If you’ve been following affiliate news recently then you know that ValueClick – CJ’s parent company lost almost 20% of its value due to their Q2 results. The good news in their announcement is the hope they have for retargeting through one of their solutions – Dotomi.
So the question is: Can retargeting be valuable for affiliates? And what should we all know about retargeting in the first place?
What Is Retargeting?
In plain English, retargeting is a marketing method that focuses on keeping your site/brand on people’s radar even after they bounce off your website.
This is all done with the use of a simple JavaScript code that you can place on your site (provided by your campaign operator). The code connects to your retargeting campaign interface and takes care of following your visitor wherever they might go after leaving your site.
Then, if what the visitor is looking at on another site is somehow in tune with what you have to offer, an ad will appear and guide them back to you.
What Retargeting Is Good For?
Let’s actually start with what retargeting isn’t good for. And that is generating new traffic. This part is still on you and your usual standard methods of traffic generation.
Retargeting will only help you convert the visitors you’ve already lured to your site.
Segmentation
The key to good retargeting lies in segmenting your visitors and then targeting your ads to each segment/group individually. Focus on the specific types of pages and promotions people are looking at when browsing your site, and then create ads that are most likely to resonate with each type of content.
Where to Start?
AdRoll seems to be a very good solution for people who want to start with retargeting. The platform offers low prices and a lot of features when it comes to ad placement. What you actually get is access to a handful of high traffic sites across the web, including Facebook.
Need More?
If you want to get more in-depth on the topic then also look into things like:
- Search retargeting – using the terms people use in search engines and then displaying your ads (on other sites) based on them.
- Search intent retargeting – taking a look at the terms someone used in their search query to arrive on your site, using this term to define their intent and then displaying the perfect ad (again, on other sites).
- Contextual retargeting – exchanging tracking pixels with other similar sites or sites in related verticals and cross-promoting to each other’s audience.
- Email retargeting – tracking how your audience interacts with the links you send them in your email newsletters and then retargeting offers based on these interactions.
These are just some of the many possibilities. What is your experience with retargeting?