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Remarketing/Retargeting is a way for companies to share their display ads to a market segment that is more directly targeted based on contextual information about you and your online viewing habits. It’s targeting based on behavior rather than keywords in Paid Search. A larger percentage of Paid Search budget is getting spent on Remarketing/Retargeting display, but done incorrectly it can be an enormous waste of money. Here are guidelines for making it work for you.
1. Understand that Google Ad Choices is Like Meeting an Acquaintance through an Acquaintance
“The AdChoices icon appears on sites that use Google’s AdSense program to show ads. While Google often shows you ads based on the content of the page you are viewing, we also show some ads based on the types of websites you visit, view, or where you interact with an ad or other Google product supported by Google’s advertising services. In doing this, Google doesn’t know your name or any other personal information about you. Google simply recognizes the number stored in your browser on the DoubleClick cookie, and shows ads related to the interest and inferred demographic categories associated with that cookie. It’s our goal to make these ads as relevant and useful as possible for you. Google doesn’t create categories, or show ads, based on sensitive topics such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or health.”
Meeting an acquaintance via an acquaintance isn’t always a perfect fit.
2. Creative for Remarketing is Like Grooming for an Interaction with a Potential New Friend
You probably would’t show up for a first interaction with a new friend smelly, unbathed and unkempt. Though your close friends will forgive that, you’re making a first impression and it’s important to put your best foot forward. Engaging, compelling creative is important to remarketing display. Keyword-driven advertising doesn’t cut it in display. Focus on design and call to action in your display ad.
3. Give Yourself More Than One Choice
You wouldn’t have just one friend and you probably shouldn’t have just one Display Network. Google serves a large percentage of display but there are several great companies (such as AdRoll and Chango) that serve as great platforms for remarketing/retargeting. Don’t focus all of your spend on Google, test other platforms.
4. Don’t Keep Friends That Don’t Reciprocate
Keep a close eye on your Remarketing/Retargeting budget. If you’re using View thru Conversions (learn about Conversion Tracking and View thru Conversions) to help determine ROI, make sure you de-dup so you understand your attribution and conversion correctly. Ask your platform/rep to help you improve, don’t just give them your money, set it and forget it. Reciprocation is a great quality in friendship and in marketing;)
5. Don’t Follow People Around Who Don’t Want to Make Friends With You
When you visit a site and don’t purchase, you may see a remarketing/retargeting display ad when you visit another site.
Give them a graceful way to bow out if they want.
This ad does a great job of explaining why I’m seeing this ad and allowing me an easy way to opt-out if I’d prefer not to see them. Hulu.com also does this well. When viewing an ad you may be asked if the ad is relevant to you, if it isn’t you can opt-out. This is great for business (why do you want to market to someone who isn’t interested?) and it’s good for branding (I have a higher opinion of marketers who respect me than spammers who invade my space at every opportunity).
Morsel of the Story: Don’t keep asking someone out for coffee if they keep saying no. Remarketing is as much about respect as it is about new customer acquisition.
Want to learn more? Here’s a great article on the different types of retargeting/remarketing/remessaging ads.
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I attended my first SES conference in 2000. Marilyn Crafts was a memorable fixture as she seemed to always have the answer and to always be willing to help.
As I’ve transitioned from a search conference show attendee to speaker, Marilyn has continued to be a force in the conference landscape. Her pending retirement will leave a big hole for the folks at Incisive Media who’ve grown accustomed to her ability to manage show details, big and small.
I was pleased to do my first SES NY show last week and Marilyn was a big help as well as a practical sounding board.
When I thanked her for the opportunity to speak she reminded me how important it is to be an advocate for yourself, a role I don’t wear very comfortably.
I’m grateful to Marilyn for her impact on the industry and on me personally, thank you Marilyn and have fun!
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There’s much debate in the SEO world this week about Google’s most recent announcement for penalties for over optimization. For simplicity’s sake, the main pillars of search include content, site architecture, link building and social signal. Each of these strategies done well contributes to ranking.
The debate lies mainly in, what does “over optimization” mean. If Google is truly creating new rules around optimization (frankly it doesn’t seem like they’re creating new rules rather than actually doing what they’ve said they’re going to do for years) it is going to be exciting to see the rules and guidelines enforced.
This debate reminds me of an episode of Friday Night Lights where a football coach with honor and integrity decides to meet his competitors dirty play with matching that play penalty for penalty, not because that’s how he wants his team to play, but it’s the only way he’s going to win on an uneven playing field and get his team to the state championships. Sure it would be great if everyone just did the right thing because they should, but the refs set the tone and how the players play is greatly determined on the quality of the reffing. We need Google to be a better ref.
In a perfect world following guidelines created by Google would correlate to better rankings. In reality following guidelines and not matching or beating optimization strategies of your competitors (even those that Google is deeming over-optimization) keeps you behind your competitors.
