The Client
Workshops For Warriors is a nonprofit school in San Diego, California, that trains veterans in welding, CNC machining and advanced manufacturing. We run their Google Ads and Meta Ads for enrollment, and in our first two months real enrollment leads rose about 30% a day, to 310+.
The school gives veterans and transitioning service members nationally recognized credentials in welding and machining, often paid for with the GI Bill, and places graduates in manufacturing careers. Its Google Ads account has years of history. We took over enrollment marketing and lead generation on July 27, 2026.
"About 100 enrollment leads a month before us. About 140 a month since."
The Challenge
- Two audiences, two distances. Some prospective students live in Southern California. Others are veterans in other states who would move to San Diego for the right program. Each needs its own budget and its own message.
- Mixed intent. "Welding" and "how to become a welder" also bring hobbyists, job seekers looking for work today and people shopping for equipment.
- Students call or write. Some request information on the website, some call. A campaign that counts the wrong actions finds the wrong people.
- A long decision. Choosing a school and a GI Bill benefit takes weeks, so the brand has to stay in front of a veteran between the first click and the application.
What We Built
1. Tracking That Counts Real Enrollment Leads
The account counts three actions as leads: information requests from the website, calls from the ads and applications. Directions, profile clicks, video views and YouTube subscriptions are kept out. We added website call tracking on top, and the school's CRM imports leads that reach a completed enrollment conversation back into Google Ads.
2. Local and National Welding Campaigns, Side by Side
The welding program runs in two Search campaigns: a local one for San Diego, Orange, Riverside and Imperial counties, and a national one for Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington, states with large veteran populations. The searches that produce leads are the ones a future student types: "welding programs for veterans", "GI Bill welding school", "welding schools in Southern California", "veteran vocational training".
3. A/B Tests on Both Campaigns
In August 2026 we launched an A/B test copy of each welding campaign, local and national, to test new ads and settings against the originals with the budget split between them.
4. Negatives and Exclusions
500+ negative keywords across the welding campaigns, shared negative lists, and placement exclusion lists covering 30,000+ mobile apps, 30,000+ websites and 7,700+ YouTube channels, so the budget goes to people looking for training.
5. A Supplemental Search Campaign and Performance Max for Local Searches
In September 2026 we added a supplemental Search campaign to pick up program searches the welding campaigns don't cover, and a Performance Max campaign for local searches around the school.
6. Meta Ads: a Lead Campaign and an Instagram Campaign
On Facebook and Instagram we launched a lead campaign that sends veterans to the school's enrollment pages and an Instagram campaign that grows the school's audience between first click and application.
7. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign is reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, negatives, budget moved toward the campaigns that produce leads, and test results read before anything is rolled out.
The Results
Google Ads for a veteran training school, compared over the same account: the three months before us (April 27 to July 26, 2026) against our first two months (July 27 to September 30, 2026).
- 310+ real enrollment leads in our first two months: 190+ information requests, 110+ calls from the ads and applications
- About 30% more leads a day than in the three months before us
- About 70% more information requests a day
- Cost per lead down over 10%
- About 3x as many leads a day reaching a completed enrollment conversation in the school's CRM
The National Welding Campaign
Veterans outside California turned out to be a strong audience. The national welding campaign brought in 110+ leads in August and September 2026 at under $30 each, information requests and calls from veterans in five states considering a move to San Diego for training.
Meta Ads: the First Month
Our Facebook and Instagram campaigns went live in September 2026. In their first month:
- 140,000+ impressions, with the lead campaign reaching 60,000+ people
- 3,900+ clicks to the school's site and Instagram profile
- 170+ new Instagram followers and 1,200+ profile visits
Key Takeaways
- Count the actions that become students. Information requests, calls and applications are leads. Profile clicks and video views are not, and a campaign optimized toward them finds the wrong people.
- Recruit locally and nationally, separately. The national welding campaign found veterans willing to relocate at under $30 a lead, without taking budget from the local campaign.
- Test against the original. A/B copies of both welding campaigns let new ads and settings prove themselves before they replace what works.
- Google Ads for trade schools works best with an audience behind it. Meta keeps the school in front of veterans during a decision that takes weeks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many enrollment leads can a veteran training program get from Google Ads?
In our first two months running Workshops For Warriors' Google Ads, late July to September 2026, the account brought in 310+ real enrollment leads: information requests, calls from the ads and applications. That is about 140 a month, up from about 100 a month in the three months before us.
Do prospective students call or fill out a form?
Both, with forms leading. Of the 310+ leads, 190+ were information requests from the website and 110+ were phone calls from the ads. Information requests ran about 70% higher per day than in the three months before we started.
Should a trade school advertise locally or nationally?
Both work when they are separate campaigns. Workshops For Warriors' national welding campaign, which targets veterans in five states who could relocate for training, brought in 110+ leads in August and September 2026 at under $30 each, alongside the Southern California campaigns.
Do Instagram and Facebook ads help a nonprofit training program?
They build the audience behind the enrollment ads. In the first month of our Meta campaigns, September 2026, the ads were seen 140,000+ times, sent 3,900+ clicks to the site and Instagram profile, and added 170+ new Instagram followers.
About This Campaign
Enrollment marketing for a veteran training nonprofit on Google Ads and Meta Ads, optimized daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system.
Industry: Education: Veteran Vocational Training (Nonprofit) Platforms: Google Ads (Search, Performance Max), Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) Location: San Diego, California (Southern California and five states nationally) Account Duration: July 2026 to present (still running today)
Leads are real enrollment leads in Google Ads: information-request form submissions, calls from the ads and application submissions. Directions, Business Profile actions, YouTube actions and page views are excluded. Completed enrollment conversations are leads the school's CRM marks as a completed conversation and imports back into Google Ads; they are not added to the lead count. "Before us" is the same account from April 27 to July 26, 2026; "since we started" is July 27 to September 30, 2026; daily rates are compared because the periods differ in length. Meta figures are from Meta Ads Manager for our two campaigns, September 4 to October 3, 2026. All figures are approximate and rounded down, in US dollars.