Smart phones and tablets dominate the display advertising world, with click-though and delivery rates often double that of computers in the education vertical. With all of the mobile developments these days, it’s important to ensure your online recruitment efforts evolve as quickly as the behaviors of teens and adults doing their college research online.
Here are some tips to ensure your online marketing strategies are keeping up with the mobile technological advancements of today:
Create Mobile-Sized Static Ads: Mobile-sized versions of creative ensure the ad lends itself to the size of the screen and real estate available on the site. It also forces you to limit your text and keep it legible and attractive while viewed on a small device. Additionally, it’s a good idea to create static versions for each of your animated ads so the creative is optimized for anyone viewing on an iPhone or iPad without Flash capabilities.
Highlight Easy Calls to Action: For every display ad you’re running, ensure the call to action is desirable for users seeing it on their phone. Make the message short and clear, and include a simple click option that’s hard to miss.
Optimize Your Website: Since a common goal in display advertising is to get viewers back to your website, you’ll want to make sure the website itself is optimized for smart phone and tablet users. While having a completely mobile site is ideal, it’s not always in the budget. Consider implementing a more cost-effective approach called responsive Web design, a website development technique that maximizes user experience by resizing the content, no matter what device users are on.
Build Mobile-Friendly Landing Pages: If you don’t have a mobile site or a responsive Web design, be sure your site is clean enough for the mobile users. Put important information above the fold with ample opportunity for engagement and action-oriented behavior. Also make sure any Flash based videos or slide shows don’t take up the top of the screen, or you could lose your audience quickly.
Seek Expert Consulting: Mobile capabilities are changing every day. Be sure to utilize certified site experts who can assist in the optimization of your website and ads as well as implement a texting, QR, or mobile display ad campaign.
Mobile optimization is just one of the key elements in today’s online education recruitment space. But it’s growing increasingly important by the day. A mobile campaign can enhance the effectiveness of all your other recruitment and awareness methods dramatically. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to reach and engage your potential students in the space they occupy now more than ever.
Join us as we explore the current state of digital marketing and learn how your peers are addressing the need to integrate digital with traditional strategies. Attend our annual Carnegie Conference in Florida this January!