socialmediatoolsOver the last year I have fallen in love. I have fallen in love with Google Remarketing Ads. There are few things I would consider a “no-brainer” in digital marketing for almost any website. Remarketing is one of those things and I am begging you to use it for your business. If you are reading this article there is a great chance you have a website of some sort. If you do, you are trying to have your site visitors make some sort of decision. Maintaining top-of-mind presence with the people who visit your website is critical. The hardest part is getting them come to your site in the first place. Why would you let that valuable traffic evaporate?
In this article, I will demonstrate why Google remarketing ads should be used by anyone who has website.

Remarketing: The Basics

When someone visits your site, you can place a cookie on their computer that tells Google they have been to your site. At that point you can start serving both text and banner ads to those visitors of your site on other relevant sites that utilize the Google Display Network. There are a variety of settings you can use to manage the impressions each visitor will have of your brand. You can display ads for just a few days or for several months if you choose. You can also control how many times per day someone will see your ads.
You will only be charged by Google when someone clicks on your ad.
What we are finding is that many people will not click on your banner ads because they’re worried they will get a cookie on their computer, not realizing they already have one. They are also familiar with your brand since they have been to your site before, so most visitors exposed to these ads will type your web address directly into the browser. This is great news because your marketing effort has cost you nothing. Remarketing is incredibly effective and incredibly inexpensive.

Small Business Application

Let’s say you have a professional services business that works with only local clients. You have low traffic to your site and you don’t generate many leads online. Your marketing budget may be limited as well. Many businesses in this situation would not invest in Google AdWords. Granted, I could see their justification for not doing standard Google ads; it can be a scary proposition for a small business with a limited budget to invest in AdWords with no guarantee of a return on the investment. Most likely, those that come to your site have met you personally or been referred to you by someone that you know in your community.
This makes remarketing even more critical.
Your leads are limited and you need to do everything you can to maintain contact with them. Frankly, remarketing ads will make you seem much larger than you are. You also have a safety net from a marketing budget standpoint because you can set a daily limit on ad spend.

Business-to-Business Application

handshakeOften times, business-to-business transactions require a great deal of research by the buyer. Many times this research is done before they ever make an attempt to contact you directly. Studies are starting to show us that much of a buyer’s decision has been made by the time they fill out a form on your website or contact you directly. This makes your website one of the most valuable marketing tools available to you.
This research phase also means that your prospect will be visiting your competitors’ sites.
There is no more critical time to maintain top-of-mind presence with your prospects than when they are in the research phase of the buying process. Remarketing ads give you a way to stay in front of the prospect, even when you don’t know they are researching you and your competition. If your prospect has contacted you and you are able to market directly to them, your remarketing ads will only help reinforce that marketing effort. There is nothing better than having your prospect say to themselves, “These guys are everywhere!”

Small E-commerce Sites Application

Small e-commerce sites have a lot on their plates! Not only do they have to run their store (and often times a brick-and-mortar store in addition to that), but they have to figure out how to drive traffic to their site on a limited marketing budget. They also don’t have the time and money available to set up advanced online marketing campaigns.
While large e-commerce sites can afford to lose an occasional customer, every potential customer is critical for a small e-commerce site. Profitability on every transaction is also critical to the small retailers. Remarketing is very easy to set up. It could very easily be a set it and forget it or set it and check it once a quarter type of marketing campaign. With a low budget and low investment time, remarketing is a great solution for small e-commerce sites.

Large E-commerce Sites Application

hqphilosophyIf you’re a large retailer, the chances you are not using remarketing ads is very slim. You understand the full benefits of this type of campaign. Perhaps the most effective campaign for remarketing ads is targeting those who have abandoned their shopping cart. These visitors have gone through the shopping process and left for any number of reasons. They most likely have full intent to purchase the products in their cart at some time from someone. Of course, you want that someone to be you! With dynamic remarketing campaigns, you can target visitors who have abandoned their shopping cart with ads that feature some of the items they left in their shopping cart. You could also display ads offering a discount incentive if they return to their shopping cart to complete their transaction. These types of campaigns can have a very high conversion rate and help you to get the most out of the traffic you have worked so hard to drive to your site.
Remarketing ads really do make sense for the vast majority of both companies and individuals. They are easy to set up, inexpensive and effective. As a marketing agency, those are the exact opportunities we look to recommend to our clients on a regular basis. Regardless of your marketing strategy, I am begging you to incorporate remarketing ads. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Please comment if you love remarketing ads, too, or if you have had a different experience. We would love to hear your thoughts!