Key Takeaways
- CMOs need a voice in budget discussions to drive enrollment, brand growth, and institutional success.
- Cross-departmental collaboration is crucial to avoid costly missteps, like mismatched programs or poor course naming.
- Strong CMO-CFO relationships built on data and ROI insights secure budget support.
- Marketing expertise in analytics, branding, and audience insights benefits the entire institution.
- Early marketing involvement prevents inefficiencies and maximizes investment impact.
2026 budget planning for universities and colleges is already underway, presenting unique challenges, especially for Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and their higher education Marketing Teams, who are often excluded from critical financial discussions. It’s an understatement to say this is a missed opportunity. These decisions not only shape the scope and scale of initiatives for the Marketing and Design Teams but also directly influence the institution as a whole—affecting its brand, audience reach, and enrollment figures.
CMOs play a vital role in driving both immediate and long-term success for their institutions, but securing a strategic voice in budget and planning discussions is essential to make that impact. By developing a cohesive strategy that ties marketing and communications efforts to the institution’s overarching goals, CMOs can open the doors to meaningful results. However, departmental silos often stand in the way of this alignment, creating challenges that require innovative solutions and cross-functional collaboration.
The challenge of budgetary exclusion
CMOs are often excluded from critical budget discussions, despite the fact that their strategies and decisions should be closely aligned with the overarching goals of the college or university. To gain insight from the field and learn about possible solutions to redefining the role of the CMO, we spoke with expert Jaime Hunt, higher education podcast host and author of the recent book Heart Over Hype: Transforming Higher Ed Marketing with Empathy.
Hunt pointed out that CMOs need to make a solid business case for their work and show how marketing plans and initiatives are critical to the whole institution. Without integration at the cabinet level, CMOs are left out of strategic discussions happening in colleges and universities.
“Talented marketing professionals show the strategic value we bring, not just in the work that we do, but in the insights that we have,” Hunt said. The people in this division are those who have their fingers on the pulse of the various stakeholders that the institution serves, in other words, the target audiences.
De-siloing these departments should be a no-brainer, but integration at the strategic level is still a persistent problem in the industry. “In the corporate world, CMOs are much more heavily involved in decision-making than they are in higher education,” Hunt said. A shift like that would only benefit this industry because marketing, analytics, and design professionals contribute a wealth of expertise to all aspects of the higher ed marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion. Yet throughout her 20-plus years in the field, Hunt has observed that higher education Marketing Team members continue to have limited to no say on these aspects.
Budgetary exclusion consequences
Hunt highlights the risks of excluding marketing professionals from the early stages of program development. For instance, she explains, “Imagine academic affairs rolling out a program that they haven't tested for student interest. This is incredibly risky in the moment that we’re facing the enrollment cliff.” Situations like this, she says, happen all too often.
Another issue that could be avoided with marketing input is choosing program names that are both accurate and searchable. Without consulting marketing, academic affairs might rename a program to something they find catchy, but that doesn’t align with what potential students are searching for online. “A media studies program becomes something like ‘emerging media’ or ‘emerging technology in business and design,’ but no one is using those search terms. These are the kinds of changes that will lead to a loss in applications,” Hunt explained.
By involving marketing professionals from the start, institutions can test interest, refine messaging, and avoid costly missteps.
Building strong relationships with CFOs
Alignment of strategic and marketing plans is an evolving practice across the industry, but isn’t widely adopted yet by higher education leaders. Some recognize the importance of holistic marketing and the role it plays in the institution’s present and future. For those leaders, the need to develop and maintain a strategic partnership with marketing, technology, and communications departments is well understood. Revenue and reputational goals are clearly intertwined. Forming alliances within an organization builds relationships, widens possibilities, and creates opportunities to synch up strategic thinking.
For leaders aiming to integrate marketing expertise into the strategic planning of colleges and universities, involving CMOs in budget discussions is a crucial step. To achieve this, CMOs must focus on fostering a strong, collaborative relationship with Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). By aligning their communication to the CFO's priorities—such as results and ROI—CMOs can effectively showcase the value of their strategies. When marketing is considered early in leadership discussions, it allows for more informed decisions that shape both marketing efforts and overall strategy.
