Bob Brooks School offers pre-licensing and continuing education courses—online and in-person—to help professionals switch careers or advance their current real estate or insurance careers.
The Project
Established more than 40 years ago, Bob Brooks School has a robust reputation in the Louisiana market. They launched an ecommerce offering of entirely online classes, and were looking for help boosting their business. Gatorworks crafted a strategic plan to increase revenue in Louisiana and Mississippi. It went so well the client hired us to launch in new states such as Alabama.
Digital Marketing Efforts & Success
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
When Gatorworks took over the pay-per-click (PPC) account, one of the primary objectives was to optimize the ads to provide healthy conversion values month-to-month. Because Bob Brooks School sells courses online, we were able to directly tie our efforts to a measurable return on investment (ROI). This clear correlation allowed us to optimize for further success on a monthly basis, make adjustments to the ads, and evaluate new opportunities.
We generated more revenue by creating landing pages offering relevant courses. This organization allowed users to easily find and purchase their desired courses. Our efforts resulted in outstanding monthly key performance indicators—the all-time conversion rates for the account are over 36%, average cost-per-click (CPC) is just a hair over $2, and the ROI over the last 14 months is over 390%.
Search Engine Optimization
Additionally, we hit the ground running in terms of search engine optimization (SEO) for Bob Brooks School. Our strategy of creating four blog posts a month served a dual purpose—providing insightful information for potential and current students as well as improving keyword rankings to create more search engine traffic. Throughout the engagement, we saw strong improvements in search engine traffic, including:
• 91% more users visiting the site via organic search results
• 10% improvement in avg session duration
• 22% increase in conversion rate
• 107% increase in revenue from search engines
Targeted Display Campaigns
Because everything was performing so well after just four months, we added on targeted display to the client’s digital marketing arsenal. It helped build on already-impressive growth. We utilized a number of tactics, including site retargeting, CRM matching, and addressable geo-fencing.
With a readily available list of agents and brokers, CRM matching and addressable geofencing tactics were essential. Using them, we targeted agents and brokers who needed continuing education credits. We were also able to go after expiring licensees and individuals seeking a license for the first time. On a monthly basis, we removed licensees whose expirations had passed and targeted new licensees whose expirations were approaching. Through laser-focused targeting and engaging ads, we were able to help agents and brokers fulfill their continuing education requirements and propel Bob Brooks School’s success. From October 2019 through August 2020, we served these ads 3,641,968 times, garnering 4,027 unique clicks to the website. When comparing the time period running targeted display to the same months the year before (as it’s a highly seasonal business), we see a 23% increase in traffic and a 36.34% increase in overall revenue.
Project Summary
Gatorworks utilized several digital strategies to fortify the Bob Brooks School brand in well-established states like Louisiana. Subsequently, we increased brand awareness and course enrollments in new states such as Mississippi. We are now in the process of helping this business expand into even more states throughout the country.