Retargeting - A Second Chance For Your Brand
Anyone who has planned for a child’s birthday party knows what a challenge it can be. Aside from the logistics - the cake, the pizza, the decor - handling the invitations correctly can make or break a party. If it is your own child, then you feel a deeper burden for its success. With this in mind, let’s say that you are planning a party for a child and invite 20 children and their families to attend. You decide that handing out paper invitations is the best way to go to maximize attendance, and 20 families are invited. After handing them out, you feel the party will be a great success.
Then comes the big day and only 5 families attend, much to your surprise. Have you ever been to a birthday party that was supposed to be big, but hardly anyone showed up? #awkward. The child you planned the birthday for is now upset, has less presents, and the party wasn’t as successful as it could have been. So, what went wrong? Since human nature affects all of us, there’s a good chance that some lost the invite while others forgot about the party.
Let’s say you could re-work your plan to instead use multiple reminders instead of a single paper invite. You decide to email parents several times starting weeks in advance and set up a social media event for the party. Using multiple invitations & reminders, the attendance of the party jumps from 5 to 12 and is a resounding success.
This simple concept demonstrates how retargeting works in practice. Simply put, this form of marketing re-targets potential clients showing strong interest in your product or service. There are two forms of retargeting: site and search. Site retargeting re-engages those who have visited your site , while search retargeting focuses on internet searches. As a general rule, retargeting far outperforms other types of digital marketing and can be an important part to your marketing plan. We are a distracted society, and retargeting helps to remind potential customers of what you offer. Let’s dive deeper into what a brand can do to engage these valuable leads.
Site Retargeting
Site retargeting delivers ads to visitors of your site who did not take a desired action (such as buying your product). They may have shown interest in your business and looked through your online store, but did not buy or contact you. This type of traffic is among the most important to your site and can be low-hanging fruit for online sales. If a consumer is still interested in your product or service, retargeting them with an ad can help drive them toward purchase.
It is likely you have seen these types of ads if you visit to shopping sites. Large retailers love this type of marketing as they know it works. I enjoy shopping for patio furniture every few years, once our old set has been claimed by the elements. When I visit a retailer’s online store, patio furniture ads will follow me and may even provide a discount code. If I am still shopping for a set, these ads may be valuable to me; seasonal products tend to sell out fast. If my patio set is falling apart, I don’t want to wait another year for new furniture.
It is best practice to have these ads follow a potential customer for 30-60 days. These ads will follow a consumer across websites which they visit daily - news, blogging, sports, etc., and across devices (smartphones or desktops). After 60 days, it is likely they purchased the product or a season changed. Site retargeting is more complex to set up, as it typically requires a snippet of code to be inserted into your site by your web team. Once set up, however, it can drive excellent results for your business.
Search Retargeting
Search retargeting involves a potential customer searching for your product or service, demonstrating an intent to learn more or purchase. Whether or not they visited your site, you can target ads to them based on their search history. This method can be valuable to you, since a potential client may have been directed to your competitor’s site by the search. If your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings aren’t high enough to put you on the first page, chances are a consumer wasn’t able to find you. Retargeting can create a second-chance to target these shoppers.
Just like site retargeting, your ads will follow a potential consumer across many websites they visit & devices they use, and is recommended to end after 60 days. Retargeting of both types falls into the umbrella of “Programmatic Marketing.” The difference here is targeting someone based on online searches related to your brand, instead of using demographic data. Search retargeting is very effective compared against standard ads, since you are reaching consumers looking for your product or service. This can also drive overall traffic to your site, and will likely increase the conversion to customers.
The Big Picture
An ideal marketing plan should include both types of retargeting as part of the overall picture, since it is proven effective. Brands need to nudge and remind potential customers of what they offer to encourage them to buy. If retargeting isn’t part of your marketing plan, I recommend incorporating it into your overall strategy.
With all of this in mind, it’s important to remember that paid advertising (such as retargeting) is effective but should not come at the neglect of content marketing and organic growth for your business. Organic marketing methods, such as SEO, blogging and social media development, drive traffic to your site without paying for advertisements. I’m an advocate of using content creation to tell you brand’s story; when paired with paid advertising, this builds trust with consumers and results in a high quality marketing strategy.
Concerned you may be missing out on this type of marketing? No need to worry. Feel free to drop us a line, or if you’d prefer, set up a call or meeting. We review marketing plans guilt-free and can help your brand find what it needs today.