What Is Retargeting and How Can It Help Your Distributor Business?

Chances are you have noticed those ads that seem to be following you around the internet and/or Facebook. They start to magically appear shortly after you’ve visited an advertiser’s website. You are being retargeted.

When you visited the advertiser’s website, your computer or mobile device was “tagged” and added to an audience list. Now the advertiser can show you ads to remind you about their products or services. Basically, retargeting is the process of dropping a tracking code on a website visitor’s browser for the purpose of adding them to a list, so ads can be placed in front of them while they search the internet and social media platforms.

All this may sound a little creepy. But the fact is, if you visit a site that sells stuff you’re interested in, you are likely to click on their ads afterward. Especially if you left the site because you got distracted, or you were not quite ready to buy. And let’s face it, what are the chances of you getting distracted and leaving a site without taking any kind of action? I’ll take a not-so-wild guess: extremely high.

Quick fact: According to Marketing Sherpa, 90-98% of visitors don’t buy or take action on their first visit.

As a distributor business, you need traffic that will lead to leads and sales. If you spend time, effort and money in getting traffic to your website, you know a high number of visitors leave your site without taking any action. Additionally, most of those visitors will never come back—even if they were interested or looking to buy in the short term. Leveraging those visitors by staying on their radar makes good business sense.

And it does pay off:

The average click-through rate for display ads is 0.07%. The average click-through for a retargeted ad is 7%, according to CMO.com.

By showing them your ads afterward you increase the chances of them returning to your website and completing the desired action. That can be contacting you, requesting a quote, or signing up for a free offer.

How Retargeting Works

1. Prospect visits your site.

2. Prospect gets tagged.

3. As prospects are browsing your site, the phone rings, they get a text message, the person they were waiting for arrives—you get the idea. So off they go. Gone forever.

4. Prospects see your ads as they browse around internet, and/or their social media platforms.

5. As they see your ads they remember and click again, returning to your site.

Credit: Action Marketing

The Proven Benefit Of a Highly Targeted Audience

It’s been said that a person needs to see an offer at least seven times before they make a buying decision. Retargeting helps you accomplish that by allowing you to place your message in front of prospective clients multiple times, at a low cost.

In addition, it allows you to segment your audience and create different lists based on the pages they have visited. For example, you can do this for each product and service you offer. That way you can create different retargeting ads for different audiences at different times. This allows you to better connect with them and move them towards a purchasing decision.

In having such ultra-targeted and focused ads, you will notice a huge jump in your ad response and investment effectiveness. This is one of the major reasons retargeting is such a highly efficient means of advertising for your business.

Is Retargeting Right For You?

If your website gets more than 800 visitors per month, then retargeting ads are worth implementing. If you’re already doing Pay Per Click campaigns, adding retargeting ads is also beneficial.

Before implementing the ads, you want to make sure your landing pages are optimized for conversions. Directing your ads to general information pages, such as your homepage, will not lead to results as good as having specific pages specially designed to stimulate visitors to take the next desired action.

In Conclusion

Online ads are a good way to get more eyeballs onto your business, but they can be costly and even risky if you are not working with an expert. You can spend a lot of money very fast and see no results whatsoever. But retargeting allows you to advertise your business to a smaller audience that has shown an interest, in a more controlled and economical way. You still have to follow online ads’ best practices, but it’s something you can try on your own and do regularly with a modest ad spend.

If you’re interested in exploring how advertising your business online might help your business, we’d love to help! Visit the resources section of Action Marketing for more free information, webinars and guides about online marketing for distributors.

For more on retargeting, or for more business and marketing articles, webinars and guides specific for distributors, visit the resources section of ActionMarketingCo.com.