Why It Feels Like The Internet Is Stalking You

It’s just a normal Friday morning shopping for shoes on Zappos. You like the shoes, you really do, but you’re being budget-conscious. So, you close that window. You’re proud of yourself because you showed some restraint. Well done! Fast forward to 4:47 p.m., and your work day is almost over. You find yourself wondering what the weather is going to be like over the weekend. You hop over to the Weather Channel’s website, and there it is. Like BAM! It just hits you in the face—an ad for the shoes you salivated over a mere six hours earlier. You click on the ad (because who can’t at this point) and find out that you can get a 20% discount if you buy the shoes now. You buy them because you may never get a deal THIS good again. So, how does this happen?

It’s a fancy little trick that we digital marketers call retargeting. In reality, it isn’t actually fancy at all and is something that you can and should be doing for your business.

THE STANDARD DEFINITION

“Every time a new visitor comes to your site, the code drops an anonymous browser cookie. Later, when your cookied visitors browse the Web, the cookie will let your retargeting provider know when to serve ads, ensuring that your ads are served to only to people who have previously visited your site” (Retargeter.com).

WHAT THAT REALLY MEANS

Now, let’s back away from the technical talk! Basically, this functionality allows you to continue marketing to potential customers long after they’ve visited your website. The functionality is so sophisticated, it allows you to place specific products in front of the right people when they are visiting other websites.

WHY WE LOVE RETARGETING

In marketing, we talk about impressions a lot! They’re important. Without going total marketing nerd on you—an impression is the number of times your message has the opportunity to be seen by a potential buyer. Impressions are inherently more valuable when they are served to an audience who has already expressed an interest in your product.

Have we piqued your interest? For more information or to schedule a consultation, please call us today at (866) 611-6267 or submit our contact request form.

 

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