We now have so much great technology out there making it easier for us marketers to target people already interested in a client’s product or service. Pay Per Click ads, customer profiles, and other tools are effective and relatively inexpensive ways to market to customers already in the buying cycle. Remarketing and Retargeting are the two main terms used in this approach, but what’s the difference?

Retargeting vs. Remarketing

Retargeting most often describes the use of online ad placements and display ads shown to users based on their activity on your site. Browser cookies track which sites customers go to and implement a retargeting strategy by putting out ads for your business to encourage a return to your site. The ads are only targeted to users who’ve already shown interest in your site but haven’t yet made a purchase. It basically goes like this:

Sam, a potential customer, visits your website → Sam leaves your site without making a purchase → Sam continues to surf the web → Sam sees your ad displayed on a different webpage → The ad recaptures Sam’s interest and he returns to your site to make a purchase!

Site retargeting is very effective in converting potential customers into happy customers. Other aspects of retargeting include:

• Search retargeting which is when your ads are targeted to users who have searched for your product or service, either specifically or by using relevant keywords, on search engines like Google or Bing. This type of retargeting doesn’t necessarily mean ads are shown to users who have already been to your site, but the goal is to get back in front of users who may have completed a search that indicates that what you offer may be relevant to them.
  
  
• Dynamic retargeting: is site retargeting that uses technology to show users products and ad copy based on behavioral information, detailed customer profiles, or content from your website that users might be interested in buying.
  
  
• Product retargeting: is a particular type of site retargeting that shows the product a user has shown interest in but did not purchase or a similar item to what they’ve already purchased. Ever briefly looked at a product, closed the tab, and then start seeing ads for that product all over the place? Looks like you’re being retargeted! But don’t get annoyed, according to eMarketer, only 11 percent of consumers feel negatively about retargeted ads, while 89 percent feel either positive or neutral about them. It’s just a part of the business.
  
  

While retargeting tracks users’ website activities, remarketing mainly uses email, although direct mail is still sometimes utilized. A user’s information is collected and used later to send them emails promoting your business.

The biggest difference between retargeting and remarketing is the strategy that’s used to reach potential customers who have left your website without purchasing anything.

Most users visiting a website for the first time leave without completing a purchase, so retargeting can be very effective in recapturing those users and getting them back to your website to follow through.

Retargeting shouldn’t be implemented without a plan, though. At thirteen05 creative, we retarget customers by developing effective strategies paired with a great ad campaign, compelling content marketing, and other useful tactics for driving new users to your site (they can’t be retargeted if they’ve never made it there in the first place).

We can help jumpstart your retargeting campaign, teach you all about cookies, how to best track customers, and provide you with customized data about what is working and for who, so that you are kept in the know of how effective your ad campaign is.