Capturing attention in higher education has never been more challenging. With a shrinking pool of college-age students, families juggling countless options and a Gen Z audience skeptical of traditional advertising, educational institutions need new ways to stand out and meet their strategic goals. Digital out-of-home (DOOH), anchored in its real world presence, offers a unique way to boost your visibility, build trust and drive engagement with your core audience.

In this article, we will explore why DOOH is becoming a key channel for higher education marketing and how institutions can effectively target the right audiences. We will also cover creative strategies to engage education seekers and local community members, along with real-world examples of campaigns that drove measurable results.

Why DOOH matters in educational marketing

While DOOH often brings to mind big, splashy campaigns, it’s also highly effective for local efforts in higher education, helping schools reach prospective students and families in their own communities. It can be used for recruitment as well as to showcase programs, online courses and campus initiatives.

As DOOH becomes a more common part of higher education marketing strategies, institutions are also seeing clearer signals of its effectiveness. That growing confidence is reflected not just in how DOOH is being used, but in how much schools are willing to invest in the channel.

Higher ed institutions aren’t investing for its reach alone — 56% of U.S. adults recently recalled seeing an OOH ad for a college or university, and nearly 70% took action afterward, including:

Know your campus crowd

The first step in any DOOH campaign is understanding who you want to reach. Higher education institutions may have a variety of audiences depending on campaign goals — from prospective students and parents to alumni, donors or local community members.

DOOH allows institutions to target these audiences with precision using a mix of data sources. For example:

• Brands can reach individuals who are actively seeking education, exploring online degree programs, managing education savings plans or recently visiting college sports venues by using behavior and intent signals.
• Institutions can leverage past applicants, known leads near campus or events and alumni or donor audiences to make messaging more relevant and precise through first-party data.
• Campaigns can target audiences based on age, gender, household income, education level or other key attributes to align with specific enrollment or engagement goals using demographic data.

Engage your audience on their turf

Education decisions happen far beyond campus walls. People form impressions while commuting, running errands, attending events or engaging with nearby businesses. Through strategic DOOH placements, institutions can extend their reach into these real-world environments, promoting programs, online courses, campus initiatives and events when audiences are most receptive:

• Transit and commuter routes such as bus shelters, subways and roadside screens reinforce brand familiarity during daily routines.
• Retail and lifestyle destinations near shopping centers, grocery stores, gyms and cafes capture attention during weekend and after-school moments.
• Community and campus-adjacent locations near high schools, testing centers, libraries and off-campus housing help institutions stay top of mind throughout the decision journey.
• Event-driven environments near college sports venues, performance spaces or local events reach engaged audiences already connected to campus life.

Pro tip: Consider activating DOOH across a variety of venue types to maintain a consistent presence throughout the consideration window. This keeps your brand top of mind and builds confidence as prospective students, parents, alumni, donors or local community members make decisions.

Huron University brought this approach to life for their campus preview day. By using programmatic DOOH to extend visibility beyond campus and into the surrounding community, the university ensured relevance while reaching individuals interested in education. This helped sustain interest and encourage attendance, driving a 49% increase in registrations and a 68% boost in year-over-year attendance for the event.

Use creative that keeps pace with the semester

Recruitment cycles vary, application deadlines shift and interest peaks at different points in the semester. That’s why flexible, adaptable creative is essential — and where DOOH lets you meet your audience in the moment, with messaging that is timely, relevant and emotionally engaging.

Programmatic DOOH makes it easy to update creative mid-campaign, launch time-sensitive messages or quickly pivot. Whether promoting an open house, spotlighting a specific program or reinforcing an application deadline, creative can be refreshed in near real time to stay relevant. Dynamic creative takes this further, automatically adjusting messaging based on location, time of day or proximity to campus.

Some creative examples include:

• Promoting program offerings near campuses, community centers or high-traffic student areas to help prospective students see what aligns with their interests.
• Driving urgency by featuring countdowns to application deadlines, FAFSA reminders or upcoming preview day events.
• Supporting key decision moments with time-specific creative — such as messaging boosted during back to school months or peak campus-tour months.
• Encouraging deeper engagement through QR codes that make it seamless to explore programs, register for events or start an application.
• Displaying live social media feeds or highlight hashtags that allow students to share experiences, helping build engagement and a sense of community.

With the right creative strategy, DOOH becomes more than a visibility tool — it moves students, alumni and other key audiences emotionally, creating excitement, trust and a sense of connection.

Guide them to the next step

The higher education landscape will continue to evolve, but one thing remains constant: students and families make decisions based on what they see, where they see it and how it makes them feel. DOOH offers a unique opportunity to show up authentically in the real world at the moments and places where decisions are shaped.

Ready to see how DOOH can strengthen your higher ed media mix?

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