Remarketing has been around for some time and is quickly becoming the most effective and affordable way to reach back out to interested prospects and turn them into customers. For those who have never heard of this brilliant marketing concept, Google states:

“Remarketing lets you show ads to people who have visited your website or used your mobile app before. When people leave your website without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant ads as they browse the web, as they use mobile apps, or as they search on Google.”

In simple terms, it gives you a second (and third and fourth) chance to recapture the attention of a customer who has already shown interest in your company. These prospects are identified through cookies and then served tailored ads across the Google Display Network (GDN). Retailers and e-commerce companies commonly use remarketing to motivate their shoppers to complete a purchase they left abandoned in their shopping cart. However, the power that remarketing has goes way beyond consumer shopping.

Remarketing for B2Bs

From a B2B standpoint, remarketing is an incredibly useful tool to stay in front of potential leads during longer conversion cycles. Since businesses often spend more time researching and comparing other options before deciding on a purchase, remarketing allows you to keep track of where your leads are in the purchase cycle and where their interest lies in your brand. Another great advantage of remarketing is the opportunity to keep your existing clients and customers coming back by cross-selling products and services similar to ones they have already purchased from you.

To ensure your remarketing campaign is successful, follow these tips:

  • Use your remarketing tag to your advantage. Make sure to tag as much of your site as possible, including all content pages, parent sites and/or microsites. This allows you to develop detailed audiences for every page(or product) on your site.
  • Create narrow custom lists. Once you have an audience, you can begin remarketing. The key to building great remarketing lists is keeping them as custom as possible. Try to build lists based on visitor behavior or buyer persona. This means, segment your lists based on what products or services visitors showed interest in.
  • Create tailored image ads.  If they are interested in a specific product, make sure to deliver powerful imagery, targeted messaging and strong call to actions. Quickly remind visitors of who you are and encourage them to revisit your site. Ideally, you would have 2 sets of image ads per custom list to A/B test.
  • Create tailored landing pages. The same rule applies for landing pages, make sure to send visitors back to a unique landing page that compels users to convert.
  • Always stay within your industry. Don’t be scared to exclude sites or content on the GDN! Exclusions should be performed on a regular basis to make sure your ads aren’t shown on unrelated or inappropriate sites.
  • Never remarket to converted leads. This is by far the biggest annoyance from consumers. Once a lead completes the desired action, be sure to remove them from the remarketing list. Instead, focus on turning them into returning customers by offering complimentary products and services.

If you haven’t used remarketing yet, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to reach your targeted audience. Make sure to add it to your marketing strategies for 2015!