Wednesday Wins: Pepperdine Business School Drives Powerful Results with InMail and Lead Gen Forms

Founded on the core values of integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School has been developing values-centered leaders who advance responsible business practice since 1969.

Challenge

Pepperdine Graziadio Business School planned to use a new merit scholarship opportunity in the market to attract new students but needed an avenue for getting that message across to the right potential candidates — quickly and effectively. The business school faces a lengthy process in converting students, so it required a method that enabled them to engage highly qualified leads directly.

Solution

Working with its LinkedIn account team, Pepperdine created a unique target audience based on strong historical performance, and developed a plan to reach them via Sponsored InMail and Sponsored Content combined with Lead Gen Forms.

Results

Although Pepperdine is a longtime user of LinkedIn’s marketing and advertising tools, they say that this campaign “far surpassed all expectations,” driving more than 2,500 clicks. The school reports that its merit scholarship InMails drove more than 15 enrollments, with Sponsored Content adding even more, leading to “outstanding ROI.”

The campaign’s LinkedIn InMail component drove more than 750 leads. The performance was 20% above benchmarks for clickthrough rates and open rates for InMail campaign

Staying on Target

The key to Pepperdine’s success with this campaign was refining its audience to target just the right people, combining traditional qualification standards with proximity to campus and the right background degrees for the demands of the program.

“Further, users on LinkedIn are more focused on their career which makes it a suitable audience for business school program marketing,” adds Amanda Karr, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.

The Power of InMail Plus Lead Gen Forms

With an audience that had a high likelihood of converting, Pepperdine took advantage by reaching out through personalized InMail messages. Integrated Lead Gen Forms made it easy for prospects to provide contact info and learn more without jumping through hoops.

Overall Impact

LinkedIn proved to be a perfect platform for connecting receptive professionals with opportunities for further educational advancement.

“The campaign was regarded as a huge success and one of our highest performing InMails to date,” Karr says.

She added, “We had not seen such a high level of engagement via our other marketing channels.”

Read the complete case study here.

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