Does Remarketing Work for SMEs?

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Does Remarketing Work for SMEs?

Would you like to see your modest advertising budget create striking, targeted ads which literally follow your potential customers on their journey around the web?

That’s the joy of remarketing.

How does it work?

Once someone has visited your website, remarketing allows your products and services to be advertised on every web page that the possible buyer subsequently visits.

A JavaScript tag on your website enables you to create a list of people who visit. Remarketing vendors like Google – and increasingly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – can then retarget specific adverts to those visitors whichever website they go onto next, and whatever product or service they are interested in.

How cool is that?

How do the figures stack up?

You can reach more people at a lower cost through remarketing, offering SMEs a highly cost-effective way of increasing returns on the marketing spend.

Melbourne digital marketing company ROI has boiled down the figures this way. With most ROI clients running campaigns at about $1.50 per thousand impressions, that $1.50 will enable their ad to be shown 1,000 times across the net.

Expanding the figures, three million impressions would cost about $4,500-$5,000. Using a more traditional channel like television advertising, those same three million impressions could cost more than $50,000, depending on whether the ads are run at prime time or off-peak.

With an average conversion rate of just 2%, SMEs are always looking for ways to increase the number of website visitors who turn into paying customers.

Remarketing offers a way of reaching the other 98% – just because they’ve left your website doesn’t mean they’re beyond the reach of your advertising.

The pros of remarketing

  • You get another go at pitching. In fact you get second go, third go, and an infinite number beyond that, through re-presenting your product to your visitor during their subsequent journey to other websites.
  • The stats are promising. A Chango study shows that remarketing can boost ad response by up to 400%. CPG company Kimberly-Clark reports 50-60% higher conversion rates among remarketed consumers, and retargeted customers are around three times more likely to click on your ad than people who haven’t previously interacted with your company.
  • Increased tracking and focus. Google Analytics can track how many returning visitors you get, as well as how ‘loyal’ the customer is – great for a retargeting campaign.
  • Building brand awareness and recognition. With customers exposed to your advertising multiple times, you are brand building regardless of which sites they happen to visit.

The cons of remarketing.

  • It’s a little bit creepy. Seeing your company’s ads popping up wherever they go can be troubling for some people, especially if they’re unfamiliar with the concept of remarketing. Are they being stalked?
  • You need to keep your ad content fresh. It’s extremely annoying for people to see the same ad over and over again, so time, work and money needs to go into new ad production.
  • Your remarketing list must contain at least 100 people – that’s 100 individual visitors to your site. You want to match specific products or services to particular visitors, which can be problematic if you’re dealing with a niche item.
  • You need to be specific about sites. You don’t want your ads to be shown on dodgy or unethical sites, so it’s important to specify the site categories you want to exclude.

Make it easy for interested customers to contact you

So your remarketing campaign is kicking in, and eager customers are trying to contact you.

This is fantastic as long as you have all the bases covered. Consider a toll-free 1800 number or smart phone number for your company, and ensure this number is prominently displayed in your web ads. Encourage people to get in touch – it’s all been for nothing if your phone system is archaic!

Check out how to get an 1800 number and reap the rewards of your remarketing campaign.