In the ever-evolving landscape of online advertising, staying ahead of the competition is essential. One powerful tool that has proven its effectiveness time and again is retargeting. Marketing Hatchery, your partner in digital marketing excellence, is here to shed light on retargeting best practices that will help you turn bounced visitors into loyal customers.
Understanding Retargeting
At its core, retargeting is the practice of serving ads based on previous engagements. There are various forms of retargeting, but site-based retargeting is the most commonly used. This technique involves serving ads to individuals who have visited your website and left. These ads then appear on other websites, allowing your brand to recapture the attention of bounced site visitors and entice them to return.
The Mechanics of Retargeting
Cookies, the unsung heroes of online tracking, power site-based retargeting. When a visitor lands on your website, a small piece of code, provided by your retargeting partner drops an anonymous browser cookie. This unobtrusive cookie stores information about the site visit without capturing sensitive data like the visitor’s name or address.
Once your website’s visitor, now tagged with a cookie, leaves and visits other websites, the cookie acts as a signal flare to your retargeting provider. If ad space is available on the other site, your provider enters a real-time bidding war (RTB) to secure the ad space. If they win the bid, your ad appears on the page in real-time, ensuring your brand remains in the viewer’s sight.
This entire process is automated and unfolds within a fraction of a second, so by the time the page fully loads, your ad is already there.
Who Can Benefit from Retargeting?
While e-commerce companies have long embraced retargeting as a remedy for shopping cart abandonment, they aren’t the only beneficiaries. B2B companies can make the most of retargeting to stay top of mind during more extended purchase cycles. Schools, especially higher education institutions, can employ retargeting to boost enrollment and donations. Even recruiters can harness the power of retargeting to keep their companies visible to qualified job applicants.
In reality, if you have a website and you’re not experiencing 100% conversion rates (and very few do), you’re an excellent candidate for retargeting.
Retargeting for Direct Response and Branding
Retargeting is often associated with direct response campaigns, urging users to “Click Now!” or seize a timely offer. This approach leverages user interactions with your brand to serve highly targeted and relevant messages, encouraging conversions. For example, if a user abandons a shopping cart upon seeing shipping costs, you can serve creative ads offering free shipping within 24 hours.
But retargeting is wider than direct response campaigns. It’s a potent tool for branding. By harnessing data on demographics, search history, and past purchases, you can craft effective branding campaigns. Such campaigns lead to a significant increase in branded search, where users directly search for your brand during and after retargeting efforts.
Creating Winning Banner Ads for Branding
Banner design is a critical aspect of online display campaigns. When it comes to branding, simplicity and conciseness are your allies. Incorporate your logo, slogan, brand colors, and fonts to create an impactful banner ad. Remember these tips:
- Avoid Distractions: Overloading your banner with information can lead to a lack of meaningful communication. Keep it simple and use eye-catching backgrounds with short taglines.
- Use Photos Sparingly: While photos can enhance connections, don’t use them indiscriminately. Bright colors and artwork can be equally eye-catching.
Partner with Marketing Hatchery for Retargeting Success
Incorporate these retargeting best practices to revitalize your online advertising strategy. If you’re ready to unlock the full potential of retargeting, contact Marketing Hatchery at 615-208-5373 or visit our website. Our team of experts is prepared to craft customized retargeting strategies that will convert bounced visitors into loyal customers and take your brand to new heights.
