You may have heard this before, but if you haven’t, repetition in marketing is important. For the sake of repeating this again, repetition is NECESSARY for your marketing to work. (See what I did there?) That’s why retargeting (or remarketing, as it’s sometimes called) is a great tactic to use, especially if you’re buying keywords (pay-per-click).
Why is repetition necessary? First, let’s start with the idea of repetition and the reality that there’s a lot of clutter on the internet. Many blogs and articles have been written about what it takes to “break through” the clutter.
For example, there are varying “rules of thumb” about how many times people need to see a message before it has any impact, ranging from 3 – 6 or 7 – 20 times. The bottom line is: people need to see a message more than once for it to sink in.
What is retargeting? Once you understand that repetition works, it’s just a small leap to see why retargeting (or remarketing) is so important. Here’s how retargeting (or remarketing) works: codes (or pixels) on your website pick up when there’s a new visitor to your site. Browser “cookies” are given to each new visitor, and these cookies ensure that when these new visitors are browsing online, they are “served up” ads from your website.
This is why, when you search for something, if you click through to see one or two sites (based on your search), you’ll often have it pop up again and again as an ad as you browse again. For example, when my mother wanted to buy a new couch, we searched online so she could find the style she liked and know the best store to visit. I warned her that, once we started browsing, she’d be seeing couches for a long time online. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened!
Who uses retargeting? Ecommerce sites use remarketing because if someone is at the stage where they want to buy something, it makes sense to “retarget” them after the first visit to a website, so the site stays top-of-mind. Visitors may be at the point where they are ready to spend money and that’s the best time to advertise to someone: when they’re at that final stage, eager to purchase. Retargeting ensures that your name/brand, products or services are in the running as they are making their final purchasing decision.
Is your product or service something that people will research and then want to purchase? If so, retargeting may be a great way to ensure that your message is repeated, over and over again, for a prospective buyer. It’s worth trying – and it can be tested (put that into your marketing budget.)
Using Google Analytics, we can see if retargeting boosts your Google campaign results – getting more people to your website who are legitimate/prospective buyers! If you’re not doing this yet, let’s have a conversation about it.
