used with permission from SBA.gov., by Anita Campbell
When it comes to online advertising, there’s a powerful technique called “retargeting.” On Google Adwords the approach has another name. Google calls it “remarketing,” but no matter what you call this method, it can be a game changer.
Retargeting enables you to show your ad to someone who has visited your site or seen your product online, even after they have left your site. You can also use this technique to turn an abandoned shopping cart into a sale. That’s because retargeting allows shoppers to see the product several times again in ads across the Web.
There are other marketing objectives you may want to consider, too. You can set retargeted ads to appear to users who visited your site, encouraging them to come back and register or sign up for your newsletter.
You are not limited to Google AdWords if you want to do retargeting. You can also do retargeting through Bing ads and other ad networks, as well as directly on your own site.
Benefits of retargeting
Getting to prospects when they’re most ready to buy.
Specifically, Google says you use these ads to attract visitors after they’ve interacted with you, when they search for your product, visit another website or use another website. You set the criteria.
Customizing your advertising goals.
Plastering your ads everywhere could waste money. Instead, decide the conditions under which you want to reach people with your ads. For example, you can ask that ads be shown to visitors who were browsing products in your ecommerce store but didn’t make a purchase.
Increasing your advertising reach.
Once a prospect is on your remarketing list, you can reach them over any device and over any of the two million sites Google serves.
Reaching customers who are already searching for you.
This one probably needs no explanation. When someone is looking for you in a search engine, they see your ad leading them immediately to your site. By seeing the ad in an organic search result, they are more likely to reach you.
Different approaches to retargeting
A standard approach:
Prospects who have visited your site before see ads for your business as they browse other sites.
A dynamic approach:
Former visitors to your site see ads for the specific products and services they were looking at when they visited your site.
An approach for email marketers:
Ads can be shown to everyone on your email list once their addresses have been added either to your site or to a third party service.
Retargeting ups your game by increasing the likelihood of more clicks on your ads. Visitors who have already been to your site are two to three times more likely to click on your ad, according to Wordstream. Not only that, but it is more likely that the click will convert into action.
Retargeting or remarketing is technically simple to implement. Generally, it involves inserting an additional piece of code provided by the ad network into your website. Inserting this code requires just a few minutes by you or your webmaster, and you’ll be ready to get started with retargeting your ads.