31 May A Global Challenge that puts NM TAFE students on top of Google Search

North Metropolitan TAFE Graphic Design students have just completed the 2018 Global Online Marketing Academic Challenge.

The GOMAC is a worldwide competition open to students enrolled in higher education institutions. This year, North Metropolitan TAFE Advanced Diploma students were tasked with developing digital marketing campaigns for real clients employing newly acquired knowledge and skills to craft, optimise, run and report on the outcomes using Google AdWords.

Under the supervision of Graphic Design lecturer Brendan Hibbert, 42 NM TAFE Advanced Diploma students had only a two week window to develop and refine their strategies “using real money for real clients”, said Brendan. “The system is quite complicated and it takes years of training and professional practice to master it, so this is definitely an immersive experience.”

“Student’s discover the importance of matching relevant, targeted keywords and the importance of tracking, monitoring, adjusting and experimenting with emotive Ad Groups” said Brendan. This was best demonstrated by students Damian Almond and Aldo Byanthia who worked closely a nation-wide recruitment consultancy Cornerstone HR (https://cornerstonehr.com.au). Owner and managing director Chris Anstee presented students with their completion certificates and a novelty cheque explained to the class how “I had a very limited understanding of how Adwords worked prior to Damian and Aldo starting the challenge. But they reported on their successes, outlined opportunities for improvement and stuck to their budget. They achieved very impressive results and even helped educate me on how the system actually works.”

Some of the other small businesses represented this year included an aerospace client in Cambodia, an eStore based in LA, a watch maker near Albany, a cabinet maker in Osborne Park, a knitting pattern translation service, a kitchen bench-top supplier, two local Pizza stores, three local Visual Artists and an adventure tour company who specialised in Ladakh region in the Himalayas (http://www.ladakhtravelco.com/) which enjoyed a 1,826% increase in web traffic during the student run campaign.

“I became hooked on it and checked our progress nightly” explained student Lauren Shields, one of the student captain’s who worked with Ladakh Travel. “Our results revealed amazing digital insight into how travellers plan, research itineraries and react to ads that trigger emotional responses”.

Students also enjoyed an insightful and advice laden talk prior to beginning the Challenge when Alex Gavalas from BONFIRE, a Subiaco based digital agency, unpacked valuable Adwords techniques as real-world case studies. Brendan outlined how Alex has built on his involvement with NM TAFE students in previous challenges — “his knowledge and passion for sharing this specialists skills with our students is commendable. He is literally helping us develop local talent for local jobs.”

Results of the competition will be announced at the end of July. Congratulations to all 42 students involved in the challenge.

Pictured are the students receiving their GOMAC certificates and novelty cheque from Cornerstone HR’s owner and managing director, Chris Anstee.