The higher education landscape is more competitive than ever, especially with the introduction of virtual learning programs and online courses. In order to stay relevant and top of mind with prospective students, colleges and universities must constantly evaluate the effectiveness of their recruitment messaging. The days of perusing glossy pamphlets featuring campus buildings and course offerings is far behind us. It’s critical that a school’s search messaging and media strategy be robust and conversion-focused.

The Challenge

Delgado Community College, located in New Orleans, reached out to Morgan & Co. with a challenge. Delgado serves more than 20,000 students and is the largest institution of higher education in New Orleans. It is also Louisiana’s oldest and largest community college.

However, as the online search environment had become increasingly competitive, funneling prospective students with intent to enroll had become tougher than ever before. Additionally, Delgado’s previous search messaging was no longer as effective among the growing volume of search inquiries regarding online offers.

In a nutshell, Delgado was getting lost in the noise and needed a new strategy.

The Goals

The Morgan & Co. team worked with Delgado to set new and improved goals:

1. Rebuild and add search campaigns to fully utilize all advertising features in an effort to gain maximum exposure for the school and search budget.
2. Create a more sophisticated and competitive ad strategy utilizing best practices to create a sense of awareness and urgency for registration timelines and class dates.
3. Increase website activity to attract prospective students searching for schools, and convert them to website visitors.

The Research

In order to learn more about Delgado’s challenges and the overarching higher education landscape, the Morgan & Co. team did a deep dive into audience behavior surrounding search research tools, education industry trends and competitor activity. This data, combined with information provided by Delgado regarding their lowest enrollment programs, provided Morgan & Co. with the insights to develop a comprehensive campaign strategy.

The Strategy

1. Speak their language: Morgan & Co. audited and updated all search keywords to include terminology proven to be used by prospective students.
2. Tell the Delgado story: Morgan & Co. built new campaigns with themes that better addressed the college’s unique value propositions, competitive advantages and ease of use.
3. New story, new look: Morgan & Co. built and installed new ad creative with updated messaging and features to fully capitalize on the real estate available for search ads.
4. Better ROI: Morgan & Co. also refined the bidding structure to improve cost per click (CPC), allowing campaigns to more cost-effectively convert those searching into website visitors.

The Results

After implementing each phase of the Morgan & Co. strategy, Delgado saw an increase in the volume of online searches converting to website visits across all 4 newly created campaigns. Specifically, two of the campaigns experienced an increase of over 300% in click-through-rate.

Additionally, the refined bidding structure reduced the cost per click by 17%, dramatically increasing the return on investment for the campaigns.

If you’re struggling to stay afloat in a crowded sea of online search options, the Morgan & Co. team is here to help you drill down and set the right goals for the right results. Research is our strength, and ROI is our driver. Reach out, and let us get to work for you.