Flatiron School / Career education
Career changers ready to investigate a practical path into software engineering.
01 / THE STRATEGY
A career change becomes easier to imagine when the next step is a concrete skill and a project worth showing.
Explore full-time and part-time software engineering certificates.
From uncertainty about a career change to a concrete next step.
Show a learner building real software, connect the work to the skills, and invite an informed program comparison.
02 / AUDIENCE + PERSONA
Adult career changers; begin with US English and evaluate age cohorts 25–44 and 45–54 separately. All genders. Program eligibility and schedule matter more than age.
Campaign audience focus and test cohorts. These guide research and creative; they are not measured customer percentages.
Curriculum, project examples, format comparison and a clear admissions conversation.
BUYER PERSONA
“I want a credible way to learn, but I need to understand the time commitment before I apply.”
03 / BUYER INTENT
| Stage | Query / signal | Message | Destination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explore | how to learn software engineering | Understand the learning path | Curriculum overview |
| Compare | part time software engineering course | Compare time commitment and format | Program comparison |
| Act | flatiron software engineering | Review the program and start an inquiry | Admissions / program page |
Measure progression by intent cohort: qualified engagement, the primary conversion, and the customer outcome. Keep brand, category and exploratory traffic separate in reporting so one does not hide another.
04 / IMAGE ADS + STORYTELLING
THE EXPERIENCE AFTER THE CLICK
Turn curiosity into practical software skills. Learn to build with JavaScript, React and Python, and put that learning into projects you can show.
Open the complete landing page ↗Use distinct message angles, placement-ready image and vertical-video assets, a relevant destination and reliable conversion events. Evaluate broad delivery against a controlled audience test where available. Review creative enhancements before enabling them; keep the product, offer and claims accurate.
Facebook and Instagram share Meta’s buying tools. They do not require separate budgets unless the experiment needs a placement comparison. Optimize toward the meaningful business action, not cheap clicks.
05 / RESPONSIVE SEARCH ADS
Each set includes 15 headlines and four descriptions. Headlines fit 30 characters; descriptions fit 90. Google can vary the assets shown and their order.
Display paths: software / engineering
View the destination ↗Start with flexible combinations. Pin only when a required message must always appear in a supported position.
06 / SEARCH RESEARCH
Group queries by the decision and offer, then validate demand, cost and location in Keyword Planner. Search volume and CPC estimates are not inferred from organic impressions.
| Keyword | Ad group | Match | Intent / priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| software engineering certificate | Category | Phrase | Commercial · Test |
| part time software engineering course | Category | Phrase | Commercial · Test |
| online coding program | Category | Phrase | Commercial · Test |
| flatiron software engineering | Brand | Exact | Commercial · Test |
| learn javascript and python | Category | Phrase | Commercial · Test |
Apply each exclusion only at its stated scope. Review actual queries and conversion quality before widening it. Broad exclusions such as “free,” “jobs” or “course” can block useful intent.
| Negative | Match | Scope | Action / reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| software engineering jobs | Phrase | Flatiron School acquisition | Apply to stated scope. Unrelated intent for this offer. |
| software engineer salary | Phrase | Flatiron School acquisition | Apply to stated scope. Unrelated intent for this offer. |
| free code download | Phrase | Flatiron School acquisition | Apply to stated scope. Unrelated intent for this offer. |
| coding game cheats | Phrase | Flatiron School acquisition | Apply to stated scope. Unrelated intent for this offer. |
07 / AD SPEND + EXPECTED RESULTS
30-day media planning scenario. CPC, conversion rate and order value are editable assumptions, not historical campaign results or promised outcomes. Media spend excludes production and management.
| Initial channel allocation | 30-day media budget |
|---|---|
| Google Search | $1,200 |
| Meta | $800 |
Change the assumptions to see how the plan behaves. This is a planning scenario, not recorded campaign performance.
This model stops at qualified admissions inquiries. Leads and free assessments are not sales revenue. Track qualified rate, lead-to-customer rate, acquisition cost and closed revenue before calculating ROAS.
Clicks = spend ÷ CPC. Conversions = clicks × conversion rate. Rounded outputs are expected values, not a statistical confidence interval. Validate CPC and demand in Keyword Planner and replace conversion assumptions with observed data.
Test the possibility-led Meta copy against the practical decision copy using the same image, audience, landing page and budget split. Judge qualified inquiries after admissions review, not clicks alone.
Test 'Explore Your Program' against 'Compare Learning Paths' as the primary CTA. Keep the offer, hero image and destination consistent.
Predefine the primary event, acceptable acquisition cost, conversion window and a minimum decision sample. Compare one major variable at a time; platform delivery alone is not a randomized experiment.
Cost per qualified admissions inquiry; application-start rate as a secondary measure.
Search terms, spend, landing-page conversion, qualified rate, event deduplication, device and placement quality, frequency and creative fatigue. Reconcile platform attribution with analytics, CRM and net revenue.
Pause broken tracking, mismatched offers and irrelevant traffic immediately. Judge performance after the conversion lag and planned sample. Scale when incremental acquisition economics and lead quality hold, then watch the marginal cost of the additional budget.
Offer reference review: October 13, 2026.