Every marketer knows there are a number of ways to deliver a message,
and most employ a good mix to achieve a campaign’s objectives.
Do you interrupt? You know: the old traditional
advertising form that says, “Excuse me? I said HEY YOU! Have you checked
out my amazing offering?†This includes traditional forms such as
television commercials and magazine ads.
Do you go for response? Search advertising falls
into this category – this is the style of advertising where the ad
appears in response to a directly expressed interest, such as a search
query. “I have what you want – get it from me.â€
And how about stalking? Yes, that’s right:
stalking. As in, “Hey – remember me? We went out once. I’d really
like a second date, so I’m going to follow you all over the internet!
Here I am. Look, me again! Yep, me again! Yep, me – still here – I’m
everywhere!â€
Some advertisers still get results from interruption-style
advertising. And most of us have found great benefit from direct
response advertising – mostly because of its relevancy, affordability,
traceability and even the decline it precipitated of the dreaded
branding campaign.
Incorporating stalking-style advertising can also have many
benefits. You work hard and spend valuable dollars on interrupting and
generating a response to drive visitors to your site, so once you’ve
been able to capture someone’s initial interest, why not remind them
about you? It’s akin to the old idea about how much less expensive it
is to keep an existing customer than attracting a new one. You want to
capitalize on the investment you’ve made to get that initial visit to
your site.
When we say “stalking†we are referring to re-targeting. This
technique is well-known to display advertisers, but Google recently made
it generally available and super easy for anyone with a website to
use. Here’s the gist of it: When someone visits your site, Google
cookies them. Then, later, as that visitor is cruising around the
internet, your ads appear to that visitor as they visit different sites
that are part of Google’s Content
Network.
Some benefits of re-targeting include:
a) Reminding past visitors about you
after they’ve left your site, and encouraging repeat visits;
b) Establishing more credibility by
instilling in the visitor the perception that you have a strong presence
across the Web; and
c) Monitoring where your visitors spend
their time after leaving your site.
How do you get started?
1) Create a Google campaign targeted to
the Content Network.
2) Set up some ads.
3) Create an audience (think in terms of
your website – you segment audiences by pages they visited).
4) Add the code to the applicable pages
of your website.
Some tips to help you be successful:
Create
Ad Groups: If you have several different offerings, make ad
groups specific to product offerings – use ads related to those products
and create an audience based on visitors to those specific product
pages.
Add
Keyword Themes: If you want to stay on-topic you can combine
keyword themes along with your audiences, so that they only see your ads
on topical or relevant sites.
Target
Known Sites: If you already know of great sites that your
visitors frequent, add them in as designated placements.
Regularly
Monitor Performance: As with any placement campaign, review the
placements where your ads are appearing and monitor performance. Bid
higher on great placements and exclude any that just don’t produce.
While Google’s Content Network isn’t exactly analogous to AdWords,
it’s a great companion to PPC campaigns you may be running. By
reminding visitors to your site – especially those that arrived after
clicking on a PPC ad – about your products, services or special offers
after leaving your site, you’re reinforcing that initial investment.
And you’re increasing the chance of a conversion on a return visit.
