Retargeting Strategy
June 30, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
We recently wrote a blog on Search Retargeting and how you use the search engines to find relevant users for your products then using display advertising retarget them with highly related advertising. Since the Search Retargeting blog, we’ve had a great deal of enquiry asking about more generalised Retargeting Strategies to help generate a high return on investment for your online campaigns.
If you’re selling products online, the most important thing is for you to develop some sort of Retargeting Strategy. The sooner you start serving cookies, the sooner you can start retargeting and generating sales.
So first off what is retargeting?
Retargeting is tactic used by online advertisers who target previous website visitors and serve them an advertisement encouraging them to revisit the site and complete a purchase. The advertisements which get served could be via a roadblock or sequential targeting and can offer the user a range of advertising messages in order to complete the sale. This is done by dropping a cookie on the user’s machine depending on behaviour targeting criteria which we’ll go into detail further.
Why would I want to use retargeting?
There is no doubt that consumers do a great deal of research online before making a purchase and for products with long purchasing cycles retargeting is a strategy to keep your brand or website top of mind with your target audience. Often when a user starts off researching a product to buy they will visit a wide range of sites looking for information on the product. At this time if you drop a cookie with some information on their behaviour you can target this later in the purchasing cycle.
Who do you target?
There are few options to consider.
- Everyone – you should begin immediately gathering data on who visits your site, particularly if you’re a smaller or niche ecommerce site. You can target these users with branding campaigns in the future.
- People who look at particular products. I’d personally mark any user that looks at a high margin product. It’s no good marking low margin products because you’ll eliminate the margin with the advertising cost. Just stick to high margin products. These sorts of people can be targeted with product specific advertising, drawing them back to the site in the future.
- People that don’t complete the shopping cart. These types of people are obviously ready to buy, but there was something in the way that stopped the transaction. It’s usually either comes down to price or shipping costs. If you can eliminate an obstacle and bring people back to complete their shopping cart with 20% off your order if you buy today or free shipping then your conversion rate increases and you get the sale.
- People that signup for a member or newsletter but don’t purchase. They are obviously interested in your products, but are not ready to buy. Could these people benefit from offering them a free catalogue or a discount coupon in order to buy?
What are some of the offers or messaging I could retarget my audience with?
Anything really, the ideas are endless. The key is running different retargeting creative which appeals to that audience demographic. Some ideas on retargeting campaigns could include;
- 24 hour sale (everything reduced)
- Discount Code or Coupon Code
- Specific discount on a particular product
- Become a member and get a catalogue or white paper
- Signup to the Newsletter
Where would the Retargeting Campaign run?
The campaign would be run back in the Gourmet Ads network traffic pool. Our systems will start locating your retargeting cookies the moment they leave your site. So if a user has had a cookie dropped on your site, then visits a site within our network, they’ll see retargeting campaigns straight away.
With a proper retargeting strategy, you can expose that consumer to specific ads as they surf and shop outside the walls of your site. For products with a longer purchase cycle, retargeting leverages sequential advertising to reinforce your message as the consumer goes through the research and consideration process prior to completing a purchase.
To learn more about developing a Retargeting Strategy for your site or ecommerce store, contact us for more information and we’ll prepare a proposal for your consideration.
Ten ways to use Roadblock Advertising
February 24, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
When advertisers and advertising agencies are tasked with reaching mass audiences online, many undertake roadblock advertising because it’s an effective tactic for gaining user attention and engagement. Add to this when run across an advertising network such as Gourmet Ads, roadblock advertising provides a wide reaching media buy with similar metrics to those of TV media buy.
