Back to Blog Understanding Retargeting
Posted on January 5, 2013
In my online marketing presentation yesterday at AREE, someone in the audience asked my opinion of retargeting. I thought this was a great question and deserved a better answer than the one I could give in a 2-minute Q&A.
First of all, what is retargeting?
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a specific type of banner advertising that can help you keep your brand in front of people who have shown an interest in your product or service.
Retargeting is a cookie-based technology that uses a bit of code to “follow” your audience. So, if a consumer comes to your website, they have shown an interest. Or, if they do online research and read an article about your product, they have shown interest. Once this happens, a cookie is dropped on their computer, which will be recognized by publisher websites (any site that displays advertising, such as ESPN, Yahoo Mail, USA Today, etc.) Once the publisher recognized that cookie, your ad will then be displayed only to that particular consumer. Simple. And highly effective.
So, why should you employ this type of advertising?
Well, the truth of the matter is, retargeting actually delivers very few clicks. Unlike a PPC campaign, which will “click thru” at a rate of 1%-2%, retargeted consumers click thru at rates in the hundredths of a percent. So why do it?
The answer lies in some interesting data about click thru and conversion. The ultimate goal of a click to your website is what we call a conversion—an action taken by the consumer, such as a form submit, email, or phone call. But a conversion can actually take multiple clicks from the same consumer! In fact, according to SearchEngineLand.com, the average number of days between the first visit to a website and the eventual conversion is 3.5. That means it can take multiple visits before a consumer is ready to contact you.
And what does retargeting do? It displays your ad to that person during the decision making process, making it more likely that they will come back to your website and become a customer.
Does it make sense to spend advertising dollars on delivering your message to consumers who have already expressed an interest in your product or service? Absolutely!
If you’d like to learn more about retargeting, I’ve included links to some great articles on the subject. Or, you can also call or email me.
http://marketingland.com/display-campaign-success-looking-beyond-the-click-40881
http://searchengineland.com/6-holiday-trend-shifts-that-have-major-impacts-on-paid-search-139192
Ben Gutkin
is VP Marketing Services for Warm Thoughts Communications. He has advised dozens of the nation’s leading energy companies and associations on improving their web presence, search capabilities, direct response advertising and return on investment during his 20+ years with Warm Thoughts. You can reach him bgutkin@warmthoughts.com or 201‑330‑9276 ext. 227
