From first search
to first term.
Marketing for universities, private higher education providers, business schools and tuition businesses, built around the recruitment cycle and written to the rules on course information, with one provider per area.
Students choose a course over months. They compare providers, read the course pages closely, check the costs and come to an open day before they apply.
What they read counts. The CMA treats course pages, ads and prospectuses as consumer information, so content, costs and assessment must be clear before anyone applies, and the ASA expects rankings to be quoted with their source and year. Pollard Media writes to those rules and sends every claim to you for sign-off before it runs.
Built around the recruitment cycle.
Each month starts with a written plan built around your recruitment cycle: open days, the UCAS equal consideration date on 13 January 2027, Clearing from July, January starts and the courses with places to fill. Every task has a name beside it and the applications it is there to bring in.
You see the plan before the month begins and the report after it ends. Work that is not filling courses is stopped, and the time goes where it will.
What we run for providers.
Every service Pollard Media offers, run against your recruitment and enrolment targets. The plan sets out which parts you need, whether you run one specialist course or a whole faculty.
Universities and colleges
Recruitment marketing for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, run alongside your admissions team and timed to the UCAS cycle.
Private higher education providers
Marketing for specialist and private providers that sets out fees, accreditation and how each course is taught and assessed.
Business schools and executive education
MBA, executive and short course campaigns aimed at the job titles and employers that fund them.
Private tuition
Search, social and referral marketing for tutors and tuition businesses teaching university students, professional exams and adult languages, with lessons and prices set out plainly.
Modular and part-time study
Short courses and modules promoted to adult learners, including those funded through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement.
Open days and events
Invitations, ads, content on the day and follow-up with everyone who came.
Applicant follow-up
Every enquiry answered and followed through from offer to enrolment, so applicants are not lost between the two.
Google Ads, social and LinkedIn
Campaigns for the courses with places, reported in applications rather than clicks.
Content Visits
Photography and video of campus, teaching and students from a half-day on site each month, with everyone filmed giving their consent.
Tracking and reporting
Enquiries, open day bookings, applications and enrolments traced to the channel they came from.
Course information, checked properly.
Higher education marketing is consumer information. The CMA sets out what students must be told before they apply, the Office for Students expects registered providers to follow it, and the ASA polices rankings and claims. We write to those rules and send each claim to you for sign-off.
- Material informationCourse content, how it is taught and assessed, accreditation, total fees and any extra costs, clear and easy to find before a student applies, as the CMA’s guidance sets out.
- Office for StudentsRegistered providers must give accurate course information and have regard to consumer law guidance, and that carries through every ad and campaign.
- Rankings and survey scoresQuoted with the table or survey and its year, in a category the source itself uses and never recalculated, as the ASA has ruled.
- FeesShown as students will pay them, with any yearly increases explained. In England the 2026/27 cap is £9,790 for providers with a TEF award.
- Courses booked onlineCourses and tuition sold online carry a 14-day right to cancel, and the booking pages say so.
- Your sign-offNothing with a ranking, a fee or a course claim goes live until you have approved it.
The first quarter.
How a provider is taken on, and how the work runs once it is.
Tell us where you’re goingReview.
Weeks one to three.
We spend time on campus with your team, review the marketing already in place and the numbers behind it, then write the plan around your recruitment cycle.
You receive the plan, with your recruitment targets on page one and a name against every part of it.
Handover.
Weeks four to six.
Ad accounts, listings, tools and suppliers move across in order of what matters most, so nothing stops while the rest follows.
Every account stays in your name.
Run.
Month two onwards.
Each month’s work is planned around your recruitment cycle, open days and courses with places, done by the specialists in each discipline and reviewed with your named lead.
The monthly report goes to your head of recruitment.
Adjust.
Each quarter.
The plan is reviewed against your recruitment and enrolment targets. Work that is moving you towards them gets more time, and work that is not is stopped.
The scope and fee change only when you agree it in writing.
Marketing you can hold to account.
Providers have good reason to be wary of marketing promises. Pollard Media works to commitments written for the people who answer for the numbers. Every client gets them, set out in the client pack.
- Reported in applications, not clicksEnquiries, applications and enrolments, in a monthly report that lands by working day 10 and is talked through in a 45-minute review.
- You approve the workAds, posts and budgets come to you for approval, with a record of who approved what and when. If you are tied up, you choose whether we hold or go ahead.
- Urgent changes firstIf a price, offer or claim needs to change anywhere we manage, call us. Urgent changes get a response within 2 hours in working hours.
- Every message answeredEvery message acknowledged within 1 working day, and a second person briefed on your account so nothing waits on holidays.
- Your accounts, your dataAd accounts, analytics, Google Business Profiles and the website stay in your name. If you ever move on, all of it stays with you.
- Scope and fee in writingAgreed before any work begins, and changed only when you agree it in writing.
The final product has already gained rave reviews from a cross section of colleagues, clients and friends. The whole experience has been a real pleasure from start to finish.
My clients and customers have also noticed how professional all my media posts have become. It’s been a big weight off my mind knowing that I can concentrate on what I am good at and leave this Marketing and Media stuff to Pollard Media.
One provider per area.
Our MissionQuestions about higher education marketing.
Do you work with tuition businesses as well as universities?
Yes. Universities and colleges, private higher education providers, business schools and tuition businesses teaching adults and university students each get a plan written around how their students decide.
Can we use our league table ranking?
Yes, quoted with the table and its year, in a category the publisher itself uses. The ASA has ruled against universities for ranking claims it could not verify, so we check every one before it runs.
What must our course pages show?
What the CMA calls material information: what the course covers, how it is taught and assessed, any accreditation, the total fees and any extra costs, all given before a student applies.
How do you plan around Clearing?
Course pages, search campaigns and follow-up are ready before Clearing opens on 2 July 2027, so you can move quickly on the courses with places.
Can you recruit adult and part-time learners?
Yes. Modular and part-time courses are marketed to adults by job, sector and location. The Lifelong Learning Entitlement opened for applications at the end of October 2026, for courses starting from 1 January 2027, and we explain it plainly where it applies.
Do you market to international students?
Yes, with visa details stated accurately. From 1 January 2027 the Graduate route gives 18 months after study rather than two years, and most taught postgraduates cannot bring dependants, so claims about life after graduation are kept precise.
What does one provider per area mean?
Pollard Media acts for one business per sector in each area. Once we act for your organisation, we will not take on your direct competitor nearby. We agree what that means for your organisation before the work begins, and write it down. It covers all ongoing marketing work; website builds are the one exception.
Do we keep our accounts and data?
Yes. Ad accounts, analytics, Google Business Profiles, the website and every file are held in your name, and we are given access to run them. If you ever move on, all of it stays with you.
How is it priced?
Every engagement has a defined scope and a stated fee, agreed in writing before any work begins. Tell us where you’re going and we’ll tell you what it would involve.
Alongside Higher Education.
All of DigitalReady to talk about your next stage of growth?
Tell us where you’re going. We’ll tell you, candidly, whether we’re the right agency to take you there.
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