Here are ten ways to use roadblock advertising;
- Branding Campaign
No doubt the most commonly used reason for running a roadblock advertising campaign is for branding purposes. Undertaking roadblock advertising for branding purposes will definitely lift the profile of your product in the market place. The key here is pick your day and the time that you’ll run the ad. - Cookbook Launch
When launching a new cookbook onto the market it’s important to make an impact quickly to drive sales. Most publishers reserve advertising dollars to promote their well know authors and roadblock advertising can really create awareness driving sales online and offline in bookstores. - Shopping Sale
No matter if you are undertaking a shopping sale in store or online, running a roadblock advertising campaign will gain attention to your sale either driving consumer to your store or your online store. Its important in your advertising messaging to communicate the saving consumers can expect as well as when the sale finishes. - New Wine Release
No matter if it’s a new wine label or wine vintage, reaching millions of wine consumers online can have a massive effect on sales. Imagine if your new vintage wine release sold out within days of being released onto the market. By undertaking a roadblock advertising campaign around the new wine, why it’s different, how it tastes would definitely create brand awareness of the product. - Consumer Packaged Goods Launch
When launching a new product onto the market it’s important to undertake wide reaching media to capture the attention of consumers and most importantly your product evangelists. So if it’s a new dishwasher detergent, tomato sauce or cooking oil which you are launching roadblock advertising is a great way to get the message across. - TV show
In the hours leading up to its airing of a new TV show or a well know returning season, roadblock advertising online can be used to create awareness with possible viewers of the show. This is a great way to lift the initial TV ratings and capture new viewers. If your campaign is about a TV show, then make sure one of your ad units includes a trailer or teaser for user engagement and interaction. - Popular Shopping Days
Own the day (and the days before), make it yours. No matter if it’s Presidents Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday having a roadblock advertising campaign on these popular shopping days will generate sales online and consumers into stores. - Gifts Sales Campaigns
Key gift giving days like mother’s day and valentines always generate sales of gifts online, so its important to ensure your target audience spends with your online store. By running a roadblock advertising campaign will drive traffic to your online store and sales. Consider giving them an incentive to buy with you on these key gift giving days. - Movie launch
Every movie that a studio releases is ideal for a roadblock advertising campaign. The launch of a movie these days is extremely important, as the first weekends takings are a clear indication of how successful the movie will be and how long it will stay in cinemas before being available on DVD. - Clearance Sale
If you’re having a clearance sales or need to move stock at towards the end of month, then running a roadblock advertising campaign will gain attention to your sale either driving consumer to your store or your online store. No matter if you are undertaking a shopping sale in store or online, it’s important that your clearance sale advertising communicates the products which are on sale and the discounts available.
When running a Roadblock Advertising campaign don’t forget to use some sort of campaign targeting options such as day-part targeting and geo targeting ensuring that you don’t waste any of your advertising budget.
If you’re interested in running a roadblock advertising campaign across the Gourmet Ads network or selected verticals, request a proposal.
Roadblock Advertising
February 18, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · 3 Comments
When advertisers and advertising agencies are tasked with reaching mass audiences online, many undertake roadblock advertising because it’s an effective tactic for gaining user attention and engagement. Add to this when run across an advertising network such as Gourmet Ads, roadblock advertising provides a wide reaching media buy with similar metrics to those of TV media buy.
For those that don’t know, roadblock advertising allows advertisers to own 100% of voice for a given period, usually a day. In other words, an advertising campaign would run exclusively across all the advertising units on a page reinforcing the advertising message.
Like all forms of advertising on the Gourmet Ads network, roadblock advertising can be run with some or a number of our campaign targeting options such as day-part targeting and geo targeting ensuring that you don’t waste any of your advertising budgets.
One of the strategies when undertaking roadblock advertising is to develop a campaign where each ad unit works in concert to deliver a unique and powerful rich media advertising experience. As the ads are delivered concurrently, these coordinated ad placements can interact with each other in a myriad of ways. By creating engaging and attention catching campaigns like this, will reinforce the message.
Roadblock advertising campaigns are typically booked by date or even a week and given their exclusive ownership are typically priced higher than buying one or two media placements.
If you’d like to undertake Roadblock Advertising campaign, capture an audience and undertake a wide reaching media buy, then contact Gourmet Ads for a proposal.
