5 Reasons to Expand Beyond Google
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As competition in the higher ed market continues to escalate, and budgets remain limited, it becomes increasingly important to find cost-effective ways to connect with prospective students, who are doing more research and taking more time to decide. How can schools reach the right target audience with the right messaging at the right price? In the past, Google AdWords was the primary online marketing channel higher ed departments used to accomplish this goal—and for good reason. Google’s paid search network allowed advertisers to deliver targeted messaging to a significant volume of highly relevant searches—and it still does. However, with increasing competition on Google, costs have risen. In addition, other digital channels have, in some cases, surpassed Google in their ability to reach the right audience with compelling messaging. To increase your chances of reaching prospective students, it’s more important than ever to establish a presence across multiple channels. In this breakout session, we’ll discuss five important benefits of expanding paid online marketing beyond Google Paid Search: 1. Lower average CPC’s on all other channels – High competition on Google has resulted in high costs, while other platforms are driving more reasonable CPC’s. 2. Increased visibility with Bing’s uptick in market share – With a recent increase in search market share, Bing gives advertisers a cheaper option for gaining additional visibility. 3. Reach and engagement opportunities on paid social – Not only can social platforms generate leads at a competitive cost, but paid social marketing provides the perfect combination of reach and targeting. 4. Retargeting on Facebook, Twitter and Display – It’s important to remain front-of-mind for prospects who have shown interest. These platforms allow that. 5. Effect of a robust digital marketing ecosystem – Multi-channel marketing is an important part of creating a healthy marketing and recruitment ecosystem.
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5 Reasons to Expand Beyond Google
- 1. Multi-Channel Marketing: Five Reasons to Expand your Higher Ed Online Marketing Beyond Google Paid Search December 6, 2016
- 2. Five Reasons to Expand | 2Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 3. 1. Lower Average CPC’s | 3Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 4. Higher Ed CPCs | 4Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing 2.85 4.13 5.04 4.97 5.38 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Cost Per Click Cost Per Click
- 5. 2. Bing’s uptick in market share | 6Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 6. Search Engine Market Share 0.55 0.56 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.6 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.65 2015 2016 2016 Nov Feb Aug Google | 7Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing 0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 2015 2016 2016 Nov Feb Aug Microsoft Sites
- 7. 3. Reach & engagement on social | 8Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 8. Targeting on Paid Social | 9Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Demographic & psychographic targeting options on paid social platforms allow advertisers to reach a new set of qualified prospects, generating awareness and leads.
- 9. Secondary value of paid social | 10Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing 1. Users amplify your message by commenting, liking or sharing (actions you don’t pay for) 2. IF users interact with an ad, the advertiser can invite them to like the page, thus building organic followers
- 10. 4. Retargeting | 11Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing *Image used courtesy of https://retargeter.com
- 11. Where can you retarget? | 12Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 12. Facebook Retargeting Performance | 13Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Cost/conversion as much as 40% lower, compared to other FB targeting Conversion rates up to 3x higher, compared to other FB targeting Often accounts for significant percentage of all FB leads
- 13. Google Display Retargeting | 14Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Cost/conversion as much as 60% lower, compared to other Display targeting Conversion rates up to 2x higher, compared to other Display targeting Often accounts for significant percentage of all Display leads
- 14. 5. Robust Marketing Ecosystem | 15Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Prospective students interact with the online sphere via multiple channels and on multiple devices. Make sure you are placing ladders in as many boxes as you can!
- 15. | 16Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 16. So, What Now? Guidelines for how and when to incorporate new digital channels into your marketing mix | 19Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 17. First, consider your goals | 20Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 18. Next, look at your budgets | 21Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Have to justify every dollar you ask for? Just got handed a significant budget, and you need to spend it all?
- 19. Finally, consider your audience | 22Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing How can you align what you know about your program audience with the available targeting parameters for each channel?
- 20. | 23Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing • Make sure you evaluate the performance of each new channel. • 3-6 months is a good timeframe for evaluation
- 21. Scenarios Some scenarios you might encounter… | 24Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
- 22. Scenario 1: New HR Management Master’s Degree | 25Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Budget: $1,500/month Goal(s): • Build awareness (visits to site/landing page) • Generate leads (calls, form submissions) Audience: HR professionals who live within 60 miles of campus and who are interested in earning a master’s to advance their career (earn a promotion or get a higher-paying job)
- 23. Scenario 2: Degree Completion Program | 26Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing Budget: $2,500/month Goal(s): • Generate leads (calls, form submissions) • Drive student enrollments (cost per conversion) Audience: Adults aged 25-55 who live in the U.S., have at least 45 college credits, and are interested in finishing their bachelor’s degree for professional or personal reasons.
- 24. In Summary, 3 Takeaways • It’s time to move beyond paid search and consider a range of digital channels • Marketing must take into consideration the non-linear path prospective students take when learning about and enrolling in your institution • Your goals, budget, and audience should drive decision-making when determining which channels you leverage for your program marketing | 27Five Reasons to Expand Your Higher Ed Online Marketing
Editor's Notes
- Johnna
- Johnna Lower cost per click means you can spread your message further with the budget you have
- Johnna Confirm source of data
- Johnna *Data for all programs Jan thru Sept 2016.
