Why Retargeting Ads Should Be Part of Your Brand’s Marketing Funnel

A key element of any content marketing strategy, your marketing funnel is all about driving brand awareness and then guiding your prospects through the buyer’s journey until they eventually take action—whether it’s purchasing a product or signing up for a service.

By introducing retargeting into your strategy mix, you can kick your content marketing into high gear by pushing these leads through your marketing funnel at a faster rate.

What is Retargeting?

If you’ve ever visited a website and then later – almost magically – started to see ads for that brand everywhere you look online, that’s retargeting at play.

With retargeting, a cookie is placed on your computer when you visit a brand’s website, allowing your online behavior to be tracked anywhere you go. This enables brands to retarget you with ads that are specifically related to your online searches.

On a basic level, retargeting helps to close the gap between a site visitor who is considering a purchase, and one who actually takes the leap to convert into a customer.

As content marketers, we know that leads are much more likely to convert if they recognize and trust your brand. This boils down to the Rule of 7—your target audience needs to see your message at least seven times before they will take action.

Think about it this way: if you take a look at your marketing funnel, how often will you find that a first-time visitor to your website ended up making a purchase? It’s probably not likely. In fact, 98% of visitors leave a website without converting. That’s because making a sale is a process—it takes time to nurture a prospect into a qualified lead, and a qualified lead into a customer.

The aim of retargeting is to earn prospects’ trust by targeting those who have already expressed an interest in your brand and delivering tailored content – such as blog posts, webinars or e-books – that will draw them back to your site and, ultimately, convert them into customers.

Types of Retargeting

Retargeting can take many different forms—and not all are going to be the best fit for your brand. So, let’s take a quick look at six of the major retargeting methods that can be used to reach your target audience more effectively:

1. Site Retargeting

A great option for brands whose websites serve as the central hub for their marketing efforts, site retargeting allows you to retarget prospects with ads based specifically on their actions while surfing your website. This can include which pages they visit, the types of products viewed or even whether they’ve added items to their shopping cart. Brands can then reach these prospects across social networks and other sites.

A cable provider, for example, may retarget potential customers who have visited its website with a display ad that promotes the latest deals for Internet and TV service on major sites such as CNN and Weather.com.

2. Search Retargeting

With search retargeting, your brand can retarget potential customers who have searched specific keywords or phrases that are relevant to your business. Leveraging search intent data from search engines provides insight into why a prospect visits a particular page or product, thereby offering a greater degree of control over ad personalization.

For instance, a marketing agency who serves law firms may decide to retarget prospects who search “law firm marketing advice” with a display ad that features a blog post with tips on how to develop a legal marketing strategy.

3. Mobile Retargeting

Mobile retargeting allows your brand to retarget prospects who visit your website with banner ads, interstitials and even video ads that are served on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Given that the average person checks his or her phone more than 2,500 times per day, mobile retargeting offers regular ad exposure for your brand.

A small-business private equity firm, for example, could retarget website visitors by later displaying a video ad on their mobile devices that promotes a webinar on how entrepreneurs can scale their small businesses.

4. Email Retargeting

With email retargeting, brands can supplement an email marketing campaign with display advertising. It allows you to retarget potential customers who have engaged with an email you’ve sent to them. This can be a powerful way to keep your brand in front of email subscribers without bombarding them with even more emails.

For instance, a commercial roofing manufacturer that is running an email campaign around spring maintenance could retarget subscribers who open its emails with a display ad that features a printable checklist with steps on how to prepare a roof for spring.

5. Dynamic Retargeting

Although most retargeting campaigns serve static ads, dynamic retargeting allows brands to deliver highly relevant, targeted ads to their potential customers. A particularly good fit for e-commerce, this method saves a lot of time by automatically pulling data from your product feed based on the specific products or content viewed by your prospects.

If a potential customer views a specific pair of boots on a retailer’s website, for example, he or she could be retargeted on a different site with a dynamic ad that features that exact product—maybe even with a discounted price to encourage the purchase.

6. CRM Retargeting

CRM retargeting allows brands to simply upload their email list, along with online cookie data, in order to retarget their prospects across the web with display ads. This is appealing to many brands because it doesn’t require any action to be taken by the potential customer—so long as there’s an email address in hand.

For instance, a wealth management firm could retarget its email subscribers with a display ad that features its top services to help convert potential customers.

Key Benefits of Retargeting

So, why is retargeting so effective?

Retargeting is a powerful, direct-response tactic that maximizes ROI by keeping your brand at the forefront of prospects’ minds—ultimately enticing “window shoppers” to make a purchase more quickly. Every time your retargeting ads are seen by a potential customer, your brand builds greater trust and recognition.

In fact, a study by Comscore revealed that retargeting resulted in a 1046% increase in branded search and a 726% boost in website visits after just four weeks of retargeting ad exposure.

In addition, retargeting allows you to be more strategic with your marketing budget by:

• Targeting only those who have previously visited your site
• Recapturing their interest with a fresh, compelling message
• Moving them further down your sales funnel

It’s been shown that three out of four customers now notice retargeting ads. By leveraging a retargeting campaign as part of your brand’s marketing strategy, you can boost conversions by up to 60%. Plus, retargeting ads yield a 76% higher click-through rate than regular display ads.

When used strategically, retargeting is a powerful tool that can ultimately convert leads into customers. Not only does it allow your brand to re-engage with potential customers—it offers an opportunity to provide value by delivering highly relevant, engaging content.