With 2015 now in the rearview mirror, it’s time to step on the gas and cruise into the vast potential of 2016. As a higher education digital marketing company, we are excited about all of the new tools, techniques and ideas that will continue to transform the marketing industry in the new year.

To wrap up 2015, marketing attribution software and pipeline marketing leader, Bizible recently published the extremely informative State of Pipeline Marketing Report. Within this report, they reached out to marketing professionals across all industries (including higher ed) about the following:

• How do they measure performance using attribution?
• Which marketing tactics have the greatest impact on enrollment?
• What are their priorities for 2016?

While every industry has its differences and complexities, we know that there are countless similarities that transcend industry borders. Higher ed marketing teams use many of the same tools and strategies as their B2B counterparts and are driven by the same goals and results. Therefore, I found the results to be very eye-opening, and I guarantee they would offer a wealth of knowledge for individuals who assist with marketing at their institutions.

I’ve summarized some specific higher-ed-related takeaways to give you a glimpse into the thoughts of those in our industry. Based on the results of the survey, here are the three major priorities higher ed marketing leaders will be utilizing to maximize their student recruitment potential:

Optimizing Campaigns Based on Revenue

Education marketers say SEO, event booths and email marketing channels have the biggest impact on revenue. Therefore, it’s important to make sure you are getting maximum results out of your keywords and establishing automated workflows that streamline your email marketing. It’s also important to network with as many industry experts as possible and learn what’s new and next while attending conferences.

Obtaining Valuable Insights and Improving Forecasting

Generating more leads and demand is the top priority for education marketers in 2016. Well, these results are definitely not shocking and are almost identical to findings across all industries. However, don’t let the low percentages in the ‘understanding ROI of marketing activities’ and ‘implementing or improving attribution’ buckets fool you. These are both extremely important areas that can help you transform your marketing strategy and analysis.

Measuring Marketing’s Impact on the Bottom Line

31 percent of education marketers plan on changing their attribution models in the next six months. If you’re looking for a persuasive article about the impact of attribution within digital analytics, check out Shelby Thayer’s insightful blog entryfrom last week.