- Johnna – We all know Google is on top, but we’re seeing their share of the search market stagnate a bit, and even dip some, while Bing Grows
- Johnna – * From comScore’s updated rankings and archived rankings reports https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings?keywords=&tag=&country=US&publishdate=&searchBtn=GO
- Johnna
- Johnna Discuss the different targeting parameters available on diff’t platforms: Facebook – income and family status targeting (you can reach moms aged 30-45 with children aged xx-xx who don’t yet have their degree), interest areas (who in the audience has looked up their own advertising profile on FB?) you should! LinkedIn – years of experience, job titles (professional variables, note: while LI offers age targeting, we don’t recommend you use it); professional associations members of, skills
- Johnna Social media paid ads can reach prospects who you would have been unlikely to reach organically. They allow users to amplify your message by commenting, liking or sharing (actions you don’t pay for) They also allow for additional opportunities to generate page likes. Individuals who see ads can choose to like the page of the advertiser, or if they interact with the ad, the advertiser can invite them to like the page, thus building organic followers.
- Johnna – Good tool to remain visible while refining and optimizing display performance, and boost performance overall for a platform. Image source: https://retargeter.com/what-is-retargeting-and-how-does-it-work
- Johnna
- Johnna - Cpconv remarkerting = $98, for other targeting cpconv = $165
- Johnna Cpconv remarketing = $107, for other targeting cpconv = $275
- Johnna Make sure you are placing ladders in as many boxes as you can! Google Paid search shouldn’t be your only digital channel. Prospective students are interacting with the online sphere via multiple channels and on multiple devices. More than ever, consumers demand that advertisers meet them where they are, when they have a need, and with the products & services that work for them as individuals. Plus, you have to remember that, with the introduction of online learning, prospective students have more options than they ever did. Don’t miss out on prospective students because you aren’t making yourself seen.
- Johnna – Here is a tool JMH uses to illustrate the non-linear paths that students take when they engage with your marketing and recruitment efforts. It was designed for the adult student, but also captures the complex interactions that undergraduate students have with universities as well. Highlight: Fluidity of movement from higher levels to lower levesl and back again Importance of each piece as one part in a holistic strategy
- Cristina Bing search > landing page (don’t submit form) > retargeting ad on Facebook > landing page > submit inquiry form > recruitment (automated email, phone call, pre-admissions appointment) > Pre-admissions apt > application > follow up emails/call re: chase/matric > admitted/matric > email/call re: QuickStart >advisor email >schedule enrollment appt.
- Cristina Paid social ad (demographic and interest targeting) > like the post > invite them to like the college FB page > Google Search > program/department website (and then leave without inquiring) > retargeting ad > landing page > recruitment funnel See above...
- Johnna
- Johnna Highlight the idea of trying them all and see what works out. Depending on your budget, maybe allocate 10% to new platform for a time period and evaluate (2 primary approaches, big net and narrow based on performance and small tests) Importance of awareness goals (for demonstrating visibility and demand). Want to reach new audiences? Expand market share? Compete with another local program? Etc.
- Johnna Which of these scenarios is closer to your situation? Is money under lock and key, and you struggle to make a case for additional marketing funds? Or do you have a recently-increased budget and are not sure where to put all your new-found money? Are you in a use it or lose it situation, where dollars will be allocated elsewhere if you don’t use the money this Fiscal Year? These factors should have a significant impact on your strategy for expansion.
- Johnna - How can you align what you know about your program audience with the available targeting parameters for each channel? (FB & LI examples) Cristina - Realized LinkedIn not a good venue for us, more for professional master's programs...tried it. Didn't work. Rather than deciding that your audience isn’t on a particular platform, try to build an audience using the demographic and psychographic data you have, and the let the platform tell you whether there is an adequately-sized audience to even try using a particular platform
- Johnna Metrics related to your goals It takes about 3 months of active optimization in our experience to get a campaign running well. Possible question: how do you know it’s working or not? CPA thresholds/benchmarks (prepare for degree programs)
- Cristina Think about these things and we’ll provide some example scenarios of how this might play out. Checklist of questions: Goal (awareness, lead gen, visits, clout) Budget (limited, need to spend all?) Think about how different programs and program audiences would align with different platforms Willingness to try and adjust when not working? Or as well as you like? Possible questions: How long do you try out a platform before you move on? How do you decide if it’s working or not? (conversion rates, cost per conversion, )
- Johnna In this situation, you might consider paid search as an important part of mix (as always), however, you might also consider Bing (which tends to have a healthy conversion rate), LinkedIn (career-focused degree, with lots of great targeting options for HR professionals and for years of experience), and Facebook might be a good option for awareness and reach
- Johnna
- Cristina?
- 3 Takeaways It’s time to move beyond paid search and consider a range of digital channels Marketing must take into consideration the non-linear process through which prospective students travel Your goals, budget and audience should drive decision-making when determining which channels you leverage for your program marketing