You’ve probably seen this type of ad whether you were aware of it or not. Perhaps you were wistfully perusing an online travel company’s website looking for a nice relaxing trip to someplace warm. Perhaps a cruise, where your boat-shoes and Hawaiian shirt would set a relaxing tone. And now, a couple days later, as you browse the web for more mundane needs, you are reminded of your desire to get away by seeing ads for that same online travel website wherever you go. A few more days pass and as you read the latest headline, right above it is another advertisement for that same cruise. You think to yourself: your vacation days are accruing to dizzying heights and that cruise ship won’t fill itself; and, those appropriately named loafers have never actually padded across a boat’s deck. You are left with no choice.  You succumb.

And now?

Odds are, you are reading this blog from the deck of majestic ocean-going vessel.

What was that all about? Other than taking some well-deserved vacation days, you experienced one of the newer miracles of online marketing known as remarketing.

What is remarketing and why is it important?

Remarketing, also known as retargeting or when in formal settings: Behavioral Marketing, is a method of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising that allows you to target users who have visited your website, or even specific pages on your website, in the past. Combined with a custom landing page, which helps track the traffic, it is an excellent way to re-engage users while building brand awareness and increasing your conversion rates. With remarketing, you can tailor your ad with a special message or even provide an offer to users who have visited particular pages on your website.

Remarketing tools allow you to place limits as to how often the ad is seen, the period of time the ad will show and the geographical locations where the ad will appear.

How does it work?

Remarketing uses a special tracking code to place website cookies in the computer of people visiting your website. It then serves ads to those with that cookie, specifically, on the Display network. You can then adjust the frequency and the duration of those ads to meet your needs. So, once a potential patient has visited your site, even a few days later they can still be reminded of and encouraged to come back to your site.  Remarketing combines the best of both Search and Display services. Although remarketing relies on Google’s Display Network to present image and text-based ads, the people who see them have already shown an interest in your practice or service through search. Knowing this, you can greet them with a specialized offer or message to get them back to your website. As with the Display Network, remarketing ad clicks tend to be far cheaper.

Why is remarketing important?

Remarketing is especially important when we consider the life cycle of a potential lead. Perhaps when they first looked up information on your website, they were in the research and discovery process. With remarketing, you now have the ability to get the attention of this potential lead by placing your ad in front of them as they browse the web. This doesn’t just build brand awareness, it reinforces it by keeping your practice top of mind as your future lead browses the web. Serving this potential lead a unique and engaging message based on their interest will further help you bring them in the door. This cannot be done with any other type of marketing.

If I’m already doing AdWords – should I stop?

The short answer is no. Remarketing is a great companion for traditional AdWords campaigns. As mentioned above, remarketing should be seen as a key branding tool that can enhance your current marketing endeavors.  For example: someone in your geographical target may search “Teeth Whitening Services” and see one of your ads. They click the ad and do some research but decide they’re not quite ready to commit. This is when remarketing is most powerful. Someone has actively shown an interest in a service you offer, and has seen your website – now is the best time to re-engage these users by reminding them of their interest in the services you provide.  By reminding them of you!

If you would like to learn more about remarketing, its pricing, and how it could help your practice, ProDental Multimedia is here to help.