We’ve talked about retargeting a few times before and you’ve certainly seen it in action when you’re on the web. This type of pay-per-click advertising is all about enticing the folks who’ve visited your site to give you a second look, and it can be a great way to convert a few customers who may have gone to a competitor instead.
Here is a great example of retargeting: say you are in the market for a new car. You jump on a few car manufacturer websites over your lunch break and then head back to work. Then while checking your email, popping on your favorite news site, or even logging into Facebook – BAM. An ad for the car you were just looking at is staring you in the face.
Its magic, right? Nope, that’s retargeting. When you visited those other sites you were tagged and then they retarget ads to you in the hopes that you will come back again. Some retargeting can actually show you the exact product you were just looking at with an offer related to it. Pretty slick.
Why We Like Retargeting
- It’s Specific – Retargeting brings people who have already been on your site back to you. You already know they have some interest in what you offer, so they are more likely to convert than a new visitor to your site.
- It’s Cheap – Compared to Adwords, retargeting is incredibly affordable. While you still pay per click, in our experience the cost per click is substantially lower than you’ll find in Adwords. Plus, you are only retargeting to people who have already been on your site, so it’s much more likely that those clicks will end up converting to leads.
- When Done Right, It Works – When retargeting is combined with an offer that jumps to a special page with that offer spelled out, conversions happen.
How to Do It
The most successful retargeting campaigns are ones that offer something new. Just alerting customers to the fact that you still exist doesn’t really give them an incentive to continue the conversation. But offering an exclusive discount available only to your retargeting audience or even a whitepaper or customized fact sheet can encourage prospects to spend a little more time considering your business.
There are several retargeting ad platforms to choose from. We like Perfect Audience. Once you have an idea for the message you want to convey to your retarget audience, you’ll need to develop the graphic ads that will show in various places on external sites.
Enlist Your Web Team for Help
Your web vendor should be able to dial in the messaging, get the ads developed, and help with setting up the retargeting campaign and monitoring its effectiveness. You can see more about retargeting on our site and check out our Retargeting Info Sheet for more on how retargeting works.