Over the past six years as we’ve built up our digital marketing services, we’ve discussed the unique ability for online advertising to reach prospective students. From specific targeting to re-engagement we’ve talked about the power of online marketing here, here, and here (among many others).
But there’s a side benefit to online marketing we sometimes overlook. The “icing on the cake” if you will. Targeted marketing bleeds into other views that only enhance your original goal.
Here are four prime examples:
1.The household
How many times have you and your team said: “how can we connect with the parents?” Now your current campaigns will do just that! Mom, dad, siblings, visitors. Anyone else accessing the WiFi network of the home your targeting is going to be engaged with the messaging to that home. The promotion for a campus visit event or branding before your search piece will reinforce your marketing to both the student AND the parents.
When a parent tells me they love seeing our advertising all over the internet. #thatsonpurpose @CarnegieComm #EMchat pic.twitter.com/bkgftvobjh
— Adam Castro (@AdamCastroEdu) March 17, 2016
2. Alumni
While your development office could (and likely should) be targeting alumni directly, many are not. But, alumni are still curious about their alma mater and are known to check in to see what’s happening on campus. Tagging them as they check out the admissions pages means you’re able to keep the conversation going with them as well. And nothing helps increase annual fund drives than engaged alumni.
3. Stakeholders
What’s better than your President seeing your ad on the news site he’s visiting? Not much, right? This happens all of the time with our campaigns. If the President, board member, or faculty are tapping into your admissions pages, they too will be tagged. That means you are exemplifying your marketing in their real life. This is one of the main reasons we highly recommend keeping on campus IPs as part of the retargeting pool.
4. Community members
While not every target within certain geographic efforts will be part of your prospect pool, reinforcing your brand within the community is always a good thing. As the brand increases awareness, name recognition will grow and support of the school will be lifted.
So as you develop your concise digital marketing campaign, consider these side benefits in your plan. It’s still all about prospective students, but you are gaining so much more.
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