Wright State business students market college’s graduate programs

The digital marketing campaign for the graduate programs in the Raj Soin College of Business has been turned over to students, who can spend up to $100,000 to run the campaign throughout 2021.

Students in the Digital Marketing and Social Media classes in the Raj Soin College of Business are focusing on the M.B.A. and specialty graduate degree programs.

“Based on the positive experiences that local businesses have had with the business solutions provided by students in our classes together with the valuable experience that students gain from supervised hands-on assignments, this project is a natural fit,” said Thomas Traynor, dean of the Raj Soin College of Business. “This campaign allows our college to be promoted by those who know it best and love it most.”

Traynor said the campaign is an extension of the philosophy of prioritizing real-world experience for the students.

“Students taking part in our Digital Marketing and Social Media classes will bring to their current and future employers the experience of having helped manage a significant digital campaign that required them to get results and demonstrate a return on their client’s marketing investment,” he said.

The students coordinated with Wright State University’s Office of Marketing to develop landing webpages that prospective students arrive at after clicking on an ad. The campaign metrics reported by the students to the Raj Soin College of Business Dean’s Office and the Office of Marketing.

Over its first six weeks, the students’ digital ad campaign delivered 940,000 impressions and 16,600 clicks, for a 1.8% click-through rate. That compared to a click-through rate of 1.2% over the final period of a recent campaign managed by a digital marketing firm.

John Dinsmore, associate professor of marketing and supervisor of the ad campaign, said the college’s students regularly get placed in digital marketing jobs at area employers such as Proctor & Gamble because their classroom experience is real-world experience.

“The students perform their research, develop their concepts, execute their campaigns and document the value they provide,” he said. “All the while, they are required to meet the same rigorous standards of the most demanding corporate clients. It’s an experience that directly propels them forward in the job market.”

Marketing student Brianna Fedak and her group were assigned to market the Master of Accounting Program, primarily targeting people interested in becoming certified public accountants. Fedak said she learned how to create, maintain and improve Google AdWords Search campaigns to help Wright State graduate programs reach more potential students.

“I plan to become a digital marketer when I graduate, and this campaign has given me invaluable experience to start me on my career path,” she said.

Marketing student Kimberly Schneider, who is interning in social media marketing, was assigned to the supply chain and logistics program, targeting working professionals who have some experience but want to further their education to grow in their career.

“To achieve this, we have run several branches of Google ads as well as created social media ads to run across all the platforms we identified our target market to be highly engaged on,” she said.

Schneider said marketing ideas from her group include using mobile targeting to speak to current and prospective students through the podcasts and streaming services they use. Other ideas were creating gamified lenses on Snapchat and Instagram stories that let users compete through quizzes and creating coupons that enable viewers to waive the application fee when they scan a QR code or enter a fun or “rowdy” code online.