Audience Research, Targeting & Optimization
From early-stage inquiry to alumni engagement, the most effective marketing is built on clear, strategic audience targeting.
Combine demographic, geographic, and behavioral insights to build a picture of the prospects most likely to engage, apply, enroll, or give.
Avoid the old “spray and pray” blanket media buys. Target by demographics, geography, interests, behavior, and intent to focus your ad spend and find your best prospects.
From Social Media and streaming apps to college fairs and feeder schools, find your audiences where they spend time and start a conversation.
Translate targeting data into action—helping your campaigns perform, your teams prioritize, and your institution grow.
Discover your potential in days, not months.
Need to move fast? Consider potent consulting. We can help research a critical issue, uncover quick wins, and provide a fresh perspective to help you get unstuck fast.
These short engagements range from a day to a couple of weeks and are led by our founder. You can expect a burst of ideas and insights, tailored to your needs.
Audience Research, Targeting & Optimization for Higher Ed
Build out prospect and donor personas using CRM data, analytics, and psychographic segmentation.
Identify top-performing geographic clusters based on historical enrollment, campaign performance, or advancement data.
Target users based on browsing behavior, interests, search activity, or content consumption—matched to programs or goals.
Target prospective students or event attendees based on physical locations they’ve visited—like competitor campuses or college fairs.
Use existing applicant or donor data to build predictive audiences with similar traits and behaviors.
Create strategic audience segments for use across platforms—email, social, display, or retargeting—based on lifecycle stage or behavior.
Prevent ads from reaching users who’ve already applied, enrolled, or converted—reducing waste and improving frequency control.
Compare performance across audience groups, regions, or targeting tactics to refine strategy and improve ROI.
Coordinate targeting across search, display, social, and email to reinforce messaging and maximize reach.
Re-engage users based on site visits, video views, form starts, or abandoned applications with tailored follow-up messaging.
Why Choose Potent?
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Experience.
We’ve been helping higher ed clients since 2001. In that time, we’ve enabled colleges to leverage the Web, adopt Social Media, and navigate AI.
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Reliability.
We keep our promises. When you ask us to do something, you know it’s getting done.
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Results.
We know how to get the most from your budget, regardless of size.
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Team.
We have an exceptional team of professionals who wake up ready to solve your toughest problems.
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Transparency.
We will always give it to you straight, from strategic recommendations to performance reporting.
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Longevity.
We’re here to stay. We’ve been serving some clients for over two decades.
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Exclusivity.
When you work with us, we’re not working with your competitors.
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Curious.
We approach every new client with a fresh perspective, ready to dive into the details and imagine your greatest possibilities.
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Attention.
We are not a volume agency. We invest our time in a small roster of clients whom we believe are ready to grow.
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Partnership.
Like our parent company, Partners Marketing Group, we’re committed to building trusted relationships.
Case Study
Unlocking the Potential of a Historic Brand Marching to Their Own Drum
Learn how this historic institution reversed enrollment decline through digital strategy, upgraded web experiences, and automation—driving growth, reducing costs, and renewing the brand.
Case Study
Science + SEO: A Powerful Reaction
Emory’s Pharmacology graduate degree program had the research credentials, but not the national visibility. Learn how targeted digital marketing helped them reach elite applicants across the country.
Frequently Asked Questions
We start with your enrollment, advancement, or campaign goals—then analyze existing CRM data, past campaign results, geography, and platform behavior to build profiles and predictive models. We also use third-party data sources for added precision.
Yes. We can ingest anonymized lists to create custom audiences and lookalike models across platforms like Meta, Google, and programmatic networks—while respecting privacy and compliance standards.
Absolutely. We follow all applicable standards, including FERPA, GDPR, and platform-specific privacy rules. Targeting is based on anonymized behavioral or demographic data—never PII unless explicitly consented.
It depends on the channels, audience size, and media spend. Targeting itself is often baked into the cost of your media buy, though research, modeling, and segmentation strategy may require a scoped engagement or monthly retainer.
We build and manage targeting strategies across all major digital platforms—Google, YouTube, Meta, LinkedIn, TikTok, programmatic display, and more. We also connect with your CRM or marketing automation platform to sync audience segments for email and retargeting.
No problem. We can start with platform-based targeting—like interest, behavior, or geographic targeting—and evolve into more sophisticated segmentation as results come in. It’s common to build intelligence over time.
Yes. We help institutions establish audience governance, segment ownership, and exclusion rules to avoid over-messaging or duplication across admissions, advancement, and marketing teams.
Let’s Talk
Ready to explore how working with Potent could solve the problems that keep you up at night? Drop us a line and we’ll coordinate a call.