The document summarizes Bucks County Community College's pilot search engine marketing (SEM) campaign for their dental assistant and other medical occupational programs. The campaign ran from December 2008 to March 2009 with a budget of $9,000. It resulted in 129 conversions from the SEM landing pages and 18 new student enrollments, generating $23,004 in revenue. Follow-up surveys found additional students enrolled due to the campaign, and total revenue was projected to be over $25,000, representing a return on investment of over 5 times the initial budget. Lessons learned included formalizing program area responsibilities for follow-up and reporting.

1. Steve Bacher Director, e-Marketing Bucks County Community College bachers@bucks.edu (215) 504-8543 NCMPR District 1 Conference, Nov. 2, 2009 www.slideshare.net/SteveBache r

2. Overview 1. Why use SEM/What is SEM? 2. Steps to Create an SEM Campaign 3. Case Study: Bucks County Community College’s 1 st SEM Campaign

3. Why use SEM? * Growing marketing channel worldwide * Highly targeted * Measurable results

4. Why use SEM? It brings specific programs to the attention of people who are searching for the programs on Google and don’t know that they are offered by your college.

5. Why use SEM? To advertise: * new programs * existing programs for which your college has many competitors * online programs available to students nationwide

6. What is SEM? Users search for Keywords on Search Engines such as Google

7. Search for Bucks County Community College and www.bucks.edu comes out on top.

8. Search for Dental Assistant training programs and there are 3,900,000 web pages. Bucks isn’t on top.

9. How do we help people interested in Dental Assistant training programs find ours? One answer is Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Google and other Search Engines sell Sponsored Links , which appear at the top of the Search Results List, above the normal (or “organic”) search results.

10. Here is an example of sponsored links above organic search results.

11. Sponsored Links are shown to users who search for related keywords and phrases… Keywords and phrases in this example include: dental assistant dental assistant career dental assistant certificate dental assistant college dental assistant jobs dental assistant programs dental assistant resume dental assistant school dental assistant schools dental assistant training dental college dental hygiene colleges

12. Sponsored links are only shown to users in targeted zip codes who search for related keywords. In the Bucks pilot SEM campaign, sponsored links were purchased for zip codes that had at least five enrolled students last semester. There are 75 such zip codes, including some in Mercer County, NJ & Philadelphia.

13. What happens when a potential student clicks on a sponsored link?

14. Sponsored links connect to special website pages called Landing Pages.

17. SEM combines the latest technology with old fashioned customer service: When a potential student submits an online form from the landing page, a designated staff member from the program receives an email instantly.

18. She responds – usually immediately -- in no more than two business days. The sooner the call, the more likely the enrollment, according to some studies. Program staff follow up in a couple of weeks with those who filled out the form but haven’t yet enrolled.

19. Steps to Create Your SEM Campaign Choose the program to advertise Ask: Which program offers the best potential return on investment – where are your empty seats? Can prospects find it easily without SEM?

20. Steps to Create Your SEM Campaign Choose the program to advertise Ask: Which program offers you the most reliable partner to: Develop landing page(s) Gather enrollment data Survey students in class

21. Choose which services to purchase vs. in-house staff creation/implementation Steps to Create an SEM Campaign

22. Bucks SEM Pilot Program Agency: Writes ad copy for sponsored links Develops keyword and phrase lists Manages sponsored link placement and daily word bidding

23. Bucks SEM Pilot Program Bucks Marketing & IT Staff develop landing pages: Work with program area to write copy Design graphic look Develop computer programming infrastructure

24. Setting Up Your SEM Campaign Choose an SEM Consultant/Agency Ask: Set-up fees vs. rates Experience with higher education clients Experience with your program area

25. Setting Up Your SEM Campaign Choose an SEM Consultant/Agency Ask: Frequency of reports College review of keywords College review of ad copy Campaign monitoring – frequency of agency tweaking keyword groups and ad copy choices

26. Create landing page content: * copy * photos * video * data collection form Steps to Create an SEM Campaign

27. Create landing pages (IT) Communicate expectations for department prospect follow-up Track impressions and conversions Calculate Return on Investment Steps to Create an SEM Campaign

28. Bucks SEM Pilot Program Goal: To test the effectiveness of SEM to increase income and fill empty seats with a high return on investment. Funding: $9,000 grant from the Bucks County Community College Foundation. Targeted Programs: Medical Occupational Programs in Business Studies and Continuing Education.

29. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Dental Assistant Program, and:

30. Bucks SEM Pilot Program Timeline: Two months: 12/24/08 – 2/24/09. Cost: $4,500/month: $3,600 ad spend, $900 agency fee .

31. Bucks Pays Per Click -- Not Per Impression Impressions (number of search results that showed a Bucks ad) 107,994 Clicks (number of times a Bucks ad was clicked on) 1,835 Conversions (number of landing page forms submitted) 129 Bucks SEM Campaign 12/24/08 – 3/3/09

32. Bucks SEM Pilot Program

33. Bucks SEM Pilot Program

34. Bucks SEM Pilot Program

35. Enrollment Results Conversions (number of landing page forms submitted) 129 New Student Enrollments from conversions 7 Bucks SEM Campaign 12/24/08 – 3/3/09

36. First Day of Class Survey: Please check all that apply: I didn’t use Google to search for a class like this. I used Google but didn’t find Bucks. If you remember which words you were searching for, please let us know: __________ I used Google, found Bucks, but didn’t click on the link. I used Google, clicked on the sponsored link at the top of the page, viewed the page it linked me to, but didn’t fill out the form to request more information. I used Google, clicked on the sponsored link at the top of the page, viewed the page it linked me to and filled out the form. I used another search engine to search for a class like this (which one? ____________________)

37. First Day of Class Survey: I used Google, clicked on the sponsored link at the top of the page, viewed the page it linked me to, but didn’t fill out the form to request more information.

38. Enrollment Results: Spring ‘09 (1 st Semester) Conversions (number of landing page forms submitted) 129 New Student Enrollments from conversions 7 New Student Enrollments 11 from students who viewed landing page and enrolled directly without submitting landing page form Total SEM New Student Enrollments 18 Bucks SEM Campaign 12/24/08 – 3/3/09

39. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results 12/24 – 1/21 Registration for Spring Credit Courses: Phlebotomy Certificate Program: 2 students at 12 credits each Tuition & Fees income = $3,050 Required for completion: Additional 4 credit externship Additional income anticipated = $ 936 1 student at 3 credits income = $ 350 Required for completion: Additional 13 credits Additional income anticipated = $1,521

40. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results 12/24 – 3/3 Registration for Continuing Education Courses: Dental Assisting Program 7 @ $1,399 Pharmacy Technician Certificate Program 3 @ $1,199 EKG Technician Certification 2 @ 1,199 Nurse Aid Training 1 @ $659 Medical Billing & Coding Course 2 @ $1,699 Total Income Generated to date: $19,845

41. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results Income Summary Spring ‘09: Continuing Education: $19,845 Credit Tuition & Tech. Fees: $ 3,159 Total: $23,004 Additional Tuition & Tech Fees Anticipated: $ 2,457 Conservative Anticipated Total Income: $25,461

42. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results Possible Other Income: Of the other 100+ conversions, how many will enroll in fall ‘09?

43. Enrollment Results: Fall ‘09 (2nd Semester) One prospect who completed the form went on to enroll in Fall ‘09. However, based on the in-class survey, an additional 17 new students who viewed the pilot campaign enrolled in fall ’09.

44. Enrollment Results: Fall ‘09 (2nd Semester) Fall tuition and fees from the 18 SEM-related students was $23,800. The two-semester income attributable to the $9,000 investment is therefore a total of $47,400, or more than five times the investment.

45. Enrollment Results: Fall ‘09 (2nd Semester) As students continue toward completion of the credit courses promoted in this campaign, the ROI will increase over time.

46. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results Lessons Learned: Put in writing the conditions for program area participation, such as: Dissemination and collection of short survey in classes which might have people enrolled as a result of the campaign. Ideally for at least 3 semesters. Use screen shots in survey.

47. Bucks SEM Pilot Program: Results Lessons Learned: Commitment to follow-up timetable , mode and reporting. Will the staff person call same day? Will they keep a log?