Learn from our digital marketing certificate graduates
Case Studies From 7 Graduates of Our Digital Marketing Certificate Course
BizHack’s Digital Marketer’s Online Course is a fast-paced, high-impact, five-week digital marketing certificate course designed for growth-minded and ambitious business owners and professionals who want to get bottom-line results for their business and accelerate their careers.
Here are seven different small businesses and their real-life campaign results while in the course. As a group, their cohort ran 35 campaigns on Facebook, spent $2,512 in ads, captured 93 leads, and generated a lifetime value of $31,700. This is a return on investment on ad spend of 12.6x, which is an admirable result.
Want to learn more about our digital marketing certificate? Sign up to receive updates on upcoming events and get invited to #BizHackLive webinars. Don’t forget to follow BizHack on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
BizHack has trained more than 2,000 businesses since the start of the pandemic. Since 2015, more than 750 businesses have received digital marketing certificates from us..
In the spring of 2021, cohort 17, “The Digital Titans,” as they called themselves, celebrated their success. As you’re going to see, this was a mighty group.
Digital Marketers’ Edge Program: Real Life Case Studies
Zoe Terry and Nakia Bowling: Zoe’s Dolls
This case study is one of the most special case studies ever in BizHack’s history. It features an extraordinary 14-year-old girl doing the most amazing work with Zoe’s Dolls, her nonprofit that empowers black girls by giving them black dolls that reflect their beauty.
Zoe Terry took the BizHack course with her mom, Director of Programs at Zoe’s Dolls, Nakia Bowling. This power duo started Zoe’s Dolls eight years ago after Zoe was bullied due to the color of her skin and the texture of her hair. Zoe wanted to let black girls know their image is beautiful and unique just the way they are. She has given more than 36,000 dolls to girls worldwide and has expanded her vision into six other empowering programs to reach black girls everywhere.
The video ad campaign they created during the BizHack course was the first video ad they had ever run. They received more than 20,000 impressions, more than 15,000 clicks, four leads, and 10 customers.
After earning their digital marketing certificate, Zoe and Nakia will continue to sharpen their digital marketing skills, run more ads, and revamp their newsletter to incorporate ideas given to them during the course and will launch a podcast.
Jacqueline Tibbett – Founder and CEO of Heal Match
This is a beautiful campaign on how to market a health marketplace. A marketplace is one of the most complex marketing challenges because you must bring together the practitioners, the participants, and the clients. Dr. Jacqueline Tibbett is the founder and CEO of Heal Match, a marketplace that matches specialist massage therapists with patients.
Jacqueline chose to focus on reaching practitioners for her campaign. Her goal was to get massage therapists to subscribe to their new massage marketplace. Jacqueline’s problem was that she did not clearly understand what the customer journey for her potential massage therapists looked like. During the BizHack course, Jacqueline targeted a specific persona and took it through every step of the customer journey.
For the lead generation ad, Jacqueline retargeted people who viewed the first video ad that ran during the course. It received almost 4,000 views, 50 clicks, but no form fills. One of Jacqueline’s big “Aha” moments from this course is that confused people don’t make decisions. A landing page with one clear call to action is more effective than sending leads to your website.
What’s next for Jacqueline after earning her digital marketing certificate? She and her team are working to refine their offer and audience and repeating what they learned to launch their next ads.
Matinicus Csenger of Pathwaves
This case study is a beautiful example of how an innovative product that nobody has ever heard of can market itself through a combination of educational marketing and really solid lead generation.
Pathwaves is a neural reprogramming regime that is so innovative that it takes a little bit of explaining. This is a huge marketing challenge. As with any new product, you must educate your audience before you can try and sell to them. Matinicuz needed help defining his target audience and message, generating qualified leads, and improving viewer interactions with his educational material. His campaign aimed to generate leads with an audience focused on male entrepreneurs, and people who are looking for real solutions that can help them take their own company to the next level.
He received 619 impressions, 11 clicks and two leads. Matinicus credits BizHack for helping him understand that people buy based on emotion. He also now understands that awareness and planting seeds are more effective than rushing leads.
Matinicus has earned his digital marketing certificate and is now expanding his existing marketing campaign using what he learned during the course.
Zeenat Siman – Founder of Firefly Bridge
Firefly Bridge is a professional organizing service, and its case study is an excellent example of giving to receive. After struggling with postpartum depression, Zeenat Siman, founder and CEO of Firefly Bridge, found herself overwhelmed and her home and schedule cluttered beyond control. Firefly Bridge’s mission is to teach others how to organize and simplify so that they can live a life that is unburdened and full of joy.
Zeenat’s main problem was that most of her clients were coming just from referrals. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, almost all in-home services were canceled. Zeenat knew it was time to pivot her business and begin organizing virtually. She came to BizHack to learn how to get eyes on Firefly Bridge through digital marketing.
She ended up running two lead generation ads due to a mistake in her initial audience. These two ads generated more than 2,000 impressions, 13 sign-ups to her live workshop, and two sales, which resulted in more than 10x return on investment (ROI). Zeenat now also has 4 BizHackers as clients and is working on a collaboration with another BizHack alumnus.
As Zeenat worked to earn her digital marketing certificate, she learned the value of Audience Insights on Facebook. She has learned how to be OK with making mistakes and the importance of really focusing on each touchpoint in the customer journey.
The BizHacker Award Goes to…
During every cohort, each participant votes regarding who should receive the BizHacker Award. This is our highest honor and goes to people who represent the values of the BizHacker mentality. They are willing to embrace new challenges, work their tails off, experiment and try new things, and recognize that failure is only an opportunity to learn.
Lucas Mendieta of Cutting Edge Elite
This case study is a clear example of why we at BizHack believe that the foundation of every successful small business is its business story.
Lucas Mendieta was not accepted by his family for being gay. At the young age of 16, he found himself living on the streets of South Carolina, ultimately becoming depressed and attempting suicide multiple times. In 2002 he went to New York, where a friend suggested working in catering and events. He instantly fell in love with working as a freelance catering waiter, and with the help of his business partner, Nathan Perry, Cutting Edge Elite started planting roots. In five years, Cutting Edge Elite became one of the go-to staffing companies in NYC.
Lucas had zero marketing experience before coming to BizHack. His brand awareness ad received more than 5,000 impressions, 339 clicks, and 360 thru plays, but no leads. His lead generation ad received more than 11,000 impressions and 32 leads. His big “Aha” moment was being OK with being the face of the business, and understanding his story is truly powerful.
With a digital marketing certification, Lucas knows how to use Facebook and its tools to target new cities through social media.
Denise Kaigler Founder and Owner of MDK Brand Management
Denise Kaigler is the owner of MDK Brand Management, a firm that helps individuals and organizations stand out, step up, and break through. Denise came into the course struggling with her definition of personal branding and growth. For the first part of her campaign, she chose to bring awareness to her book dedicated to helping individuals build a personal brand that can help them realize their professional goals. The second part of her campaign focused on sharing about storytelling and how a business can craft its story and share it compellingly.
Her awareness campaign received more than 2,300 impressions, more than 1,800 reach, and more than 1,700 thru plays. Her second ad focused on lead generation and received more than 7,500 impressions, 21 clicks, and generated seven leads. Her most significant “Aha” moment is that her book was a low-hanging fruit that she was not leveraging until this course.
After earning her digital marketing certificate, Denise is creating a social media content calendar, hosting more live virtual events, and running more ads.
Many of these participants are still learning and improving their campaigns, and many accomplishments are what comes next. We are so proud of all the work they have done in five weeks.
