Why digital brochures are essential for higher education
Even in 2025, there are unquestionably still benefits to print brochures. You can read them when the WiFi is down or you’re out of mobile data. There are always going to be people – particularly mature students, parents and guardians – for whom print media is more intuitive.
I have an immense fondness for print, to the point that I probably still have a couple of the prospectuses that were handed out to us in sixth form over a decade ago kicking around on a bookshelf at my mother’s house. And yet, when I was in the process of applying to return to university part-time last year, my first – and only – port of call to learn about my options was the internet. It was easier, faster and didn’t take up any space in my house.
For a younger crowd, that digital instinct is even more ingrained. When it comes to the big choices in life, we’re all looking for instant access to streamlined, relevant information.
Digital content, in its various forms, plays a vital role in the modern student’s university selection process. University websites and digital brochures serve as primary sources of information, offering readily accessible details about academic programs, faculty profiles, campus resources, and student life. The medium, as they say, is the message. Your copy can include all the right things, but if the format of your recruitment material screams “we’ve been doing it this way for the last quarter century and have no plans to change”, you might find yourself losing out on some top candidates as times move on.
Digital brochures put your information exactly where students are searching for it, creating an unforgettable first impression and turning what can be an arduous process of info-gathering into something enjoyable and effortless from the user standpoint.
If you’re working with the right platform, it can drastically reduce the effort required from your side, too (not to mention lowering your costs and your carbon footprint). But where do you even begin?
For starters, you could always give eduKUDU a shout and we can help you get the ball rolling. Alternatively, read on for a few key tips on getting your digital strategy off on the right foot.
Understanding student decision making
If you want to know how to recruit a prospective student, you need to know how to think like a prospective student.
Understanding the key influences that shape the final study decisions is crucial to attract and engage a global student body.
One of the most consistent primary drivers for international students is quality of education and institutional reputation. Rankings, especially trusted ones like Times Higher Education or QS, are an obvious example of this, but it takes more than just a number to stand out. Universities must effectively communicate their unique academic strengths, highlight distinguished programs, and showcase research centers and innovative projects.
Affordability and the availability of financial aid are becoming ever more pivotal in the decision-making process. With living costs on the rise, economic slowdown, and the chances of a global recession within the year estimated at 40% and rising, tuition fees and the overall cost of living in the host country can be significant barriers for many international students At eduKUDU we can attest to that: we keep a close eye on our clients traffic patterns for theRACK, and regularly see the fees and scholarships pages getting the most clicks.
Recommendations from peers and other social proofs also hold significant sway in student decision-making. Authentic stories and testimonials from current international students and alumni can be particularly influential in building trust and providing prospective students with relatable perspectives on university life and the academic experience.
Finally, it just isn’t feasible for the majority of international students (and a significant portion of domestic students, too) to visit your campus in person before making their decision. A digital brochure with interactive content, especially one that includes immersive experiences like virtual tours, can be invaluable in providing a realistic sense of the university’s environment and fostering a feeling of connection.
In short, a digital brochure can do more than just tell your students what to expect. It lets them experience it for themselves, showing them what it’s like to be a part of your campus community, before they’ve even started their applications.
How to design engaging digital brochures for students
Crafting an effective digital brochure takes more than just transposing your existing print products directly to screen. Some key elements to consider when making the transition:
1. Use strong visuals and branding
The initial impact of your brochure is going to come from the visuals. They need to hit hard and leave a positive impression.
Consistent branding throughout the digital brochure is paramount. Clearly defining your brand voice and messaging before starting to create a more cohesive picture of your institution’s approach to higher education.. This consistency builds brand recognition, and fosters trust among prospective students, especially those unfamiliar with the institution.
Strategic use of high-quality imagery is equally important. Ensure variety within imagery to cover all bases. Photos of happy, smiling students interacting with one another are really wonderful for creating some human connection, but don’t necessarily enable prospects to build a mental image of the campus. Conversely, it’s great to show off the campus, your facilities and the local area with some landscape shots, but if there aren’t many students visible in the pictures then it can feel a little lifeless. A well-rounded combination of the two, however, is a guaranteed winner.
Beyond the aesthetics, visuals and branding should contribute to the overall story that your brochure is trying to tell. If you went to university yourself, you may remember a difference between the lecturers who simply disseminated information versus those who could bring the subject material to life: both may be knowledgeable in their field, but the latter is going to be more engaging and make you more excited to keep coming back to class.
Your brochures should be similar. Prospective students, particularly Gen Z, are drawn to genuine and relatable content. Incorporate visuals – including both image and video – to showcase real experiences of current students and alumni, highlight achievements, and show off the university’s unique campus culture.
2. Make it interactive
Engagement and interactivity go hand in hand. Interactive elements enhance user experience, and encourage further engagement with your marketing materials to keep students invested. It transforms the experience from passive reading to active engagement, increasing your chances of a conversion.
These elements can take various forms, including clickable hotspots that reveal additional information or link to relevant resources, embedded videos that bring the university experience to life, and embedded forms to encourage students on their first step towards application.
For international students who may be unable to visit the campus physically, the inclusion of virtual tours, featuring 360-degree photos, interactive maps, and videos, is particularly crucial in providing a realistic sense of the university’s facilities and environment.
3. Keep content clear and concise
Attention spans can be fleeting, particularly online. Avoid unnecessary jargon, keep it brief, and frontload the most important information instead of burying it at the end of the page.
When talking about programs and facilities, it’s essential to keep circling back to the value proposition for the student. Prospective students invest a lot in attending university with various academic, personal and career goals in mind. They will respond best to material that highlights how your institution can help them achieve those goals.
