Marketing teams are stretched thin. Here’s what the data says to do next.

If you talk to enrollment marketers right now, one theme comes up again and again: “We’re being asked to do more. But we’re not getting more resources to do it.” In fact, 65% of the higher ed marketing leaders we surveyed said they are facing higher goals with flat or shrinking staffs and budgets. 

At the same time, AI is reshaping how students search. Brand visibility is becoming more urgent. And university leadership teams want clearer proof of ROI from marketing. As a teammate of mine summarized: something has to give.

Here’s what our survey revealed about marketing staffing and capacity at institutions around the country—and how savvy enrollment marketing teams can make the most of limited budget, staff, and time.

1. Higher ed marketing budgets are in flux—and often declining

On average, the marketing leaders we surveyed manage a $4.15 million budget, with roughly half allocated to staffing. Most (72%) non-staffing dollars go directly to enrollment marketing efforts, primarily digital marketing.

Marketing Allocations by Area

Unsurprisingly, 69% of survey respondents said that their marketing budgets either remained flat or declined in the last year. Leaders at large public and large private institutions were especially likely to report budget declines. These budget shortfalls are having real impacts: 80% of survey respondents identified “limited budget” as a top barrier to achieving their enrollment marketing goals. 

At the same time, institutions of all shapes and sizes are increasingly competing with national online universities that operate with much larger marketing budgets. While the marketing leaders we surveyed manage an average marketing budget of  $4.15 million, Southern New Hampshire University spent nearly $196 million on marketing in fiscal year 2024.

And it’s unclear what the future holds. Forty-four percent of marketing leaders say they are uncertain about their staffing budgets, while 31% are unsure about their non-staffing budgets. 

One thing that is clear: marketing costs are only continuing to rise. For example, Google Ads data shows a 42% increase in cost-per-click in the education industry from 2024 to 2025. As paid media becomes more expensive and budgets stagnate, institutions must stretch every marketing dollar further.

2. Marketing teams are lean and staffed by generalists

Nearly half of the marketing leaders we surveyed said insufficient staffing is also a barrier to achieving their enrollment goals. On average, surveyed marketing teams include 22 full-time employees (FTEs) with fewer than three staff members dedicated to any single digital marketing function. Paid search and advertising average just 1.6 FTEs, social media averages 1.7, and web marketing averages 2.7.

With just a couple marketers managing important areas like web strategy and paid media, many institutions rely heavily on generalists. Higher ed marketing teams know what they should be doing: personalizing content, improving site performance, and optimizing for AI search. But given the breadth of responsibilities they manage, they typically don’t have the bandwidth to experiment with emerging channels, hyper-personalize email campaigns, or fully capitalize on AI capabilities.

Marketing teams are also under growing pressure to prove the value of their work. Twenty-six percent of respondents said “measuring marketing effectiveness and ROI” is a challenge at their institution.

3. Strategic partnerships are becoming more intentional

Another clear pattern: nearly all marketing teams supplement internal capacity with external partners. Ninety-three percent of surveyed marketing leaders say they rely on vendor support, and 75% say they work with two or more external partners.

Most of our survey respondents continue to own brand stewardship and key website experience work. But more than 40% of surveyed marketing leaders partner with an external vendor on paid media, market research, and search visibility.

External partnerships also address a common challenge we heard in the survey: limited internal expertise in emerging areas like AI search optimization. Institutions are also increasingly working with vendors on other AI-related initiatives (such as chat agents). Our team expects this number to grow; 53% of respondents cited AI as their top unmet vendor need.

When designed thoughtfully, partnerships enhance university marketing teams rather than replace them. They provide depth where bandwidth or specialization is limited and scale without permanently expanding staff. 

Consider the following ways to expand your marketing team’s capacity and impact:

• Concentrate effort on activities tied directly to applications and yield
• Invest in owned digital assets, like your website, that deliver long-term returns
• Combine institutional expertise with specialized external support
• Integrate AI in ways that enhance personalization and predictive insight
• Measure success based on enrollment outcomes, not just marketing outputs

The institutions seeing the strongest results don’t always have the biggest or most well-resourced marketing teams, but they do align staff time and expertise with the initiatives that will drive the greatest enrollment impact.

Tess Arena

Director, Product Marketing

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