More and more colleges and universities are using Pay Per Click marketing strategies to connect with their potential incoming students, and PPC for higher education presents a number of opportunities, but a number of costly challenges. 

Many of us remember a time when we didn’t search for colleges on the Internet. It was the dial-up experience, or the Internet really wasn’t a thing. However, as younger generations are applying for colleges, it is time to be competitive on search engines. 

What is PPC advertising? 

Pay Per Click advertising, also known as PPC advertising, is advertising that any company in any industry can utilize to gain more traction in search engines and provide a faster and more accurate lead generation. 

The thing with Pay Per Click advertising is that it only lasts as long as the advertisement is scheduled to run, and with SERP constantly changing, it is important to constantly manage this advertising. 

All universities and colleges need Pay Per Click strategies Dallas because it is estimated that PPC for higher education has some of the highest keywords to bid on this advertisement at an average of $40 per click!  

Why is this so important? This is because with PPC advertising if anyone clicks on this advertisement, you are paying for that click, even if they do not convert into a lead. 

And don’t forget Google’s advertising requirements. With the cost of PPC for higher education, why would any universities and colleges invest in this marketing strategy? 

Here are four reasons why! 

1. Brand awareness 

If it costs so much to run PPC campaigns, why would you run brand awareness? This is because bidding on brand terms not only gives you more control of your brand in SERP, but at the same time, it provides you control over the messaging when it comes to branded keywords.

On the other hand, not every potential incoming student has heard of your college or university. It is imperative that you provide some brand awareness advertising to these potential students who are in the exploration stage of their college search. 

2. Focusing on your exact audience

The higher CPC the advertisement has, the more targeted your audience needs to be, and this includes keywords. It is important to understand who your audience exactly is, and for each audience, you are targeting, those keywords need to be differentiated. This is because potential students versus their guardians are going to be drastically different. 

It is important to consider ALL of your audiences and what their search queries are going to involve. 

What is your first question to a prospective college student? If it is “what are you interested in studying?” or if you are an engineering-based campus, “X engineering school.” 

It all matters! 

3. Massive reach

It is estimated that one billion people use Google and its products. Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second. While you do not want to target the one billion people who use Google on a daily basis, this shows that this valuable marketing tool has a larger reach for advertising. 

4. Maintain control over advertising at all times​​​​​​​

Notice that your advertising campaign is getting a bit costly? The best part about hiring a Pay Per Click strategy Dallas expert is that they can monitor the advertising campaign and ensure that you do not go over budget. PPC ads are something that has to be constantly reviewed, and with other marketing strategies going on a daily basis, the last thing you want is to go over budget! 

While this is a competitive market with higher costs per click than others, it does not mean you cannot advertise strategically over the duration of the summer or all year long. 

For more information on PPC ads for higher education, contact us today!