We’re all about accessibility here at eduKUDU. Built-in accessibility profiles are a major part of that, but another part is ensuring that the copy itself is accessible. Large blocks of dense text can be overwhelming and difficult to parse, particularly for readers with dyslexia or ADHD. Breaking content down into bitesize sections with headers, separate popups and clear CTAs makes for a smoother reading experience.
This doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice information for the sake of brevity. Rather, your brochure can work holistically with your main website in order to strike a balance between concise and informative. Distill out the key points for your brochure in order to pique interest, and follow up with a link to more detailed information on your site. This gives students more agency to engage more deeply with topics that are relevant to them, and to quickly work through or skip sections that do not apply.
4. Optimise for mobile
Mobile devices are increasingly prevalent amongst Gen Z and Alpha. Optimising images and other media for mobile is critical for managing loading time, especially for international students who may have slower internet connections. Slow loading times increase the chances of students abandoning the brochure in frustration.
The subject of mobile optimisation is a deep rabbit-hole to go down: it includes everything from scalable font sizes to appropriate contrast levels to designing in a way that avoids misclicks on a touchscreen. The easiest way to manage it, though, is with a platform like theRACK. All of our digital publications are built with responsive design in mind, so we’ll deal with all the technicalities for you.
Choosing the right distribution channels
Having a beautifully designed digital brochure is one thing, but people need to actually see it for it to do its magic. Take some time to consider and select the most appropriate online channels to distribute your publications.
Your university site is your central hub for information. Linking to your brochure prominently from key pages including admissions and program overviews improves discoverability.
Social, as ever, remains one of your most powerful distribution tools. Share your brochure across global platforms like Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, and don’t neglect regionally-preferred platforms like WeChat and Whatsapp to tap into specific markets.
Email marketing is highly effective too, particularly when combined with personalised, segmented campaigns. Segmenting based on location, academic interests and stage in the application process nurtures relationships and improves conversion rates.
Employing targeted advertising on platforms like Google Ads and Meta Ads allows universities to focus their outreach efforts on specific demographics, regions, and interests. Social media is a great place to run paid campaigns; for instance, Australian Catholic University saw great success utilising their digital brochure for their MBA/MPA promotional campaign across LinkedIn.
International education agencies and counsellors are also a part of your distribution strategy. Providing your digital brochures helps effectively promote your university to students, and ensures compliance and consistency of information. Adopting a multi-channel approach lets you meet prospective students where they are most active, meaning that you won’t miss out on conversions.
Measuring success with trackable analytics
The ability to track and analyse success on a more granular level is a significant advantage of digital over print, providing universities with valuable insights into their effectiveness in student engagement and recruitment.
Several key metrics can be tracked in order to determine success in different areas. For example:
- Open rates indicate initial level of interest and can be particularly insightful for email or paid ad campaigns.
- Time spent on page shows which information is most engaging for readers.
- Click-through rates on embedded links to programs, application forms and contact information demonstrate how effective your CTAs are as well as interest in specific resources.
- Traffic sources show the effectiveness of various distribution channels.
- User demographics help understand your audience, identify gaps and give insights on how to optimise for specific markets.
Universities can leverage various tools to track these metrics, or make the most of digital brochure platforms that offer built-in analytics. theRACK utilises Google Analytics data distilled into clean, easy to navigate dashboards to provide key information to our clients.
This data-driven approach allows for continuous optimisation of the brochure’s design, content, and distribution strategies, ultimately leading to more effective student engagement and recruitment outcomes.
The future of digital brochures in higher education
Digital isn’t going anywhere, but it is constantly evolving. Emerging technologies and changing expectations mean that the digital brochures of tomorrow may look different than the ones of today. An awareness of upcoming trends helps you future-proof your strategy.
Increased personalisation is a defining characteristic. AI can play a role in this, with dynamic adjustments to featured content, testimonials and language based on student’s past interactions and interests.
Immersive experiences through virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) are also expected to become more prevalent.This is no surprise, considering the appeal of interactivity. How this technology would actually be implemented and made widely accessible remains to be seen, but it is exciting to imagine that soon enough prospective students from all over the world could have as immersive an experience as if they’d attended an in-person open day.
We’re likely to see a rise in gamification as an engagement strategy. That is, incorporating game-like elements such as quizzes and challenges. Gamification is already seeing major returns in many other areas of marketing and is, by now, a familiar concept to Gen Z and Alpha: consider the success of learning platforms like Duolingo or productivity apps that reward you for completing tasks, maintaining streaks and otherwise returning to the service on a regular basis.
Short-form video content, mirroring the popularity of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, will likely also become a staple within digital brochures. The emphasis on authenticity and transparency in brand messaging will continue to grow, with digital brochures showcasing real student stories, unfiltered outcomes, and genuine insights into the university experience.
In general, expect digital brochures to evolve from static informational documents into dynamic, personalised and authentic engagement experiences.
Conclusion
The advantages of digital over traditional print brochures in terms of accessibility, cost-effectiveness, interactivity, environmental impact, and data analytics make them indispensable tools for higher education institutions seeking to engage prospective students.
Understanding the key factors that influence student decision-making is crucial in order to tailor content within publications. Adhering to best practices in digital design helps create more compelling brochures that retain and convert, while strategic selection of distribution channels ensures maximum reach to the target audience.
The future of digital brochures in higher education promises even more personalized, immersive, authentic experiences. As student needs change, technology develops and the higher education sector adapts accordingly, the strategic and effective use of digital brochures will remain a cornerstone of successful international student recruitment.
All that considered, best not to wait too long to get started – get in touch with eduKUDU today to discuss your digital recruitment strategy!
