Digital Advertising 101
Most digital advertising is based on a real-time bidding process:
- Advertisers use various ad platforms such as Google Ads to determine how much they’re willing to pay to serve display ads through that network.
- If the user clicks on the ad, the advertiser pays a fee to the ad platform. This is called pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
- When a potential customer visits a website that is part of the ad network, they will see the ad that belongs to the highest bidder or the ad that the network has deemed to be of the highest quality.
- The exception to this process is search engine marketing (SEM), also known as paid search. The only difference is that the ad displays at the top of search engine results instead of being embedded on a web page.
Unlike traditional auctions the highest bidder isn’t always the winner. The Google Ads Network – the
largest ad network on the web – factors Quality Score into its rankings. Google determines this Quality
Score based on expected click-through rates, ad relevance and landing page experience.
This means advertisers can earn a lower CPC by creating high-quality ads that lead to optimized, highly
relevant landing pages. And the rewards are well worth the effort: Google Ads are seen by an estimated
90% of all web users. With so much potential exposure, marketers who use digital ads effectively have
significant opportunity to build brand awareness while also converting leads deeper into the sales funnel.
Retargeting: How It Works
Ad retargeting is a type of PPC advertising. Advertisers configure their ad campaigns to target specific web users based on their previous internet activity, which can be discerned through cookies and third-party data. This allows advertisers to make bids that target users whose browsing history makes them more likely to click on the ad.
Retargeted ads can target users who have had previous interactions with your site or your brand. For example, a potential customer may have looked at specific product categories on your website. This is commonly referred to as website retargeting.
Alternatively, retargeted ads can be served to users who have never interacted with your brand, but have shown interest in other brands and product pages that are similar to yours. This is called dynamic retargeting.
Retargeting can be executed on search networks (search retargeting) or via display networks (display retargeting).
How Brafton Helps
As part of our PPC management services, Brafton will assign a consultant to
focus on retargeting campaigns across the following platforms:
- Google Ad Network.
- Microsoft Advertising (Bing and Yahoo).
- Facebook Custom Audiences.
- Syndication networks (Taboola, Outbrain).
We assist with every aspect of your retargeting strategy, including the following:
Managed Spend Allocation
Your dedicated consultant will make strategic recommendations for how to allocate spend based on historic campaign performance, marketing objectives, target audience and other variables. This will ensure that advertising spend is always funneled toward channels that will yield maximum returns.
Campaign Management
Brafton’s PPC consultants can manage retargeting campaigns via AdRoll and other leading retargeting tools to assist you with:
- Audience segmentation: A retargeting platform like AdRoll makes it easy to segment audiences according to how they interact with your site or other content on the web. For example, you can define audiences based on activities such as what pages they visit, what buttons they click, how many impressions they have been served, whether or not they’re part of an existing campaign audience in your CRM and much more.
- Geo-targeting: The market for local services on the web is enormous. In fact, nearly half of all web searches have local intent. Geotargeting lets you create location parameters to help you retarget users based on their proximity to certain markets.
- Reporting and attribution: Your dedicated PPC consultant tracks conversions, creates custom reports, and measures campaign performance by tracking average CPC, cost per acquisition, return on advertising spend (ROAS) and other key metrics.
Strategic Content Optimization
PPC consultants may also collaborate with your dedicated content strategist to assist in other elements of your advertising campaigns, including but not limited to:
- Persona development.
- Landing page copy optimization to improve Quality Score.
- UX and design audits to help boost conversions.
- Keyword research (paid search).
- Meta description optimization (paid search).
- Banner ad design.
- Video ad production.
- Text ad copywriting.
- Cookie consent banners.
All of these factors, and more, can make or break the success of your retargeting ads. With Brafton, you get a complete digital marketing agency that can get to the root of your retargeting maladies and prescribe a custom solution.
Why Retargeting Works
Retargeting campaigns target users who have already expressed some interest in a brand, product or service. This is known as behavioral targeting. Ads are served based on user behaviors.
Contextual advertising – when ads are served based on the context of the page, much like TV ads and print ads – are more of a gamble. The only advantage of contextual advertising is that it’s more privacy-centric since cookies and third-party marketing data are not needed.
Otherwise, retargeting campaigns generally outperform contextual advertising:
- Web users are 70% more likely to convert through retargeted ads.
- Cart abandoners are 25% more likely to convert on e-commerce stores after encountering a retargeted ad.
- Retargeting can increase ad engagement by as much as 400%.
Retargeting Versus Remarketing
Retargeting and remarketing are often used interchangeably. In fact, what Google calls its “remarketing service” is very much a retargeting service in reality.
The core difference between retargeting and remarketing is that a remarketing campaign uses email as a follow-up touch point instead of ads. For example, if a customer abandons their cart on an e-commerce site, they will receive an email from the site reminding them as much. Clearly, this means remarketing is reliant on actually having a user’s email in your database, which is why it is sometimes referred to as CRM retargeting.
Other examples of remarketing include:
- Tailoring email campaigns based on how users have interacted with your site.
- Emailing a customer on your remarketing list when a product they have shown interest in goes on sale.
- Sending a demo-request email to a client who has downloaded deep-funnel collateral such as white papers and product testimonials.
Remarketing and retargeting, while very different, are both essential functions of a successful content marketing campaign. At Brafton, we offer remarketing services in addition to our retargeting services.
Ready. Aim. Convert.
At Brafton, there are no best guesses – hard data informs every marketing strategy we create, and drives every tactical decision we make.
Our PPC consultants work directly with your marketing team to optimize advertising spend and deliver retargeting campaigns that convert.
Let’s get started.