Less than one percent of people who see your marketing for the first time will actually convert. That’s because there’s a lot of noise out there competing for a consumer’s attention.
You have to get in, grab attention, give people exactly what they want. And you have to do that in mere seconds, before they are off searching for something else.
The more a person sees you and your message, the more likely they are to convert. That’s why you choose your social media accounts carefully, and spend your advertising dollars targeting the best demographics who truly have an interest in what you do.
Studies show that the best people to target are those who have already interacted with you in some format.
That’s the concept behind remarketing and retargeting.
Both remarketing and retargeting have similar goals. Yet they each have distinct differences in how they reach out and grab attention.
Which is the best marketing strategy for you?
Let’s start with Retargeting
Retargeting is most often used when talking about online ad placements and display ads. When someone visits your site, a cookie is dropped in their browser. As they continue to move around the internet, you use this information to retarget them with display ads that continue to recommend your offer.
These ads are placed using third party software, such as the Google Display Network. This gives you easy access to continue to flash your brand to people that have expressed interest in you in the very recent past.
Retargeting can also include more. Retargeting is generally broken down into two categories: off-site and on-site interactions.
Off-site refers to people that have yet visited your site, but they have similarities to previous visitors and customers. You reach out to them because of their past behavior, because of the way they’ve interacted with other online content in the past.
On-site refers to people that you’ve interacted with in some way in the past. They’ve already visited your site. They’ve previously interacted in some way. Have you ever placed an item in a shopping cart, abandoned the sale, then found this item following you across the internet? Yep, that’s retargeting at play.
Facebook is a master at this process. If you’ve ever researched something and suddenly found your newsfeed filled with sponsored posts directly related to what’s happening in your life at the moment, you know how powerful retargeting can be. `
Retargeting works because it’s easier marketing to someone who already has an interest in what you do.
What about Remarketing?
Now that you understand what retargeting is, let’s compare that with remarketing. This actually gets a little tricky because in a lot of cases, the two words are used interchangeably. But there is a slight difference.
While retargeting uses display ads to continue advertising to people that have made contact with your site, remarketing uses email instead.
When someone abandons a shopping cart or adds an item to a wish list, remarketing picks that up and gently reminds someone of their actions. When someone is coming up for renewal of a membership or subscription service, the email can notify them about past purchase history and make suggestions for how to continue in the future.
It can also be a recommended email, or something related to what a customer has searched for or favorited in some way. You’re taking note of certain behaviors, and making suggestions via email to nudge them towards buying from you.
Is emailing your prospects better than displaying an ad on another site, or using a popup box to call attention to your product or service? Only you can know the answer to that. It depends on who your customer is and what they expect from searching online.
An AgilOne study “Marketing Personalization Preferences of Shoppers Worldwide” revealed that:
- Over 79 percent of US and 70 percent of UK shoppers expect some sort of personalization
- The most popular personalized experiences are emails that offer discounts on products previously viewed, alerts when products they like are on sale, and VIP customer appreciation rewards
- Millennial shoppers love receiving special emails on their birthdays (52 percent) while baby boomers, not so much (21 percent)
This is why it pays to know who your target audience is and give them what they desire. If you know who they are and what they want, you can deliver messages that drive them to take action, and drive more business to you.
