

This local university has a multi-million dollar marketing budget across their undergraduate and graduate programs. Between the many competitors they have to face including prominent Georgia and Southeast Universities attracting new applicants and students has not been an easy task. That in addition to the low brand recognition for the university, they have been slowly growing their presence, but needed new innovative tactics to help them reach the student profile that could thrive as students at their school as well as graduates. That’s when they reached out to Propellant Media for guidance.

The Solution We Implemented

Our original statement of work included OTT/CTV Advertising and Streaming Radio/Spotify campaigns for undergraduate brand. But as we continued to work together, they soon learned that our passion and partnership mattered just as much as the results. It showed in our communication, our execution of campaigns, and bringing fresh ideas based on our prior experience with other colleges and universities we worked with.

Nine (9) Months into our client management approach, and supported by strong results, the University was proactively convinced to dramatically increase our SOW to include

Geofencing SAT & ACT locations as well as moments when the admissions team is visits certain recruitment events in the southeast
Full Funnel Google Ads campaign centered around brand & non brand keywords
Paid Social (LinkedIn & Facebook/Instagram) lead generation campaign
Focus on retargeting leads with urgency language to get them to convert into true applicants
Now handling their marketing plans for the Biz School and Multiple Grad Programs
Implementing a Full Funnel attribution model and tying advertising data to applicant and CRM data
All vital digital channels Google Adwords, Bing Ads, YouTube, Programmatic Display, lookalike modeling, CRM targeting, OTT/CTV, Pandora/Spotify, Twitch, LinkedIn, Facebook/Instagram

Results Of The Campaign

As we launched and took over the majority of the campaigns, we helped the client lower their cost per student lead which continued to hover at $10 – $20/student for their undergraduate institution. Our highest peak of lead flow has grown to 2,800 leads per month.

And for the graduate programs, we helped decrease the cost per lead went from $1,100 to $250, thus filling up each department across all the grad programs at the University. We currently manage over 25 graduate programs each with their own set of strategies.

We have been a partner with the institution for over 3 years and counting.

The University was featured in several publications highlighting the roughly 20% year over year growth despite COVID-19 and the expected increase in competition due to it.