But, you say, we just started!  Yes, retargeting is a relatively recent technological breakthrough that many online advertisers have been implementing.   But just because it can be done, doesn’t mean we’ve perfected how to use it.  

 

No doubt we can target consumers on hundreds of data points. The problem is these same consumers feel like (or know) they’re being stalked by advertisers. And they’re increasingly frustrated by seeing the same messages over and over again as they visit web sites of interest. If we insist on this method we are trading precious brand equity for unsustainable conversions and sales.

 

Moving Beyond Force-Fed Digital Advertising

 

And so, with all this targeting power, we marketers need to do a better job of creative retargeting to actually start delivering the right message to the right consumer at the right place and time. If we truly dig deep to understand consumers’ needs and develop insights we can create messages that are relevant to consumers along their happy path. This means one campaign with the big idea is still the thrust of the messaging, but within that larger paradigm we are now responsible for developing sequential messaging and creative for each touchpoint in the consumer journey and within the campaign – and this includes landing pages, social, emails and all the other campaign (and non-campaign) touchpoints. If you know your consumer and targeting well enough you’ll be able to follow them.

 

To make all this happen it is absolutely critical that the creative,  media and web teams start working together much more closely. When this does occur we’re seeing ROAS results that are typically in the hundreds of percentiles, and consumers connect with brands in a positive way. No more creepiness and frustration. Consumers are happy and advertisers are happy.