Posted on 24 Mar '22

In-search Targeted Display Advertising… the Underutilised Opportunity in Your PhD Recruitment Toolbox

As any marketing professional knows, most display campaigns are designed to target (or retarget) specific audience groups based on factors such as their demographic, location or search behaviour. At FindAUniversity, we’ve taken away the guesswork and created the space and inventory to not only target our audience, but be in a position that guarantees their engagement and headspace… with in-search targeted display advertising.

We’ve been chatting to our Ad Delivery Managers, Rob Barnes and Harry Jeffrey, about where the idea for in-search ads came from, how they work and what they can be used for.

So, first thing’s first, what do we mean by in-search targeted display advertising?

It’s essentially what it says on the tin… they’re targeted ads that appear in the search functionality on our FindAPhD.com website. They've worked well on FindAMasters.com and we realised the inventory was available with this highly-engaged audience so we wanted to extend the functionality.

Where do in-search targeted display ads appear on the site?

These specific ads will appear in between the search results on FindAPhD.com once a discipline has been searched. This way, they’re hitting an active and relevant audience (arguably the most engaged audience on FindAPhD.com).

Not only is your specific institution front and centre during their search, you can divert attention away from other opportunities and dominate the space as the user scrolls.

You can target up to 35 new FindAPhD disciplines and can mix and match to get a broader audience. With targeted display campaigns, you don’t waste impressions on an irrelevant audience.

Do they actually work?

Yes! We’ve seen brilliant CTRs (click-through rates) with the right creative and targeting, we can achieve CTRs of up to 0.35%-0.45%!

As these ads are being served to a specific audience on FindAPhD.com, they can drive the right traffic to your select PhD opportunities.

What would you recommend using these ads for?

In-search targeted display ads are a great opportunity to promote your brand, giving you the space to push specific messaging, visual imagery and a targeted CTA (call to action). You could use them to:

Build general brand awareness
Generate sign-ups for open days
Launch new projects
Drive traffic towards your PhD opportunities on the site

The main benefit here is that they’re driving relevant, targeted users, who are actively searching our site, to your brand.

Will I need a big budget?

Because they’re sold on a CPM model (cost per thousand), you can be relatively flexible with budget. We guarantee to serve a set number of impressions within the data range agreed with the Sales Team and only to our own audience on the site. That way you know what you can get for your money.

Are these ads only available on desktop?

Absolutely not, no device is out of bounds! By providing mobile and desktop creatives, we’re able to offer (and deliver) display coverage across all devices and therefore our whole audience.

If you're interested in finding out about our advertising opportunities, or have any questions, please get in touch with your Account Manager, email [email protected] or call +44(0) 114 268 4940. BONUS: As part of our advertising service, our Client Services Department can design your display adverts and proof them with you before launching them live on our sites!

FindAUniversity take pride in being experts in postgraduate education. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter for regular insight, comment and case studies.