Texas Tech University

RHIM Students Excel in Google Online Marketing Challenge

Google Marketing Challenge TTUGoogle Marketing Challenge TTU

Dr. Catherine Jai's students learn what it takes to get real-world results using Google AdWords.

On May 3, Tun-Min (Catherine) Jai, Ph.D.'s Restaurant, Hotel and Institutional Management (RHIM) 5335 students presented their Google Online Marketing presentations to real clients based in Lubbock. The students' hard work over the three-week period has helped two local business owners grow their own clientele and provided large increases in branding awareness.

The class was divided into two teams; one working with Kenny's All-Purpose Seasoning and the other working with Omni Pilates. Each team was provided a $250 budget, provided by Google. The teams were tasked with utilizing Google Ad Words campaigns in order to maximize exposure for their clients with the given funds.

Kenny's All-Purpose Seasoning team was the first to present. Kenny's line of products currently feature Kenny's Original, Cajun, and the Texas Burn flavors. Kenny's team went into week one with a detailed plan to use ad bid adjustments and ad extensions on websites so that Kenny's advertisements would be easily accessible to the public.

By week two, the team realized that adjustments were needed in order to maximize their reach with their remaining funds. The team increased their advertisements in the second week and focused on featuring the more successful advertisements like the most popular that read, "Crowd Favorite Side Dishes—Kenny's Seasoning."

Kenny's team continued to frequently monitor the progress of their ad campaign by using the Google Ad Words mobile application on their phones during all hours of the day. In addition, the team learned to utilize Google's keyword planner that allowed for popular searched keywords to lead consumers to Kenny's product. To aid in the visibility of their advertisements, the team found recipe websites to be the most successful destination for their advertisements to appear.

The second team to present worked with the owner of Omni Pilates, a fitness and wellness destination for pilates, yoga, zumba, massage therapy, meditation, and hypnotherapy. Prior to the team's Google Ad Words campaign, Omni Pilates noted that their marketing was mostly being done through word-of-mouth recommendations and some social media efforts. After this experience, that will certainly change.

Omni's team divided their plan's focus into three advertisement categories: brand, client, and instructor. With constant modifications and monitoring, the team began by using location keywords adjustments to drive traffic for the Lubbock area to Omni.

The team for Omni used Google's suggested tips to alter their ad groups, keywords, call-outs (searchable terms under your advertisement links), and other ad extensions that all benefitted Omni's return on investment (ROI).

Omni's team members noted that one of their most successful initiatives during the campaign was to avoid using negative keywords, or key words that might lead consumers to the wrong product. During their second week, the team made a large budgetary focus to increase Omni's brand awareness advertisement category, allowing for an increase to the brand's viability.

By the end of the students' work on the ad campaigns, both clients were seeing drastic results.

The owner of Kenny's Seasoning saw a 50 percent increase in individual and retail sales at the end of the three-week timespan. In addition, the owner was contacted by a Walmart executive to discuss the details of adding Kenny's Seasoning to their product line.

Omni Pilates' owner witnessed traffic increases to their website and received an influx of new clients and an overall increase in the number of fitness packages sold. Omni was even able to hire a new instructor as a direct response to an instructor advertisement created by the Omni student team.

Dr. Jai says that the course was designed to also prepare the students for the Google AdWords certification after going through the Google Marketing Challenge experience. All students were successful and passed the certification exam, which allows the students to be recognized as an expert in online advertising.

Dr. Jai describes the process as an exciting challenge for the students to display their skills and accrued knowledge in their academic careers.

"The students did a wonderful job presenting their projects and the overseeing the development of their campaigns.  They have demonstrated not only their knowledge of online marketing campaign but also their analytical and communication skills."

These students will go forward in their careers with the experience of running a Google marketing campaign for business owners with the backing of the knowledge gained through the Hospitality and Retail Management program.

Dr. Jai describes the impact of the students' gained experience.

"As Google dominates 78 percent of United States' search advertising market and generates 57.8 billion in total digital advertising revenue worldwide, the real-world experience they gained from the course and the Google AdWords certificate will be a invaluable asset to their career."