In case you missed the memo, retargeting is becoming the go-to marketing tactic for savvy growth hackers to amplify their advertising spend.
Retargeting lets you serve ads across online advertising networks to people who have previously visited your website. Because these customers have already shown some interest in your product, retargeting is highly effective at increasing conversions on modest budgets.
Here are the four key retargeting campaigns you need to get setup for 2013.
The short burst
After someone visits your website you want to reinforce your brand messaging with them as soon as possible.
The number of times that a prospective customer needs to see your brand before making a purchase varies between products and people but, we can all agree that the more a customer remembers you the more likely they are to buy from you.
Retargeting in a short and sharp burst, say for 2 days with a frequency cap of 10 impressions, will allow your customer to remember who you are without bothering them for too long, as your ads follow them around the internet.
The tickler
It may sound like something you buy from a dispenser in the men’s room, but the Tickler is actually an exceptionally nuanced retargeting strategy.
Instead of hitting your customers with a lot of ads, the Tickler lets you gently remind your customers about you over the course of the month after they first visited your website.
It’s less about driving a conversion and more about the subtle art of persuasion. The Tickler will go a long way to driving brand awareness in the long term.
The second chance
You manage to get a customer to your website. They like what they see and the go to purchase the product. They get so far that they start putting in their credit card details, but at the last minute they
change their mind, close the browser and move on.
Nuts! You were so close to making a sale
With retargeting you can setup tracking tags to display ads only to people who made it through your sales funnel but didn’t finalise their purchase. The reason this is so valuable is, this gives you a second chance to win them back.
The second chance can be strengthened by connecting it with an offer – perhaps free shipping or a discount – to lure the customer back to finalise the purchase.
The promotional push
The Promotional Push is a retargeting campaign to fire up around specific promotional events. Whether it’s your annual sale, a Christmas promotion or a last minute end of year push to get stock out the door, retargeting can help get active customers back to your website to sell more products.
Retargeting lets you display advertising to your customers for up to 540 days after they visit your website, which means that retargeting tags you setup this year can be used to target your customers next Christmas.
Ned Dwyer is an entrepreneur with an interest in product development, marketplace economics and social. He is founder of Tweaky and his specialties include digital strategy and product development.
