This is the mandatory component of the Challenge. The following steps will guide you in setting up your GOMC Student Dashboard and online ad campaigns using AdWords.
- Access Student Dashboard. Once your professor has received a notification email and has verified your student team, you can access your Student Dashboard with the email account used by your Team Captain during the registration process. Next, your team can add required information to the dashboard, move onto selecting a competition partner and preparing AdWords Pre-Campaign Report.
- Meet with your business and write/submit your AdWords Pre-Campaign Report. To succeed and have fun in the Challenge, you should understand what the business does and what it hopes to achieve from online marketing. Allocate time to meet with the business and write your AdWords Pre-Campaign Report. The report must be uploaded to Google before you request crediting and start your campaign. Please refer to the Writing Campaign Reports page for details.
- Learn AdWords. AdWords is easy to set up but challenging to master. With only three weeks and US$250, it is essential that you are comfortable with AdWords and have a good account structure from the beginning. Fortunately, you have plenty of resources to help you learn about AdWords, check out Digital Marketing Course and Educational Resources for more information.
- Upload Pre-Campaign Report and request crediting. Please note that once you request crediting, you will not be able to re-upload your Pre-Campaign Report. Once we verify your request, within 5 days, we will provide your team with an email address, AdWords Customer ID (CID) as well as a set of instructions on how to set up a password and gain access to the new Competition Account. All instructions will be listed in the Student Dashboard. Please see your Student Dashboard for details and once available, make sure to take a note of your team's CID and password.
- Run your AdWords campaigns. Once you receive credit in your AdWords account, you can start running your campaign over the period of up to 21 calendar days (see example below). Campaigns which serve impressions on less than 7 calendar days or on more than 21 calendar days, spend beyond the provided US$250 (spending a few cents below/above US$250 is acceptable), will be deemed ineligible for the competition and as a result disqualified.
Competition accounts are set to PST timezone. Please do not change timezone in your competition account.
- Write and submit your AdWords Post-Campaign Report. Your report must be submitted prior to the end of the Campaign Window. Your team must write and submit the AdWords Post-Campaign Report to be eligible for judging. Please refer to Writing Campaign Reports for details. Remember, to be eligible for the competition, you MUST submit all relevant reports on time, check Discover GOMC for a detailed timeline.
- Impact Statement (Optional). If you chose to partner with a non-profit organization and want to be eligible for the AdWords Social Impact Award, you must submit an Impact Statement. Please refer to the Writing Campaign Reports page for details.
Source: GOMC