Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing on search engines and social media platforms is proving to be an effective and cost efficient method for lead generation in foreign markets

1. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 1
PPC for International
Student Recruitment

2. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 2
1) Why Use PPC For Student Recruitment?
2) Know Your Target Market
3) Search Engine Preference
4) Mobile PPC
5) Keyword Research
6) Connect Ad Messaging to Landing Pages
7) Always Be Testing
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

3. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 3
 The geo-targeting capabilities of PPC marketing for higher
education means you can deliver finely crafted messages to
highly targeted prospective students, tightly focused by
location, language and keyword.
 Paid ads on search engines are the most prominently displayed, and
when combined with a strong organic SEO strategy it is possible to
dominate the upper half of the first search results page for maximum
visibility.
 Another often overlooked benefit of PPC is keyword testing, as
comparing the effectiveness of various keywords and messaging can
be accomplished faster through PPC success metrics than with any
other method.
 Keywords are the foundation of search advertising, ensuring your
college is exposed to the right audience depending on what
information they are actively seeking
1. Why Use PPC for Student Recruitment?
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

4. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 4
 Before even beginning keyword research, you should have a
good idea of which markets to target, typical priorities and
search behaviour for those students, and how visible and
popular your brand is in each market.
 Consider whether your college already has a strong presence in a
particular region and can leverage word-of-mouth referrals from
current international students or alumni.
 While ideal prospective students can come from anywhere in the
world, it's advisable to initially focus your efforts on one or two target
markets and grow from there.
 Understand that PPC marketing can involve a long sales cycle and
that visa processing times vary greatly by country, so manage
expectations and ad placement timing accordingly.
 Even if you begin with a similar base strategy as your home market,
translated to the local language, your PPC campaigns should
become increasingly diverse and tailored as you gain more
knowledge of search patterns and what does and doesn't work.
2. Know Your Target Market
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

5. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 5
 Although many consider PPC synonymous with Google
AdWords, it should be noted that in many leading source
countries, local search engines are far more popular than
Google.
 Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China and Navar in South Korea all
dominate their markets - there is a handy global search engine
marketing guide here.
 PPC rules may vary significantly between search engines, including
Bing and Yahoo. For example, to get on Baidu you'll need a local
presence with a Chinese domain website and a valid business
certificate issued by the Chinese government, among other licenses.
 Text placements on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube can also fall
under PPC marketing and require individualized messaging that
would appeal to each platform's users.
 The rule of thumb is to target your prospective students on the
websites they use, narrowing in on the postal codes where they live.
3. Search Engine Preference
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

6. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 6
 Internet penetration is spreading at an incredible rate
throughout the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and a majority
of consumers in many of these countries are mobile-only.
 According to mobiThinking, 30 percent of the world's mobile users
are in top source countries India and China.
 The Google network accounts for nearly 70 percent of global search
traffic and is generally the most convenient method for geo-targeting
diverse regions.
 Popular Ad Extensions include:
 images (of campus, happy students, etc.)
 reviews (student testimonials)
 drop-down navigation (to program pages, etc.)
 location (using Google Places and maps for locally targeted campaigns)
 social (link to your G+ page)
 communication (entering email for newsletter subscription or telephone call)
 Be especially direct and concise, with large text and big buttons
pointing to tailored calls-to-action like "Call Now."
4. Mobile PPC
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

7. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 7
 Effective PPC campaigns start with choosing the right
keywords, which demands further research when going
international.
 For best results, seek guidance from someone with real experience
in that country, going beyond basic translation to understand cultural
subtleties and up-to-date searching patterns.
 This can apply to ad copy and landing pages also. Google AdWords
offers the free Keyword Planner tool for searching keyword and ad
group ideas, finding historical statistics, creating new keyword lists
and choosing competitive bids and budgets.
 Identify phrases that are supportive to each other and the specific
initiative. Competitor research is a start but consider more
descriptive niche phrases that attract fewer overall searches but
more highly targeted and qualified leads.
 Long tail keywords convert at higher rates but the key is to
strategically research, identify and combine hundreds of long tail
keyword phrases
5. Keyword Research
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

8. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 8
 The essence of PPC messaging is "short and sweet" with
punchy calls-to-action that attract attention and deliver
qualified prospects to your targeted landing pages.
 Ensure that your landing pages are aligned with the PPC
copy, optimizing content with these keywords and ideally
integrating the most relevant keywords in content strategy
and development for organic search success.
 Include your unique selling proposition, relevant benefits, at
least one prominent call-to-action and a request for
information form.
6. Connect Ad Messaging to Landing Pages
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

9. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 9
 PPC marketing is a continuous work in progress that should
naturally evolve as you determine the optimal keywords,
messaging and markets.
 Campaigns are easy to start and terminate so don't hesitate to
regularly try out new strategies emphasizing seasonality or targeted
programs.
 A/B testing with Google Analytics is a best practice to compare
keyword and messaging options and to experiment with which time
of day, week and year brings the highest return on investment.
 Monitor your paid search traffic and goal conversion rate by country
and region.
 While disappointing results can sometimes be attributed to
messaging shortcomings, it is also true that not all countries convert
equally.
 Analytics results can lead to surprising insights that may lead you to
significantly redistribute your marketing investments.
7. Always be Testing
Source: Higher Education Marketing – PPC for International Student Recruitment

10. PPC for International Student Recruitment
Slide 10
Questions?
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info@higher-education-marketing.com
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