The Missing (P)iece in Higher Ed Marketing: Product

Beyond Promotion: Why Higher Ed Marketing Must Help Shape the Student Experience 

Marketing teams shouldn’t just tell the story, they should help write it.

A well-meaning program launches with all the right intentions. The institution invests heavily in program design, followed by a six-figure marketing campaign, but the applications don’t roll in as expected.  

Or consider this: A host of new student support services rolls out to enhance the residential experience, but central MarCom, months into its brand and performance campaign, only learns about these updates after the fact, long after the chance to align messaging has passed.  

Sound familiar? 

In large, complex organizations like colleges and universities, disconnects like these are inevitable when marketing is not involved in program development.  

Central MarCom bears the brunt of the pressure to support the brand experience and, therefore, the blame when these gaps result in poor or inconsistent enrollment performance. But these disconnects aren’t about misplaced effort; they are about alignment. And to achieve alignment, marketers shouldn’t just market the product. They should help shape it.  

It’s time for higher ed marketing leaders to claim their seat at the strategy table, not just to tell the story, but to influence what the story is. When brand and product strategies are aligned, institutions don’t just look better, they perform better

Use Your Brand Strategy to Gain Influence in Program Design 

Your brand is more than your logo, color palette, or tagline. At its core, a strong brand is a clear articulation of who you are, what you stand for, and why it matters to your audiences.  

That clarity should be guiding program development and institutional priorities. 

Marketing teams are sitting on a goldmine of audience insight, from prospective student behavior and market demand data to alumni and donor feedback. These insights can and should inform program strategy: what offerings resonate, which degrees are in demand, and what outcomes matter most. When brand strategy is rooted in real audience needs, it becomes a powerful tool for institutional decision-making. 

Marketing Should Help Shape the Student Experience, Not Just Promote It 

Too often, there is a gap between the student experience that’s marketed and the one that’s delivered. This can happen at the program level or within broader experiences, such as undergraduate and graduate multi-year enrollment. That disconnect erodes trust, weakens retention, and diminishes long-term brand value. 

But what if marketing had a seat at the table when the experience was being shaped? 

From onboarding and advising to campus culture and student life, marketing teams can identify where the brand promise falls short and where small changes can deliver big results. Marketers are experts in messaging, experience design, and user journeys. That expertise matters not just for recruiting students, but for retaining them. 

Institutional marketing teams can also play a key role in campus experiences that often go untouched by central strategy, like campus visits, student services, and residential life. Sharing information across departments, participating in key events, and gathering direct input from students through focus groups or quick surveys can close the gap between promise and reality.   

What Higher Ed Can Learn from Consumer Brands 

In the consumer world, some of the most successful products are shaped not just by innovation but by marketing that listens, adapts, and evolves. Brands like Nike, Apple, and Spotify thrive because they stay closely attuned to audience feedback, behaviors, and values. They lead by listening, building, and evolving based on what they learn. Just as importantly, they recognize when strategies miss the mark and use those moments to optimize for the future. 

Nike’s recent loss of market share following a series of marketing shifts offers a compelling example of how a brand can recalibrate by returning to audience-led strategies. In 2023, Nike had deprioritized its investment in the running community, scaling back brand experiences and engagement with this once-core audience. That left space for competitors to step in, creating more personalized and resonant connections with runners. The result: a loss of consumer affinity and a dip in market share. 

Recognizing the impact, Nike began to course-correct in late 2024 and into 2025. The brand reinvested in the runner segment by launching new product lines, increasing visibility at community events, and embedding reps directly into local running groups. These efforts helped rebuild credibility and reconnect with an audience that had once been central to the brand’s identity. 

This pivot also signaled a broader shift in Nike’s approach. Learning from the experience with runners, Nike applied similar listening and strategy to the rising momentum in women’s sports. Observing increased attention around women’s basketball, tennis, and other areas, the brand saw an opportunity to elevate female athletes and engage with a rapidly growing demographic: women. Their Super Bowl campaign highlighting women’s sports was more than a high-profile moment; it was a direct response to sales declines in 2024. 

By embracing these insights, Nike is demonstrating that great marketing isn’t just reactive, it’s responsive. It’s built on understanding where your audience is going next, and being ready to meet them there. 

Higher ed can borrow from this playbook. But we also need to acknowledge the difference: we’re not marketing shoes or software. We’re marketing a life-defining experience. It’s a long sales cycle, with significant financial and emotional investment. 

To shape the student experience in meaningful ways, marketers need time, collaboration, and access to information. It starts by identifying the most impactful touchpoints and the most trusted sources. What are students saying online about your campus experience? What are they telling you in feedback forms or support requests? 

Fast, flexible research—like informal focus groups or quick interviews—can reveal where the student journey breaks down. And those pain points? They’re often opportunities for big change. 

Aligning Brand and Product

The future of higher ed marketing isn’t just about sharper taglines or sleeker websites. It’s about aligning what you promote with what you actually deliver. It’s about building products and experiences that live up to the promises you make in your campaigns. 

Here are a few ways to start bridging that gap on your campus: 

1. Get a Seat at the Table Early: Use your market insights to influence program design from the start. Share data with academic leaders, set up regular touchpoints, and advocate for collaboration before programs are finalized. 

2. Use Your Brand Strategy to Guide Program Design: Leverage brand insights to align program offerings with market demand, and create messaging frameworks that connect your brand’s strengths to prospective student needs. 

3. Close the Gap Between Brand Promise and Student Experience: Align what you market with what you deliver by gathering direct student feedback and partnering with student life teams to ensure the reality matches the promise. 

4. Build a Feedback Loop into Program Strategy: Use fast, flexible research like focus groups and informal surveys to capture real-time student insights and adjust program strategies accordingly. Consider combining this with admissions insights into why prospective students choose a particular program and use that to inform future design.  

5. Align Brand and Product for Authenticity: Bridge the gap between academics and marketing by co-creating program messaging, aligning on brand values, and sharing brand health data with faculty. 

6. Move Beyond Campaigns to Drive Real Change: Take an active role in institutional strategy, push for cross-functional teams, and use marketing data to inform long-term decision-making, not just campaign execution.

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