Ad stalking. Ever experienced that? You browse on the web, see an ad on a website, log on Facebook, maybe post a tweet or two, and noticed that the same ad earlier are suddenly everywhere. It’s like déjà vu. Don’t worry, you aren’t going crazy. This “ad stalking” is what online marketers call retargeting.
The Billboard Effect
Think of it this way. You go to work every day, right? You hop in your car, barrel down the freeway, and then you see this huge billboard ad about a certain product. Let’s say it’s a new cologne for men. For the entire month, for about five minutes on your way to work, you see this billboard.
Then one day you ran out of cologne. You head down the mall to get the some and see that ad again – with the same brand, the same model, and the same bottle of clear liquid. Out of curiosity you purchase that product. Bam, ROI for the company of that ad.
That’s the whole concept of retargeting: familiarity.
When you’re on the web and clicked on a particular website, that website will then place a cookie on your browser which acts like a beacon. When you visit a another site which incorporates real-time ad bidding on their page, and that website you’ve visited earlier is using retargeting, it will now place a bid on an ad space available on the current site you’re in.
The bidding happens in less than a second. If website A wins, then their ad will be posted on website B, creating the Billboard Effect.
Marketers take note
If you’re an online marketer, you might want to consider using retargeting as one of you key strategy. The four biggest benefits that this marketing tactic offers are:
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase social media presence
- Customer retention
- Driving sales
The first one has already been explained. A visitor clicks your site; your ads follow him around the web which leads to brand awareness.
Social engagement follows the same concept as your ad has the ability to stick with your visitor all the way to their frequented social media platform. They might’ve read your blog or is interested in your product, leaves your site, sees the ad on Facebook, click it; the ad redirects them to your page, then bam, like button clicked.
Retargeting increases the chances of your consumer to buy the product again. That guy who bought cologne sprayed his last scent? He might buy another bottle thanks to the Billboard effect. Of course, if he doesn’t like the product then he’s not going to purchase another, but that’s a matter of quality, not strategy.
Drive sales increases as the first three benefits keeps delivering. Higher brand awareness, larger social media presence, and stronger customer retention all leads to ROI of your retargeting strategy.
The thing is retargeting isn’t new in the marketing world. In fact, it’s been out for a while. But the same goes for other online strategies. The difference is retargeting is among those that are consistently yielding positive numbers for its users.
