Reaching prospective students digitally is more important than ever before given the lack of opportunity for in-person events and the increased time each prospective student is spending in the virtual space. The digital advertising ecosystem has become increasingly competitive in the last few months, with no end in sight, as more higher ed institutions are vying for prospective student engagement. Furthermore, many schools have suffered marketing budget cuts due to lower yields.
With increased competition and slashed marketing budgets across the industry, how can schools compete effectively and efficiently to win prospective students? Traditionally, Google AdWords (Paid Search) has been the main digital driver of qualified conversions, but what if there is another way to reach prospective students, drive conversions, and avoid the constantly fluctuating cost per click (CPC) of Google AdWords? Orange 142 has your solution: Search-Based Display.
To maximize available budget and reach prospective students when they are actively searching for your specific programs, Orange 142 has developed a unique ad-targeting solution that leverages the same keywords, phrases, and intent used in paid search. Unlike Google AdWords, Search-Based Display serves more engaging, creative, and visual ad placements. Search Based Display campaigns serve banners and native style ad units to drive traffic to key landing pages and increase overall engagement. Search-based display campaigns, on average, also have higher click-through rates compared to traditional banner ad campaigns because ads are served to prospective students with active search histories relevant to the programs and messaging served by the advertiser.
When looking at where in the awareness cycle digital ads reach prospective students (and parents), Search-Based Display can effectively reach audiences at the top, mid, and bottom of the funnel to drive initial awareness all the way to conversion. Ad campaigns are tracked to measure the effectiveness of the advertising in driving applications, requests for info, and other conversion metrics.
Google AdWords has notoriously proven to be a highly competitive environment for higher education, which can lead to massive fluctuations in CPC rates. Like Google AdWords, Search-Based Display utilizes a CPC rate structure; however, Search-Based Display allows for guaranteed web traffic without cost fluctuations due to competitors, quality scores, or time of year, making Search-Based Display an efficient and effective digital tactic for our higher education clients.
In addition to Search-Based Display, Orange 142 offers 15 digital tactics, including true Paid Search, which allows us to build custom and comprehensive digital enrollment marketing campaigns because no two schools are alike. Search-Based Display campaigns are often paired with website retargeting, pre-roll video ad spots, and even Connected TV to help provide a multichannel, cross-device media campaign.
We are an extension of each of our clients’ marketing teams, and we aim to win every prospective student, every time. Contact us today to see how Search-Based Display can play a role in your digital outreach strategy.
