A good remarketing campaign is like an affectionate dog. Hear me out…this will make sense, I promise.

 

A dog may lay around the house minding his own business, but the minute you pay attention to the dog, it’ll follow around for the rest of the day. Once that begins, (and here is the most important point) you’ll start paying more attention to the dog and give him his desired attention.

 

Welcome to remarketing! You want to be that “dog” to your customers. You want your customers to take notice of your efforts and actions. And if you reach out enough (with remarketing efforts), they’ll most likely engage with you. 

 

Remarketing Vs. Retargeting?

 

Remarketing is when a business continually keeps a prospect or customer in their marketing loop by mostly sending emails. Remarketing is a way to stay in contact with people who have visited your site in the past. The marketing goal is that your content will be seen when your prospect is ready to make a purchase.

 

It is also important to note that remarketing and retargeting are NOT the same. While they are related to each other, they are slightly different. Think of remarketing as the umbrella term, with retargeting being a specific branch of remarketing. 

 

Retargeting is most often associated with online advertising. Businesses use retargeting by using cookies on their website to track a visitor’s path through the site and then creating corresponding display ads.

 

So while remarketing is mostly email-based, it can also include actions like phone calls, social media messages, and billboard advertising, retargeting is specifically online based. That’s the important difference to understand. 

 

There are many methods of remarketing small businesses can use, but for now, we’ll just focus on site retargeting, one of the most popular (and effective) remarketing methods small businesses can use. 

 

What is Website Retargeting?

 

Website retargeting is perhaps the most prevalent and successful remarketing method out there in our modern world. 

 

Website retargeting works by adding tracking codes to your website pages (these are called “cookies”), and then after a potential buyer shows interest and visits those pages, your ad follow them around and tries to grab their attention; be it a purchase, phone call, filling out a form, completing a purchase or whatever your goal is.

 

What makes this kind of advertising so valuable is that you’re targeting (or following) an audience that has already shown interest in your product. You don’t need to try and convince someone to be interested in your business, because they already came to your site by their own choosing!

 

Have you ever been browsing on Amazon or Facebook and suddenly seen an ad for something you searched for on Google yesterday? That’s retargeting!

 

At first, that sort of marketing strategy can sound creepy or invasive. But, it really is a great way to make sure you stay in the forefront of your target audiences’ minds when it comes time for them to buy. Your goal shouldn’t be to annoy or creep out your audience, rather you should be striving to provide the best service or product to them. You want to demonstrate that you’re willing to go the extra mile to reach out to a prospect who’s already shown interest. 

 

How to Start a Retargeting Marketing Campaign

 

Alright, so now some practical steps to create a retargeting marketing campaign. How do you actually get started with website retargeting, placing cookies, and creating ads? Well, first off, this can be an involved process. If you’re not an expert in online marketing and Google AdWords, I would suggest working with an internet marketing company to help you out.  

 

First, you want to log in to Google AdWords and click on “Shared Library”. Then, navigate to the “Audiences” section and click “View”. Click on “Set up remarketing” and select the option to use your Google Analytics tag in place of a Google AdWords tag. This will save you some time if you already have Analytics enabled for your small business website. Finally, you’ll then need to set the proportions of your retargeting campaign and insert your code. Once that list starts to build in AdWords, then you can select it to start advertising to. 

 

3 Ways to Maintain a High Conversion Rate for Your Retargeting Marketing Campaign

 

To keep the click-through percentage high on your retargeting campaign, it’s important to run a responsible campaign and one that offers value to your customers.

 

Here are a few useful retargeting tips to help you get the most out of your new marketing campaign:

 

1. Have a Strong CTA

 

Your CTA (call to action) is crucial for effective retargeting. Your customer already left your site once so they will need an extra incentive to purchase your product such as a discount, a free trial, a no-hassle return guarantee/refund, etc. Your CTA needs to be interesting and comforting at the same time. 

 

2. Segment Your Audience

 

Potential customers don’t all have the same needs or may not be swayed in the same way. The most effective way to address this is to segment your audience. For example, by separating your audience by device (mobile vs desktop) can better meet their needs. You could also segment out traffic based on what pages on your site visitors come to. Knowing your prospects’ needs is half the battle. 

 

3. Ad Targeting by Group

 

Group targeting is smart advertising. Set up numerous types of ads to target groups in a way that best fulfills their needs. For example, show an entirely different ad to a customer who has left your site without purchasing your product versus one who purchased. You could show an incentive ad to the visitor who left without buying and show a related product advertisement or a customer loyalty incentive to the visitor who purchased previously.

 

In Conclusion

 

Running a responsible campaign that offers value to your customers is crucial. Take some time and look at your retargeting marketing campaign from your prospects’ perspective. Think about what is working in your own personal experience online and apply that to your digital remarketing campaign.