Case Study
St. Petersburg College Gets Visible with PPC Strategy
Scope
Overview
We teamed up with St. Petersburg College (SPC) to give their website a refresh and launch a smarter paid media strategy.
The goal?
Get more eyes on their programs — and it worked. SPC’s online visibility took off, drawing in a broader audience and sparking real interest. We improved the user experience, sharpened the messaging, and boosted conversions — all while lowering costs. Best of all, we achieved more applicants, more enrollments, and a strategy that keeps delivering.
About St. Petersburg College
St. Petersburg College (SPC) has been opening doors to education since 1927, when it became Florida’s first two-year college. Today, SPC continues to lead with innovation — offering more than 200 degree programs, certificates, and workforce credentials designed to meet the needs of both students and employers.
As the first state college in Florida to offer bachelor’s degrees, SPC has a long-standing commitment to access, academic excellence, and student support.
Regionally accredited and nationally recognized, SPC is focused on helping students build brighter futures, one step at a time.
PPC Challenges
- When SPC partnered with us, they had a clear objective to generate more qualified inquiries from prospective students — at the lowest possible cost per lead (CPL).
- They were already investing in paid search, but the returns weren’t where they needed to be. Their campaigns lacked the structure and optimization to scale efficiently, and it was hard to tell which efforts were really driving results.
- In short, they were spending, but not seeing the kind of impact they wanted.
- Some of the key challenges included:
- High CPLs that made it difficult to scale campaigns without being mindful of budget
- Limited visibility into which keywords, audiences, and ad groups were actually converting
- Generic ad messaging that didn’t fully connect with SPC’s target audiences
- Landing pages that weren’t always aligned with user intent or optimized for conversion
- They needed a fresh approach that would stretch every marketing dollar, deliver clearer insights, and attract more of the right prospects.
Our Solution
To hit SPC’s goals, we knew we needed a smarter, more strategic PPC approach that could deliver more leads, lower the CPL, and give us room to optimize. Heres what we did:
1. Segmented Keyword Strategy
We built out distinct campaigns — some focused on specific programs, while others aimed at broader, school-wide awareness. This enabled us to tailor messaging, bids, and targeting for each audience segment, giving us more control and better performance.
2. Tighter Geographic Targeting
Because SPC serves a local community, we zeroed in on the areas immediately surrounding each campus. No wasted impressions, no unnecessary clicks — just relevant traffic from people actually likely to enroll.
This combination of focused targeting and campaign segmentation gave us the flexibility to test, learn, and improve fast
Proven Results
SPC gained more than just a refreshed website and a smarter PPC strategy — they got real, measurable results. And the numbers speak for themselves:
+405%
Conversions
+162.33%
Conversion Rate
–84.09%
Cost-Per-Lead
Site-wide, USD PCE has seen an explosion in keywords for which they rank in the top 3 positions on the SERP
Impressions increased by an impressive +574.20%, a massive boost in visibility that helped SPC connect with more future students than ever before.
Clicks grew by +108.33%, meaning more eyes were on specific SPC programs.
Conversions were up by +450%, showing how targeted ads and optimized landing pages turned browsers into serious leads.
Conversion rates improved by +162.33%, signaling better alignment between ads and audience intent.
Cost-per-lead decreased by -84.09%, leading to more cost-effective lead generation.
Key Takeaways
Our partnership with SPC shows what’s possible when strategy, creativity, and data work together. By focusing on what mattered most — local targeting, smart segmentation, and cost-efficient lead generation — we helped SPC not only hit their goals, but surpass them as well.
With the right approach, digital marketing doesn’t simply generate leads — it builds momentum, drives enrollment, and keeps institutions growing.
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