2. • Research and consulting firm focused on higher education
• Clients include wide variety of institutions and providers
• Colleges, universities, OPMs
• Public, private, for-profit
• 2-year, 4-year, graduate
• Online, on-campus
• Brought in by President, Provost, CMO, others for:
• Broad strategy
• Academic program selection and evaluation
• Market targeting and campus selection
• Offer design and price optimization
Gray Associates
3. • Founder and CEO of Gray Associates
• 30+ years in strategy consulting
• 10 years in higher-ed consulting
Bob Atkins, CEO
4. • Senior Partner at Gray Associates
• 30+ years in strategy and operations consulting
• Works with broad range of higher-ed institutions & OPMs
Steve Probst, Senior Partner
5. Associate’s, Bachelor’s,
Master’s, and Doctoral –
plus graduate non-degree
programs
Degrees offered
Online and on-campus
Modalities
Business, Education,
Psychology, Health,
Security/Law Enforcement,
Computers
Core disciplines
Research: Participating Institutions
6. • By degree level and
discipline
• By attributed source
• By other segment metrics
• By LinkedIn treatment
• Conversions and speeds
• A-B testing
• Machine learning
Research: Approach
Prospect-level data
from the institution
LinkedIn activity
& attributes
Match & Analyze
8. LinkedIn Advertising Lift: One Example
+2.6 points
58% increase
88% significance4.6% 4.1%
7.1%
LinkedIn advertising lift: Non-degree graduate programs
8%
7%
6%
Inquiry
-to-Start
Rates
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
Not Exposed
But on LinkedIn
Exposed
to Ad
Clicked
on Ad
9. 12%
17% 17%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
LinkedIn Lift by Inquiry Source: Google
+5 points
42% increase
73% significance for ad exposure
Non significant for clicks
LinkedIn advertising lift: prospects attributed to Google at one institution
Inquiry
-to-Start
Rates
Not Exposed
But on LinkedIn
Exposed
to Ad
Clicked
on Ad
10. 24%
36%
53%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
LinkedIn Lift by Inquiry Source: Website
+29 points
121% increase
99% significance
LinkedIn advertising lift: Website prospects at one institution
Inquiry
-to-Start
Rates
+12 points
50% increase
99% significance
Not Exposed
But on LinkedIn
Exposed
to Ad
Clicked
on Ad
11. 21%
28%
22%
13%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
LinkedIn Lift: Industry Targeting
-8 points
-38% (decrease)
99% significance
Inquiry-to-start rates by prospect’s industry (Master’s degree programs in Education)
+7 points
33% increase
98% significance
All Prospects Prospects in
Primary and
Secondary
Education
Prospects in
Education
Management
Prospects
in Other
Industries
Inquiry
-to-Start
Rates
12. Key takeaways
• Channel mix matters.
• Attribution often masks effects.
• LinkedIn advertising can create lift.
• Exposures
• Clicks
• LinkedIn targeting can improve lift.