WHICH MARKETING CHANNEL IS THE RIGHT FIT FOR YOUR

DEGREE PROGRAM?

Most higher education marketers are faced with a myriad of options when it comes to marketing a degree program. Yet without a complete understanding of each channel, it’s difficult for you to determine which marketing strategy is most effective in meeting your program’s enrollment goals. Each degree program and audience is different and has it’s own nuances, making the work of a higher education marketer that much more challenging. But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be.

This quick guide is designed to provide you with solutions to the situations that you’re likely facing each semester as you look to generate more programmatic inquiries, increase return-on-investment, promote brand awareness and most importantly, meet enrollment goals.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 I Need to Generate Traffic and Leads Quickly and Efficiently5 I Would Like to Generate More Inquiries While Also Building the Foundation for Sustainable, Quality Future Lead Flow7 I need to Increase Awareness and Thought Leadership for My Degree Program13 Who We Are

THE HIGHER EDUCATION MARKET

IS MORE COMPETITIVE THAN EVER

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3 I Need to Generate Traffic and Leads Quickly and Efficiently5 I Would Like to Generate More Inquiries While Also Building the Foundation for Sustainable, Quality Future Lead Flow7 I need to Increase Awareness and Thought Leadership for My Degree Program13 Who We Are

I NEED TO GENERATE WEBSITE TRAFFICAND LEADS QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY

Keyword-Based Search - Encompassing Google, Bing and Yahoo, these platforms focus on targeting audiences who are actively searching for degree programs based on key terms and phrases relevant to your university and degree program. This traffic tends to be further along in the decision-making process and are well-suited to engage with your enrollment team.

Social Paid Search - Leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you have the ability to segment your target audience into highly specific subsets based on plethora of indicators, including location, job title, field of study, personal interests and professional associations.

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Google’s search engine

processed over 11.29 billion

search queries in July 2015 alone.

With 92% of the traffic not

moving beyond the first

page of search results

Invest in: Paid Search (keyword-based and social)

What is Paid Search?

Paid-per-click marketing strategies allow you the ability to target individuals in two distinct, yet extremely effective inquiry-generating ways:

Sources:http://www.statista.com/statistics/265796/us-search-engines-ranked-by-number-of-core-searches/http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2276184/no-1-position-in-google-gets-33-of-search-traffic-study

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Why Paid Search is a Quick and Efficient Way to Generate Inquiries

Can be setup and launched within a few short hours

Paired with stand-alone landing pages, can result in higherthan normal conversion rates

Campaigns can be shut on and off anytime, allowing for tightcontrol of budgets

Enables powerful geo-targeting abilities

Provides marketers with the ability to re-engage past visitors through retargeting

Offers advanced segmentation abilities

Learn More About Paid Search

Five Ways to Target Potential Students with LinkedIn Paid Ads

A Higher Education Marketer’s Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization: Paid Socialhttp://circaedu.com/hemj/a-higher-education-marketers-guide-to-conversion-rate-optimization-paid-social/

How to Effectively Construct a Facebook Promoted Post

http://circaedu.com/hemj/five-ways-to-target-potential-students-with-linkedin-paid-ads/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/how-to-effectively-construct-a-facebook-promoted-post/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/five-ways-to-target-potential-students-with-linkedin-paid-ads/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/how-to-effectively-construct-a-facebook-promoted-post/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/a-higher-education-marketers-guide-to-conversion-rate-optimization-paid-social/http://circaedu.com/hemj/a-higher-education-marketers-guide-to-conversion-rate-optimization-paid-social/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/a-higher-education-marketers-guide-to-conversion-rate-optimization-paid-social/

I WOULD LIKE TO GENERATE MORE INQUIRIES WHILE ALSO BUILDING THE FOUNDATION FOR

SUSTAINABLE, QUALITY LEAD FLOW

5

Invest in: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of

getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or

“natural” search results on search engines such as

Google and Bing. Search engines utilize over 100

ranking factors to determine their search engine results

pages (SERPs), the most important being backlinks.

Backlinks are “incoming links” where people elsewhere

on the Internet are talking about and linking to your

website. Backlinks are generated through a process

called link building, which includes a combination of

content marketing, digital PR and other link-generating

methods.

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Why SEO is Important When Marketing a Degree Program

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of getting traffic from the “free,” “organic,” “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines such as Google and Bing. Search engines utilize over 100 ranking factors to determine their search engine results pages (SERPs), the most important being backlinks. Backlinks are “incoming links” where people elsewhere on the Internet are talking about and linking to your website. Backlinks are generated through a process called link building, which includes a combination of content marketing, digital PR and other link-generating methods.

Why is SEO an Ideal Long-Term Investment

As target SERP rankings are reached, SEO costs will decrease but the traffic generated will remain constant or increase with regular maintenance

Paid marketing channels will require the same investment each month to generate the same amount of traffic. Not the same case with SEO

SEO is known for producing quality inquiries who are ready to make a decision on where they want to attend school. Your admissions team will thnak you.

The “Evergreen” content leveraged to produce backlinks (Infographics, video and PR opportunities) will generate brand awareness, website traffic and backlinks many months into the future.

Learn More About Paid Search

SEO Best Practices for Lead Generation in Higher Educationhttp://circaedu.com/hemj/seo-best-practices-for-lead-generation-in-higher-education/

Increase University Brand Awareness: Sharable Content

Higher Ed Content Marketing: 10 Types of Contenthttp://circaedu.com/hemj/higher-ed-content-marketing-10-types-of-content/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/a-higher-education-marketers-guide-to-conversion-rate-optimization-paid-social/

71% of searches result

in a page one click, 67% in the

top five results alone

Source: Moz

http://circaedu.com/hemj/increase-university-brand-awareness-shareable-content/

I NEED TO INCREASE AWARENESS AND THOUGHTLEADERSHIP FOR MY DEGREE PROGRAM

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What is Digital PR?

With a focus on telling the stories that make the degreeprogram and their professors unique, digital PR leveragesfaculty knowledge and expertise to create high-qualitybranding and link-building opportunities.

The Key Strengths of Digital PR in Higher Education

Distinguishes your program from competitors

Defines program differentiators

Leverages faculty as thought leaders in their respective fields

Promotes program and faculty brand awareness

Highlights faculty research and breakthroughs

Builds extremely high quality and valuable backlinks for SEO

Digital PR and social media are two essential tools for increasing awareness and thought leadership for your online degree programs. Although both can be implemented simultaneously, efforts are most successful when content adheres to each platform’s key strengths.

Source: Bloomgroup & Association of Management Consulting Firms (AMCF)

93% of readers find

that high-quality content

improves their opinion of a brand,

while 94% say that poor content

lowers their opinion

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Learn More about Digital PR and Social Media

The Key Strengths of Social Media in Higher Education

Nurtures a community for current, former, and prospective students

Creates and expands brand awareness

Offers a platform for sharing university and programmatic news and updates

Acts as another touchpoint in the conversion funnel and is often a key component of the decision-making process

Increase University Brand Awareness: Sharable Content

Leveraging Research and Faculty in Highered Internet Marketinghttp://circaedu.com/hemj/leveraging-research-and-faculty-in-highered-internet-marketing/

http://circaedu.com/hemj/increase-university-brand-awareness-shareable-content/http://circaedu.com/hemj/increase-university-brand-awareness-shareable-content/

57%of prospective students leverage

social media to research potential

universities and programs

Source: Digital Trends

WHO WE ARE

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25+ University Partners 13 Team

Members 20+ Years Experience in Higher Education