Using an Integrated Marketing Approach to Achieve Record Scholarship Applications
The Bill 7 Success Story
For over 10 years, we’ve worked with the Bill 7 Award Trust to help them promote their scholarships. Using an integrated digital marketing approach, we developed a strategy that included using the ScholarshipsCanada.com suite of digital marketing solutions. It also included developing and managing a social media marketing strategy on Instagram and TikTok.
But scholarships involve more than just promotion — they need to be funded — which is why we’ve been helping Bill 7 find donors for the past few years.
We’ve continued to work with ScholarshipsCanada to promote the Bill 7 Award Trust, which provides scholarships to Ontario 2SLGBTQ+ students in financial need. ScholarshipsCanada has been instrumental in helping recommend, create, and execute various marketing initiatives, including paid social media posts and email campaigns. With their support, we have been able to reach more students and increase the number of applicants to record numbers in recent years. We look forward to working with ScholarshipsCanada to continue this success and provide more scholarships to more 2SLGBTQ+ students in need.
Specifically, there are three different areas we help Bill 7 with their scholarship program:
Donor Recruiting
For organizations that need help with additional funding, we can help. In this case, we created a paid ad on Facebook and Instagram as well as a targeted email campaign.
Paid Social Media Ad
A paid social media ad is a great way to boost brand recognition and generate buzz about your scholarship.
In the case of Bill 7, we helped create and implement a paid social post on Instagram and Facebook, which resulted in 154 clicks.
total impressions
total clicks
Email Campaign
Objective
To generate donors for the scholarship.
Target Audience
Ontario residents aged 30+ with an interest in the LGBTQ+ community.
Method
We sent a total of 2 emails to the target audience.
Subject Line
Jamie, want to support Ontario’s LGBTQ+ students?
Preheader
The Bill 7 Award Scholarships give 2SLGBTQ+ students in Ontario access to higher education through scholarships — so ahead of the 2022 awards season, we’re looking for donors like you to contribute.
total sent
%
unique open rate
people engaged
Scholarship Promotion
Arguably one of the most important aspects of any scholarship program is promotion. Not only do you want to ensure that you reach lots of students, but reaching the right students is really the key, especially when you’re targeting a specific audience.
In the Bill 7 case, we used a combination of featured scholarship, paid social media posts, and email marketing to spread the word about the scholarship.
Featured Scholarship
A featured scholarship listing means your award will display on the main page of ScholarshipsCanada.com.
In this case, Bill 7 featured their scholarship for a total of 2 months leading up to the application deadline.
total views
total clicks
Paid Social Media Posts
Paid social media posts are a good way to build brand awareness and boost recognition about your scholarship.
In the Bill 7 case, we helped create and implement ads on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) as well as TikTok.
Meta Ad
total impressions
total clicks
TikTok Ad
total impressions
total views
Drip Email Marketing
A targeted email campaign means you can reach the exact type of student you’re looking for, based on a variety of parameters that include: age, location, program(s) of interest, citizenship, gender, and more.
For Bill 7, we sent a series of emails to 3 different targets:
- 4 emails to 2SLGBTQ+ students living in Ontario
- 2 emails to college administrators in Ontario
- 2 emails to high school counsellors in Ontario
Objective
To generate applications for the scholarship.
Target Audience
Students aged 17-24 living in Ontario, Ontario high school counsellors, and college administrators.
Method
We sent a total of 8 emails to the target audiences.
Student Email 1
Subject Line
Kelsey, as a member of Ontario’s LGBTQ+ community, you could receive $3,500!
Preheader
The Bill 7 Award wants to help students like you attain their first degree or diploma.
total sent
%
unique open rate
students engaged
Social Media Management
Throughout the year, we help manage the Bill 7 Instagram account to ensure continuity all year long.
In the “off” months, we post once a week, while during the scholarship promotion season, we post up to 3 times per week.
The Results
Thanks to these efforts, the Bill 7 team received more applications than ever for 2022! We’re poised to break this record for 2023, so stay tuned!
Next Steps
If you have any questions about starting a scholarship program or would like to discuss managing, marketing or adjudicating your existing scholarship program, contact us at:
The SchoolFinder Group Team
info@schoolfindergroup.com
Further reading:
» Leveraging Your Scholarship to Improve Talent Acquisition: The Eaton Success Story
» Agriculture in the Classroom Canada: The Scholarship Marketing Success Story
» Marketing, Managing, & Adjudicating Scholarships: Opterus Success Story
» How to Develop Your Own Scholarship Program
» The Most Effective Scholarship Marketing Strategies
» ScholarshipsCanada Content Calendar 2023
» The SchoolFinder Group Email Query Fields
