Greetings Colleagues.
I’m writing today about a small but significant way that you can support our university’s financial health: by being mindful of how you interact with online ads.
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota invests in paid digital advertising to reach prospective students and raise awareness about our institution. One critical element of this strategy involves paid advertising campaigns on search engines, such as Google and Bing, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
The cost of these ads is often based on a pay-per-click [PPC] model, meaning that every time someone clicks on a paid ad, we are charged a fee. These costs are budgeted and tracked carefully, and we slow or stop our ad placement when we approach a budget threshold for a given month. When our employees click on these paid ads, intentionally or unintentionally, the costs can quickly add up. Additionally, every internal user who clicks on a paid ad prevents one legitimate prospective student from seeing it.
When you’re searching for information or scrolling through your feeds, please note which links are paid advertisements. They are typically marked with a small “Ad” or “Sponsored” tag.
A single click might seem insignificant, yet when multiplied across our entire community and an annual budget, these individual clicks compound to a substantial, unnecessary expense.
To help us be more efficient with our marketing budget, please follow this guideline: Avoid clicking on Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota paid advertisements. Instead, scroll to the organic (unpaid) search results, or navigate directly to the university’s website or social media profile.
Thank you for your support! Your cooperation in this small effort will help ensure our marketing dollars are used efficiently to attract students to our university.
Live Jesus in our Hearts, Forever!
Michael
Michael McMahon
Vice President for Enrollment Management
Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
