Understanding Marketing Volume V: Retargeting
Posted by Renee Watkins, Marketing Coordinator, fi360, Inc. on September 08, 2015
What is retargeting?
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a form of online advertising that helps you keep your brand in front of bounced traffic after they leave your website. You’ve probably been retargeted yourself, but never thought too much about it. Think about it. Have you ever viewed a website to later notice that an ad for the particular website you visited (or even the exact item you viewed on that site) is now suddenly popping up in banner ads on other websites? This is retargeting!
Why should I utilize retargeting in my marketing mix?
Typically, only 2% of shoppers actually purchase a product or service on their first website visit. By keeping track of people who visited your website and continuing to display your ads to them as they visit other online sites, you are staying in front of the potential client and working to bring back the other 98% that did not convert on your website.
Retargeting also helps further build brand awareness and typically has a 200 – 400% better click rate than standard banner ads. Why? Because these people have been to your website and are interested in what you have to say.
How does retargeting work?
Typically, you’ll want to utilize a third-party platform for your retargeting needs. Some of the most popular platforms for retargeting include Google, AdRoll, Retargeter, Bizo, and even social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Similar to social media paid ads and SEM, it’s extremely time and cost conscious. All you need to do is choose what pages on your site you want to retarget, set a budget, upload your ads, and you’re off! Each retargeting platform also typically has a tracking and reporting tool so you can actively gauge your traffic, clicks, and total ROI.
What are some best practices to get me started?
Below are a few best practices you should consider when retargeting:
- Overexposure to your brand’s ads can cause banner blindness or even begin giving prospects a negative association with your brand. Retargeting platforms recommend keeping your retargeting ads to 17 – 20 ads a month per user.
- Use a burn pixel or code that will untag users once they complete a predetermined, desired action. This will prevent you from annoying your potential customer and keep you from wasting impressions on people who already converted – saving you money.
- Keep your ad design simple, well-branded, and recognizable. Always include a call-to-action.
- Rotate in several creative design ads to keep your prospective client engaged.
- Segment your audience. Utilize different creatives and call-to-actions on different pages of your website. If you are marketing an event, target individuals in a closer proximity of your event.
We hope this blog post helps you better market your practice. In the installment of the Understanding Marketing Series, we'll discuss Content Marketing.
Feel free to request future blog post topics by emailing fi360@fi360.com.
