Anne Arundel Community College’s Casino Dealer School online marketing campaign took second place at the National Council of Marketing and Public Relations’ national meeting last month in New Orleans, La. The marketing team for this project was Jill S. Bennett of Annapolis, assistant director of strategic marketing and Susan E. Gumula of Severna Park, digital marketing coordinator.
Although online marketing has been a popular avenue for marketers for a while, the strategy is relatively new to community colleges.
“When our director of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism approached us last spring with a need to quickly train dealers to staff Maryland’s new casinos, we jumped at the opportunity to launch a new search engine marketing and online advertising campaign,” said Bennett.
The team developed customized web pages and email communications linked to a specific offer that on average has helped bring in at least half of the 200 students who entered the training last year. AACC continues to expand its online marketing efforts in partnership with Maryland Live! Casino, which now is offering tuition reimbursement for all qualified AACC students that they hire upon completion of the training.
“It’s a win-win for the student, community college and Maryland Live! Casino,” said HCAT director Mary Ellen Mason. “We want to get our students properly trained and into their field as quickly as possible and Maryland Live! Casino is helping make that possible. We’ve expanded our capacity to include training at Marley Station Mall in addition to AACC at Arundel Mills and doubled up on our offering of information sessions to better explain what the career and the training entail.”
For more information about upcoming casino dealer training, visit www.aacc.edu/hcat/dealerschool.