When a university or college strategically allocates budgeted funds toward engagement initiatives and sees a measurable rise in admissions, it creates a compelling, results-driven narrative that resonates with financial stakeholders. This kind of data storytelling not only validates the impact of marketing but also strengthens the case for continued investment. However, without a strong partnership with the CFO, CMOs may struggle to demonstrate their value or influence budget decisions, often being left out of critical planning discussions. This exclusion can undermine marketing efforts, especially when performance is closely scrutinized at the executive level.
Focus on results, not effort
It’s not possible to cut your way out of a budget deficit or a financial crisis, sound advice that holds true for Hunt. “You have to make strategic investments in marketing,” she said. But with budgets tightening, the impulse to reduce marketing and communications departments is ever present. To justify the continued, if not heightened, importance of these personnel, CMOs must be able to show clear, measurable outcomes such as admissions growth, increased student applications, or improved enrollment rates.
To achieve this, CMOs need to implement new KPIs and data tracking systems that provide actionable insights. For example, tracking the cost per application or per enrollment can directly tie marketing campaigns to revenue outcomes. Monitoring metrics like conversion rates from ad clicks to completed applications or the effectiveness of email campaigns in driving campus visits can highlight where efforts are paying off. Additionally, setting up attribution models to determine which marketing channels contribute most to applications or enrollments allows for smarter budget allocation. Implementing these systems early is crucial to ensure that the right data is being collected consistently over time to show results rather than just effort.
Simply detailing marketing efforts is not enough—CFOs and leadership teams always want proof that the money spent delivers tangible results. Numbers will do most of that work, but so too will the strength of the relationship between the CMO and the CFO, and the trust that’s been established there. Being able to show specific examples is essential. “If you increase the investment in my area in this way, this is what I would spend it on, this is what I would anticipate would be the result in increase in applications or improvement yield and the net revenue gain that would come from that investment,” Hunt said.
Investing in MarTech systems
Though they are an investment, a consideration for budget allocation is a greater investment in marketing technology (MarTech), the right systems to monitor data, analytics, and customer relationship management (CRM) to track students through the engagement span. Following the approach of many corporate systems, a tailored MarTech system can help move an institution toward a centralized approach.
Additionally, the integration of new AI systems can further streamline content creation, allowing for faster and more personalized messaging, improve campaign testing to better target specific customer personas, and enhance data tracking for more accurate and actionable insights. A project management platform specialized for marketing purposes generates reports, tracks projects, and automates work that personnel would otherwise be doing manually.
Leveraging specialized talent for short-term wins
One solution for maximizing limited budgets is utilizing specialized talent on a project basis. External partners or short-term hires can bring specific expertise to key initiatives, ensuring high-quality results without the long-term investment in full-time staff. This approach allows CMOs to stay flexible, scale efforts as needed, and achieve impactful results within budget constraints. Having a temporary Data Analyst on staff is helpful through the duration of a campaign so objectives can be clarified and measured.
For university CMOs, budget planning in 2026 will require a results-focused mindset, strong collaboration with CFOs, and strategic use of specialized talent. By demonstrating clear ROI and aligning with financial priorities, CMOs can secure the resources they need to drive growth and success for their universities. The goal is creating an interconnected framework, one that goes beyond the tactical and promotional to a strategic vision encompassing the whole institution, seamlessly building revenue and enduring reputation.
Need help bringing your vision to life? Aquent offers expertise in marketing, creative, and design—whether it’s temporary talent, studio solutions, project management software, or custom AI for content creation. Let us provide the solutions that drive results for your institution.
About the authors
As Vice President of Aquent's Professional Services and Higher Education industry group, Jeff is responsible for overall strategy and business growth of this division. Jeff leads a team focused on solving our client's most complex project and staffing challenges through a suite of solutions. His career spans over 30 years as a collaborative, creative, and analytical business leader. Prior to Aquent, Jeff spent 8 years at Ernst & Young LLP (EY) where he helped jump-start their digital business through the acquisition of a business Jeff founded; NorthPoint Digital. Jeff has a Bachelors from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.
Tom Shannon has been a client partner for Aquent for the last 7 years. Initially focusing on clients across all industries in New York City and later switching to a strictly higher education focus. As a relationship driven individual, Tom enjoys the conversations and experiences he has shared with folks in the space. Tom has worked closely with schools of all calibers, from community college, public 4 year institutions to Ivy league schools. Each school comes with it's own marketing challenge that Tom and the Aquent team attempt to diagnose and provide the appropriate remedy across our many areas of service.
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