You may have vague suspicion that your Google Ads campaigns aren't delivering at the top of their potential. Or maybe you're not advertising yet and wonder what action you should take, considering the COVID-19 situation. In this open Zoom webinar, I'll cover 3 key factors that are essential for any student recruitment campaign on Google Ads.

1. Welcome!
We’ll get started shortly.
If you have any issue
connecting, please reach out
to Mehedi in the chat or at
mehedi@guusgoorts.com
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Quick intro
Guus Goorts
Student recruitment through
search

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Some organisations I’ve worked with over the years
Intro

4. Tip #1
Zoom out!

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You’re never done...
If you personally run
campaigns, do you
ever feel like you’re in
a never-ending online
game?
Truth is, choosing
what not to do is
more important than
a 100% score.

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Where can you make most impact?
Tweaking your ad
copy, keywords,
bidding strategy etc.
has a place...
… but it won’t achieve
any result unless
EVERYTHING works!

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- Ideal students
- Competitors
- Unique Selling Points (USP)
- Long term recruitment goals
- Budget
- KPI’s
Strategy

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Even with perfect technique, you
won’t be successful, if:
- You cast your fishing rod at
the wrong location
- Your bait doesn’t appeal to
the local fish
- Your don’t have the budget
for decent gear
Compare it to fishing...
Image credit: fishinginholland.nl

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School’s USP are small groups,
practical curriculum. We call out
specifically that it’s max. 8
Competition is selling 1-to-1
lessons which are quite
expensive for our target group of
20-30 yr old expats.
Tip: Check your competitors’ ads.
Be very specific about your USPs!
How strategy comes together in ad copy

11. Tip #2
Know your campaign
type

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Branded campaigns tend to
convert really well. That’s
why agencies love to run
them.
But do you really need
them?
If your budget is limited, it’s
usually better spent
becoming visible to students
who don’t know you yet.
Possible types of campaigns

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Advantage
- High clickthrough and conversion
Disadvantage
- If this is you, these people would
likely find you anyway
When to use?
- Defensively - If competitors are
showing ads on your brand name
- (As an agent) to be found by
prospective students who want to
study at particular partner
institutes.
Branded
“ab university”

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Advantage
- Most relevant audience
- These people are close to making a
decision
Disadvantage
- Relatively low number of searchers
When to use?
- Always :)
Course-based
“nursing degree arizona”

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Advantage
- It broadens your audience to
people who might not know you
yet
Disadvantage
- These people are less likely to sign
up with you
When to use?
- When you reach the limits of your
course based campaigns
Competition based
“erasmus university rotterdam”

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Advantage
- Reach more people in key markets
who search in their own language
Disadvantage
- Web pages & follow up need to be
available in the language, too
- It’s a lot of work
When to use?
- To get into key markets
- When you reach the limits of your
course based campaigns
Foreign language
“medienmanagement studium”

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Before optimising your existing
campaigns, think about which types
of campaigns you should / could be
running!
In short

18. Tip #3
Adapt!

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Campaign in times of COVID-19
What happened here?
start lockdown

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- Product: live Zoom lessons
instead of on-premise
- Keywords: including “online”
- Geography: Targeted multiple
countries
- Ad copy: Specifically mentions
“circuit breaker”
- Guarantees: option to switch
when in-person classes resume
- Discounted price
- Landing page
We had to rethink everything!

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- Call out the problem
- What if I can’t get into the country?
- What if there’s another lockdown?
- Offer certainty
- Guarantees
- Reduced prices
- Options to stay online or convert to
in-person
- Not just in the ad, but
everywhere
- Landing page
- In follow-up communications
What can you do?

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This allowed us to capture a large part of the market, which is overall
smaller.
When the situation changes, we’ll need to redo everything again!
This is what we did

23. Questions?

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Thanks for your attention!
Kindle ebook is available for free on 1 & 2
July, and you can read it on your browser &
phone as well. Do share the news!
Feel free to schedule a quick call if you
have further questions:
https://calendly.com/guus-goorts/30min
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webinar slides & recording and remind you
of the ebook promo!