You can find lots of opinions about the percentage of visitors who don’t convert on their first visit to your website, but everybody agrees that the number is very high.

Google says the figure is 97%. (“Inside AdWords”, April 26, 2012)

Think of it! All the work you do building and maintaining and promoting your site, and 97% of the visitors you do get leave without “converting” (calling for a consult, opting in, subscribing, or whatever a conversion is for you.)

Retargeting is a form of marketing that allows you to show a banner ad to people who have previously visited your website. (The industry as a whole calls it “retargeting,” while Google AdWords calls it “remarketing.” Same thing. Since we’re Certified AdWords Specialists, we’ll call it “remarketing.”)

In our not-so-humble opinion, it’s one of the most powerful innovations that’s come along since Pay-Per-Click Advertising was invented, which was itself the most powerful innovation in marketing and advertising since the invention of direct mail and toll-free phone numbers.

Think about this . . .

One of the most powerful things you can do as an Internet marketer is to build up a list of visitors, so you can continue to market to them over time. That’s why we have opt-in boxes and it’s why we send emails.

But most people won’t opt in and give you their email address, right? (See paragraph 1)

Remarketing allows you to place a cookie on the visitor’s machine, which allows you to show her your banner ad as she wanders around the Internet. No, you don’t know who she is, but you still can continue to market to her.

Without that visitor having to do anything, you get to advertise directly to a prospect who is already familiar with you, and who was interested enough in what you do to take the time to visit your site. That’s huge.  For emphasis in case you aren’t feeling it yet…


THAT’S HUGE!


There are things to think about, like being sure you don’t overdo it, so that people don’t feel stalked, and updating your privacy policy, and a few others– but remarketing is easy to set up, and extremely powerful.

What got me really paying attention to the whole remarketing phenomenon, was what happened after I visited Hyundai’s website a while back. For a couple of months after that, I noticed ads for Hyundai.

Hyundai certainly hadn’t been high on my list of automobiles to think about or be aware of, but those banner ads I kept seeing really did get them close to “top of mind.” Before I realized what was happening, I thought “Boy, Hyundai is really coming on strong. They’re everywhere!”

Which is exactly the idea, right?

Remarketing is an advanced topic, and there’s a lot more to say and to know about it.

If you would like to talk about how it could apply to your practice, give me a call.  

Scott