Have you visited a website and then seen their ads everywhere you go afterwards? It might seem a little like stalking but it is actually called retargeting. Retargeting is important and has become a common marketing strategy for many businesses today.
What is Retargeting?
Retargeting is a form of online marketing that re-establishes your brand with consumers after prior engagement through advertisements. The most common type of retargeting is site retargeting. However, it is not the only type of retargeting that offers value and engagement. There are 6 important types of retargeting that every marketer needs to know.
Types of Retargeting:
Search: The goal of search retargeting is to attract new visitors and prospective customers using search engines. This kind of retargeting focuses on those who have searched keywords or phrases relevant to your business. However, these visitors have never been to your site prior to completing these searches. Search retargeting uses advertisements for these individuals who have searched for your specific information.
Site: Site retargeting is the most commonly practiced. More often, this is the type we think of when we hear the term retargeting. Site retargeting concentrates those visitors that land on your website but never convert. These individuals view your products but never take any action. With site retargeting, your website will have tracking pixels to monitor your visitors. The tracking pixels will then track the whereabouts of your visitors all over the web. While they are browsing, you can implement ads in the websites they visit.
The best examples of site retargeting are ecommerce websites. Let’s say you are all ready to purchase a Northface jacket on Northface’s website. When you get to the checkout, you realize how much shipping will cost on top of the jacket. You decide to abandon your cart until payday to make your purchase. While you browse other websites you see side ads reminding you about the Northface jacket. The advertisements may include discounts or other incentives to pull you back to your shopping cart.
Email: Email retargeting functions much like it sounds. You retarget users based on how they interact with an email or newsletter. These interactions can be defined differently depending on your goals for conversion. You can target those who simply opened your email or newsletter. Or if you have a link for your subscribers, you can target those who clicked on your link.
Contextual: Contextual retargeting focuses on relevant or complementary content to your business. The best example would be an airline and hotel. Typically when you are traveling, you need a place to stay. If you have recently purchased airline tickets, the websites you visit will present you ads for hotels.
Engagement: Engagement retargeting is used for your website that contains other media channels for engagement such as videos or games. After understanding the intentions and goals for engagement of your visitors, you can craft a message specifically for them.
SEO/SEM: This type of retargeting focuses on how those visitors arrived on your website. You then focus on the search term these visitors used before they landed on your website as a way to retarget.
Retargeting allows marketers to engage, increase traffic, and promote brand awareness. The advertisements you use with retargeting can actually increase conversion. It promotes brand awareness to those who may not have been exposed to your business. Additionally it can help remind those customers about your website that may have abandoned.
Does your business use any kind of retargeting?
