Give Your Advertising a Second Chance
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You’ve probably heard about lots of different ways to target an ad to potential customers, but what about retargeting an ad? It’s an evolutionary step beyond behavioral targeting, and though it promises great returns, it’s not for everyone. Read on to learn more.
For those who may not be familiar with the kind of advertising on which this concept is based, let’s start with an explanation. “Behavioral targeting,” “behavioral advertising,” or “behavioral marketing” all refer to basically the same thing in the context of search engine marketing. The idea is that you track the kinds of web sites a potential consumer surfs, and later serve them ads based on their interests, regardless of what sites they visit.
To help you understand that, let’s contrast it with the better-known online advertising technique of contextual advertising. With contextual advertising, someone surfing to a web page that details the attractions of sunny Fort Lauderdale might see ads for hotels in the area. With behavioral targeting, if it was clear from that person’s surfing habits that they were really into flea markets and bargain hunting, he might see an ad for the huge Swap Shop on Sunrise Blvd – while his friend the music buff might go to the same page and see ads for the latest attractions at the Sinatra Theater.
So how is behavioral retargeting different from behavioral targeting? Well, the idea is as simple as the fact that effective advertising is based on repetition, repetition, repetition. Let’s say the music buff clicks on the ad for the Sinatra Theater, noodles around for a while on its web site, but for whatever reason decides not to buy anything (or do whatever it is the theater hoped he’d do).
As he cruises around the rest of the Internet, he encounters display ads for the Sinatra Theater. This isn’t just coincidence; it’s part of a planned advertising campaign to follow him around. Eventually, when he’s ready to buy, the display ads will have fixed the Sinatra Theater more firmly in his head, and he’ll go back to that web site and make his purchase. Thus, a potential customer that was originally “lost” is regained.
Next: Types of Retargeting >>
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