How to jump aboard the ad retargeting train

Perhaps while browsing the web, you have noticed that a certain ad follows you around the internet as you move from one website to another. And lo and behold, it is an ad for a website you recently visited. How did they know? !!

This practice is called “ad retargeting.” If a surfer clicks on a pair of skinny jeans on a site, what better way to advertise those jeans than to show them over and over to someone who was already interested enough to see them?

Browser cookies: they are out there

Hansel and Gretel, famous in fairy tales, left breadcrumbs as they walked through the woods so they could find their way home. Internet users accidentally leave cookies or small pieces of text while browsing the net.

Some cookies are generated by the websites that a person visits, so if you check the backpacks at LL Bean, they will store data about your visit in a cookie that is then placed on your computer. Other cookies are called tracking cookies and are used by third party sites for advertising purposes.

Ad retargeting focuses on conversion

Online retailers work hard to convert browsers into shoppers. Marketing experts tell us that only 2% of website traffic converts on a first visit. When browsers click on products to learn more about them, they are providing the e-retailer with invaluable information on the type of product they are interested in and even on the price range and desired features.

According to CMO.com, an online space for marketing managers, website visitors are 70% more likely to convert to customers when they are the focus of ad retargeting.

Ad retargeting isn’t complex

Small business owners can easily introduce ad retargeting into their marketing strategy. Google AdWords, for example, offers an easy-to-use tutorial on how to create remarketing lists, the basis of an advertising remarketing campaign, and how to create a defined list targeting campaign. Other online marketing companies, like ReTargeter, do the setup work for tech-shy business owners.

Ad retargeting shows growth as a trend

Marketers have identified ad retargeting as a tactic that will be used much more liberally for the foreseeable future. Perfect Audience, an online company that supports customers who want to manage their own ad retargeting, set up a platform to help those customers run their retargeted ads on Facebook.

This platform is currently used to promote more than 800,000 products. According to Digiday’s The Retargeting Barometer Report, 1 in 5 marketing managers now have specific ad retargeting budgets. All the indicators point in the direction of further ad retargeting.

Of course, some online shoppers get upset when those skinny jeans start following them around the internet. But, according to eMarketer, 30% of surveyed e-shoppers feel good about retargeted ads, while 11% have negative feelings about them, and 60% are sitting on a very long electronic billboard.

With all the research pointing to higher conversion for business owners using ad retargeting, it’s undoubtedly time to give this tactic a genuine look. I have used retargeting successfully in the past when promoting my own high converting internet marketing offers to new leads online. If you want to take a look at my system, or even implement it for yourself, click here.