Google Ads (previously called Adwords) is a powerful ad platform that shows your School first in the search results by paying for certain keywords.
1. Youtube Ads
As the second most popular search engine worldwide, YouTube is one of the most powerful platform for businesses trying to capture customers’ attention and Google owns it so you can run ads straight the Google Ads dashboard.
YouTube probably has the most available ad space and potential reach in the entire digital video space. With over 2 billion monthly active users, the user base is almost as large as Facebook’s. The difference is that every single user is there to watch videos in prolonged sessions. (And that is their only motive.)
There is little messaging and socializing going on on YouTube compared to other social networks. And that is because it is focused more on one-way broadcasting than actual two-way communication.
In this way, and the fact that the medium is video, it may remind you of TV.
There are six types of YouTube ads:
- TrueView ads
- Non-skippable instream ads
- Bumper instream ads
- Sponsored card ads
- Overlay ads
- Display ads
2. Cater Your Adwords (and Social) Strategy to the Top-of-the-Funnel Searcher
In the education industry, people who are searching for schools and opportunities to obtain a degree or simply take a class typically start on search with top-of-the-funnel-style research. Once they’re moving down the funnel, it’s less likely for someone to hop on Google, rather than go directly to the business’ site. This is why focusing your keyword bidding, ad copy, and landing page strategy with these top-of-the-funnel searchers in mind is critical.
We suggest focusing on a more content-heavy approach to warm these people up and inform them rather than directing them to an “apply now” page. This will just scare them off.
This is even more important to emphasize with educational social ads.
3. Bidding on Your Competitor School’s Name
You can bid on the names of other schools or alternative options in your marketplace. This gives you the opportunity to show up when someone specifically searches for your competitor.
This is an extremely powerful strategy when you’re dealing with competitors that are flooding the airwaves with their marketing message. Consider the case of some of the “big box schools” that utilize direct mail, radio, television, and billboards in order to market their services. While they’re using more traditional methods of advertising in order to build brand awareness, the vast majority of the actual engagement they receive comes from the internet.
For example, the radio advertisement is what catalyzes the student’s initial awareness. However, very few people call or visit a school the moment they hear an ad. Instead, they’ll wait until they are in front of a computer and then they’ll perform a Google search on that school for more information.
This is your opportunity to piggyback on your competitor’s advertising.
