December 22, 2011
By BJ Cook,
What is Retargeting?
Overview
Retargeting is one of the hottest trends in online marketing right now and at DO we use it to help businesses grow. This online marketing technique combines many of the strengths that online marketing offers and puts them into one package. In the hands of a savvy digital marketer retargeting can:
• Hypertarget customers on a product level
• Keep your business in the customer's mind after they have left the site
• Target just the customers who have shown interest
• Increase conversion and click-through-rates of your ads
Many companies offer this service such as Google (in Google-speak it is called “remarketing”), Retargeter and Fetchback. All these companies basically do the same thing with slight variations to accomplish the same goal.
What is retargeting?
Retargeting is the practice of serving ads to visitors after they have visited your site. When a visitor comes to a page on your site that you have selected to be part of the retargeting campaign, a cookie is placed on the visitor’s browser. This cookie follows the unique visitor as they browse other sites on the internet. When a visitor who has been “cookied” on your site, visits a site that participates in the retargeting network your participate in, your ad is shown to the visitor.
Why is it powerful?
Retargeting is powerful because it combines many of the strengths from other online marketing techniques and combines them into one. It combines the targeting of search engine marketing with the follow up of email campaigns.
The best way to understand the power of retargeting is with an example. Imagine you have an online clothing store that serves a variety of customers both male and female. In this online clothing store during a five minute period you receive two visitor, neither of which make an immediate purchase. The first visitor is a male who browses the sports t-shirt section of the site and clicks through to browse the Red Sox t shirt section of the site. He likes what he sees, but is just browsing and decides not to make a transaction. The second visitor to your site is a woman who browses the sundresses portion of the site. She is also a fan of what she sees but is at work and doesn’t want to get out her credit card so also no transaction.
Without retargeting the sale is lost, however see the difference when retargeting enters the equation. As the male browses the internet later that week he is served with ads of Red Sox shirts form your store. He sees the ads on his favorite sites, and this constant reminder makes him more comfortable with your brand. Eventually he just decides “I’ll buy it” – it is there and he likes it, he just needed to be reminded.
The female visitor is served with sundress ads for your store as she browses the web. She browses the web for many different reasons and sometimes is in a shopping mood and sometimes is not. Your ad is served up often and catches her when she is in a shopping mood. She remembers that she liked the dress, is now familiar with the brand, and decides to purchase the dress.
As you can see, the constant reminder to these customers of products that they are interested in is a powerful way to drive sales.
About us:
We do digital marketing and love strategy. If you are interested in learning more about a retargeting campaign, please contact us.
