Tips to prepare your digital campaigns for the holiday season.

1. LIVE Q&A: HOLIDAY
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
STRATEGIES
Tips to prepare your digital
campaigns for the holiday season

2. QUESTION #1:
IT’S THE HOLIDAYS…
HOW DO WE MAKE
OUR CAMPAIGNS
SPARKLE?

3. TIP #1:
SAVE $. DON’T LEAVE
ALL THE LIGHTS ON.
Digital advertising during the holiday season is
competitive (and pricey). Think strategically
about costs and audience recall before bidding.

4. QUESTION #2:
OKAY, BUT WHAT CAN
WE DO NOW TO GEAR
UP FOR LIFE AFTER
WINTER BREAK?

5. TIP #2:
GET ORGANIZED AND
OPTIMIZE.
We all know that things move at hyper-speed when
you get back after the break. Your team works
hard—you deserve to enjoy the time out of office.
Take some time to set your January bids before you
head out and do a last round of optimizations to get
things ready to rock when you return.

6. QUESTION #3:
HOW DO THE
HOLIDAYS IMPACT MY
BUDGET
ALLOCATION?

7. TIP #3:
ADJUST SPEND BASED
ON YOUR ADMISSIONS
CYCLE.
Still have seats to fill in the spring? Get
aggressive with higher-intent strategies and
messaging focused on filling those final spots.
Heading into a new admissions cycle? Focus on
channels that build awareness and strategies that
complement your upcoming events.

8. Demographic Targeting
Website Placement Targeting
Contextual Targeting
Location Targeting
Purchased List Targeting
Publication Targeting
Behavioral Targeting
Awareness & interest
Consideration &
intent
Inquire/engage
Application/
enrollment
Display Advertising | Video Advertising | Social Media Advertising
Search Engine Advertising
Display, Search, Social Retargeting
Landing Pages | Website
CRM
Keyword Targeting
Website and Landing Page
Visitor Targeting
Prospect List Targeting
Forms & CTAs
Content Offers, Events,
Webinars, Text, Chat
Communications Workflow
Emails, Phone Calls, Events

9. QUESTION #4:
SHOULD WE JAZZ UP
OUR MESSAGING FOR
THE HOLIDAYS?

10. TIP #4:
SPREAD SOME HOLIDAY
CHEER WITH MESSAGING
FOR THE SEASON.
Personalize your campaigns with seasonal
messaging. Get creative (and thoughtful) with the
content you’re posting up to and following the
holiday season.

11. The University of
Wisconsin-Madison
does a great job of
tugging at the
heartstrings of its
students, alumni and
community at large.

12. QUESTION #5:
SHOULD WE TARGET
OTHERS WITH OUR
HOLIDAY SPIRIT WHILE
STUDENTS ARE AWAY?

13. TIP #5:
TRY NEW AUDIENCE
TARGETING TACTICS.
You spend a good portion of your marketing
efforts focused on recruitment. The holidays
provide an interesting opportunity to test
messaging for other audiences while
prospects might be less engaged.

14. QUESTION #6:
IS IT THE MOST
WONDERFUL TIME OF
YEAR TO EXPLORE
NEW AD CHANNELS?

15. TIP #6:
OUR MOTTO? IT’S
ALWAYS A GOOD TIME
TO EXPLORE NEW
CHANNELS.
Spotify. Snapchat. Reddit. The social media
landscape is constantly evolving and changing.
New opportunities present themselves
everyday. There are tons of unchartered (at
least by EDU) channels to explore if you’ve got
room in your budget in the new year.

16. American University
1B users each month
6B hours of video
$0.10-$0.30 average
cost per view
88% of 19-29 yr. olds
Photo, video, carousel
$1/day impressions
$5/day engagement
90% users <35 yrs. old
Photo, video, carousel
$1/day impressions
$5/day engagement
61% are 30-64 yrs. old
Sponsored content, In-
mail, lead gen, video
$10/day minimum
85M monthly users
Link, text, display
$0.10-$0.30 average
cost per view
LEAD GENERATION BRAND AWARENESS

17. 315,000 impressions in first run

18. QUESTION #7:
WE’VE GOT EVENTS
COMING UP AFTER
BREAK. HOW DO WE
PROMOTE THEM?

19. TIP #7:
FOCUS ON
CONNECTING WITH
QUALIFIED PROSPECTS.
Open houses and info sessions are abundant in
the new year. Align your digital campaigns with
recruitment events by implementing strategies to
engage higher-intent prospects in person.

20. https://youtu.be/VFE7aGF7x3s
American University

21. QUESTION #8:
WE HAVE THE
LEADS, BUT WHAT
HAPPENS AFTER A
CONVERSION?

22. TIP #8:
CONNECT THE DOTS
AND CONTINUE
NURTURING.
A prospect inquired or started an application.
Now what? Communication workflows and call
tracking are your friend. A little organization and
a set lead nurturing strategy makes it easy for
prospects to further engage with you and enroll
in your programs.

23. 25 emails for one pre-inquiry campaign
25% CTR
Up 12.27% compared to previous 100 days
50.87% Open rate
Up 9.9% compared to previous 100 days

24. QUESTION #9:
WHAT ARE SOME
SIMPLE WAYS TO
SPICE UP OUR
CREATIVE?

25. TIP #9:
CREATE FUN (AND
USEFUL) CONTENT.
VIDS. GIFS. E-CARDS.
There are many ways to incorporate motion into
your holiday messaging, from fancy camerawork to
simply animating text or graphics.
Increase engagement by encouraging student
participation in holiday videos. But keep it short and
sweet!

26. American University

27. https://youtu.be/lm6Bxmp-H9s

28. QUESTION #10:
HOW DO WE STAND OUT
WHEN EVERYONE IS
FOCUSED ON THE SEASON
AT THE SAME TIME?

29. TIP #10:
GET AHEAD OF THE
CURVE IN 2018.
NEW YEAR, NEW YOU.
Time seems to fly by during the holiday
season. It’s finals week for some of us and
that means winter break is just around
the corner.
We’ve created a resource to help get
your team organized for the new year.

30. WHAT QUESTIONS DO
YOU HAVE FOR US?

31. Happy holidays
From our team
to yours
Free digital resource!
We’ll send a link in the
webinar recap email.