Gould Academy
Nestled against the White Mountains of Maine, Gould Academy offers students a uniquely experiential education.
Services
strategy, student acquisition marketing
Building a Pipeline of Quality Applicants
Small in size and offering an unparalleled education, Gould Academy knows that digital outreach is the way to outflank better-known New England schools. They turned to BCS Interactive to create a series of campaigns to capture the interest of prospective students from all over the world.
Our Approach
01.
Constructing the Roadmap
Exhaustive research was key to discovering the right audiences (parents or students?) channels (Facebook, Instagram, Google or all of the above?) and messaging (how to best speak to junior high students and their parents?). We dove headlong into data and insights, leaving no stone unturned; the result was a comprehensive discovery and strategic roadmap—including audience personas—that guides our decision-making process to this day.
02.
Developing Content and Messaging
Our research revealed several key insights that helped us construct both the messaging and focus of the campaigns:
Target Audiences
While parents played a crucial role in gathering data and guiding their child’s education, the student was the primary, decision-maker in terms of the schools to which they would apply.
Key Differentiators
In addition to having one of the best on-snow programs in the world, Gould also provided an “experiential” education—an offering that would help us appeal to a wider subset of prospective students.
Success Metrics
Students that visited the Gould Campus matriculated at a much higher rate than those that didn’t. We thus focused on sending as many leads as possible to Gould’s admissions team, prepped for an on-site visit.
Paid Social Media Advertising: On-Snow
Our initial campaigns focused on gaining the school as much exposure as possible versus competing schools. We began with a strong paid advertising push on Facebook and Instagram, focusing on what Gould was best known for: competitive on-snow sports training.
Paid Social Media Advertising: Experiential
In addition to on-snow, Gould boasted amazing experiential course offerings where students could learn about particular subjects in a hands-on way. Want to learn Spanish? Here, you'll travel to Spain. Oceanography? Prepare to board a sub. These atypical experiences were hidden gems we wanted to put front and center.
Video for Stronger Engagement
While static ads and graphics were highly successful in building both exposure and response, video content helped us to showcase a broad range of the school’s offerings, and proved extremely effective in re-engaging audiences that had seen other campaign content.
03.
Delivering and Optimizing
We created and tested a variety of ads and organic content across Instagram and Facebook, monitoring and optimizing results closely and sending visitors to one of two website landing pages—one tailored to on-snow students, and one for students interested in “experiential” education:
The Results – A Three-Month Snapshot:
89
Qualified inquiries (web form or phone)
947,000
Facebook ad impressions
15%
Increase in year-over-year website visits
“Our biggest challenges in reaching applicants were getting the right digital tactics in place and then hitting on the right message; BCS Interactive delivered on both counts, and the results speak for themselves.”
Chris Sparks // Assistant Head of School for Institutional Management
Can We Solve a Similar Challenge for You?
Tell us how we can help by completing this brief form:
Visiting?
Here we are.
350 Springfield Avenue #200
Summit, NJ 07901
info@bcsinteractive.com
973.377.1175
Are you ready to learn?
As a digital marketing agency for nonprofits, we write about the work and campaigns we produce, and share what we’ve learned along the way.
Count Me InSubscribe to the Blog
Sign up for monthly marketing insights you can put to use right away.
Subscribe Here