Unlock Student Growth in the Messy Middle

The Challenge

Australian universities collectively enrol over 1.5 million students, with international students making up a significant portion. However, the sector faces mounting challenges that threaten traditional recruitment models:

• Increasing competition from policy reforms such as the Universities Accord and alternative education pathways
• Declining trust around teaching quality among prospective students
• Economic pressures discouraging students from pursuing traditional degrees
• Declining school leaver cohort with only 42% of offers going to traditional school leavers

The digital decision-making process for students in 2025 is more complex than ever. Google's "messy middle" concept highlights the non-linear nature of student decision-making—where students continuously loop between exploration and evaluation before making a final choice. Prospective students don't simply search for a university and apply; instead, they engage with multiple touch points, from social media interactions and peer recommendations to university ranking sites and campus tour videos.

For instance, a prospective engineering student might start by searching for "best universities for engineering in Australia." Over the next few weeks, they may watch student vlogs on YouTube, follow university accounts on TikTok, check rankings on various sites, and browse discussions on Reddit. Only after this extensive research will they narrow down their choices and apply.

Universities must rethink their approach to student acquisition, engagement, and retention to remain competitive in this challenging landscape.

Our Strategy

At ADMATIC, we bring 11 years of tertiary education experience working with Australia's leading universities, including the University of Sydney (2014-2015), UNSW International (2016-2020), UTAS (2017-2020), and UOW (2020-2025). We've developed a three-pillar approach to help universities navigate these challenges:

1. Understanding the Full Student Journey

Relying mainly on Google and Meta ads means missing key moments in the student journey. Modern students engage across a wide range of platforms, including TikTok, LinkedIn, digital TV networks, and student forums. We map out the full student journey to ensure universities are present at every crucial touchpoint. This approach reduces wasted marketing spend and ensures institutions connect with students when they are ready to make a decision.

2. Finding the Right Channel Mix

As of 2025, nearly half of all digital engagement occurs outside of Google and Meta ecosystems. While these platforms remain key players, 48% of student interactions happen across alternative platforms such as TikTok, LinkedIn, Snapchat, digital TV networks, and Spotify.

ADMATIC advocates for a bottom-up funnel approach using our proprietary solution, ADIndex. ADIndex analyses diminishing returns for each channel using hundreds of data points, enabling universities to pinpoint exactly where additional spend generates real impact—and where it's wasted. This ensures no more over-reliance on Google and Meta at the expense of high-performing emerging platforms like TikTok and digital TV networks.

While Google and Meta effectively target mature student demographics, younger students engage more with TikTok, Instagram, and streaming platforms. Meanwhile, LinkedIn plays a pivotal role in postgraduate recruitment. Recognising the diminishing returns from a single-channel approach and expanding into diverse platforms is essential for universities seeking sustained growth.

3. Implementing Smarter Targeting Strategies

In an increasingly restrictive digital landscape, precision targeting is more important than ever. With the decline of third-party cookies and enhanced data privacy regulations, universities must develop smarter strategies to identify and reach their target audience.

Platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn provide unique targeting capabilities beyond what Google and Meta offer. TikTok enables universities to segment audiences by age groups, interests, and engagement behaviour, while LinkedIn offers advanced professional and industry-based targeting for postgraduate courses.

First-party data is now a cornerstone of effective multi-channel strategies. Universities that leverage predictive modelling and lookalike audiences based on CRM data can significantly enhance their targeting accuracy. Furthermore, emerging solutions based on ID-based identification (rather than cookies) are set to redefine audience segmentation.

Most universities still structure campaigns around rigid stages like Open Day, Early Admissions, or final intakes. While this approach makes sense, it risks missing out on students who engage outside these fixed windows. To maximise impact, universities must shift from a campaign-by-campaign mindset to an always-on approach, ensuring continuous engagement throughout the student decision-making process. This requires thoughtful audience segmentation, minimising campaign overlap, and maintaining a consistent presence when prospective students are ready to evaluate their next steps.

The Results

ADMATIC's data-driven approach to tertiary education marketing delivers measurable outcomes across our university partnerships:

• Comprehensive journey mapping ensures presence at every critical touchpoint in the student decision-making process
• Optimised channel mix through ADIndex identifies high-performing platforms beyond Google and Meta, maximising ROI
• Enhanced targeting precision using first-party data, predictive modelling, and platform-specific capabilities
• Always-on engagement strategies maintain continuous presence throughout the student exploration and evaluation phases
• Reduced wasted spend by identifying diminishing returns and reallocating budget to high-impact channels
• Increased applications and enrolments through strategic multi-platform presence at the right moments

With 11 years of proven experience in tertiary education marketing and partnerships with leading Australian universities, ADMATIC helps institutions stay competitive in an increasingly complex student recruitment landscape.