I wrote a post a few months ago about a competitor that “over optimizes” with multiple strategies in violation of Google Guidelines that hasn’t harmed their rankings. Google has given guidelines, our competitor violates those guidelines and Google rewards them with ranking. When that happens people push boundaries, they have to to compete. I won’t have my client meet these tactics (such as populating useless keyword-rich domain doorway pages) not just because it’s against Google Guidelines, but because it sucks for user experience and branding. We’ve maintained the higher standard and frankly we’ve been penalized for it. I’m ready for the ref to come in and call a fair game.
Want to understand more about search? Periodic Table of Ranking Factors
Related articles
- SearchCap: The Day In Search, March 16, 2012 (searchengineland.com)
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SearchFest is the SEMpdx 1-Day conference that is touted as the region’s best search and social conference. Speakers come from all over the country as do attendees (we even had one from Mexico!)
I started speaking at search conferences in 2007 and have come to love the process, not just as a way to share my learnings but to be educated by other speakers and attendees. I’m always interested in learning, not just about search marketing, but about being a better speaker. I was so inspired by this year’s speakers I wanted to share, not marketing lessons, but lessons on being a better speaker.
5 THINGS I LEARNED AT SEARCHFEST
- Admit there’s a problem. One of the great frustrations of search and the great excitement of search is that things change so swiftly it’s hard to grasp on to one set of processes, one way to look at things. One thing many of our great speakers had in common was their ability to hone in on an issue and help resolve it. Ian Lurie talked about his 10-5-10 approach to staying on top of social media (if you attended, you can review his slides, info is in the survey sent to you, if you didn’t attend, you should next year;) This was a practical and doable approach to staying on top of a tactic that frankly many practitioners spend way to much time doing. If you look at and update your Twitter, Facebook and other profiles constantly throughout the day without a plan it’s easy to get distracted from other important work.
- Understand the Medium. Eli Goodman of comScore did a great job making a case for leveraging all top social networks for your brand. He pointed out that, though marketers are getting social network fatigue, there are big differences between networks and understanding the psychology behind the medium is important to crafting the message. For example, he pointed out that Pinterest is so different from Facebook and Twitter because it’s aspirational. The focus for Pinterest is on aspiration and hope, where Facebook and Twitter are on events and what has happened in the past.
- Connect with the Audience. Will Scott always does an amazing job of connecting with the audience. He asks questions and tailors his presentation on the feedback he gets. He speaks to the individual which makes his material highly relevant and actionable.
- Be a Force. I spoke on a panel with Marty Weintraub at his first speaking gig for SearchFest in 2007. He is a freak and force of nature. He is so passionate about what he does that his presentations are not just technically inspiring with great insightful approaches to search and social, but his presence is so powerful that you’d be drawn to watch him even if you didn’t care about search or social.
- Tell the Truth Everyone Else is Afraid to Tell. Wil Reynolds was our closing keynote speaker and his presentation was a perfect close to all the days teachings. His basic premise was “We all want to be white hat and follow Google Guidelines, but the truth is Google still gives preference to lots of crapola links and to strategies supposedly outside of their guidelines and though we’re straddling 2 sides of search (good and bad), we’re in this together. His message was to be in acceptance of things as they are, but to help change things by being what we aspire to be. Be helpful to those who need help, share your expertise. It reminded me of the saying “Be the change you want to see in the world” but tailored to search.
All of the speakers were amazing, get more coverage at the SEMpdx Blog
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I’m excited to be running for the SEMPO 2012-2014 Board of Directors.
The 38 candidates are beyond stellar and experienced and the Board will be well served be any combination of the talent and commitment that is represented on the list.
I’m running for the SEMPO Board because of the incredible experience and learnings I’ve had on the SEMpdx Board. In my 5 years with SEMpdx I’ve been a member, speaker, moderator, Advisory Board member and Board Member and each of those experiences has helped prepare me for serving a global board.
SEMpdx performed hot seat reviews (where a panel of experts reviews your site and tells you what’s working and what needs help). This was my first SEMpdx experience and I was enormously impressed by the level of expertise on the panel, the feedback was thoughtful, honest and technically spot on.
Before I was part of the board I spoke on a Social Marketing panel with Marty Weintraub at SearchFest. (For any of you who know Marty, I could stop right there and you’d understand the potential learnings). The panel was super fast paced, it was one of the first on social media (SEMpdx are early adopters;) and it was heavily attended.
Once I joined the Board, I quickly realized that this volunteer undertaking would require at least the same level of expectation of any client engagement. Creating a project plan, reporting on success metrics and uncovering opportunities were expectations built into the position.
Each year the group reassesses its’ mission. Considering the lineup we have for SearchFest this year, our goal of putting Portland on the map of Search and Search on the map in Portland is being achieved.
I’ve seen Danny Sullivan, Jeffrey Pruitt, Stefan Weitz, Rand Fishkin, Chris Sherman and Chris Boggs agree to travel hundreds of miles to deliver keynotes at SearchFest.
I’ve watched Kent Lewis continually grow his company (Anvil Media) year after year and start yet another successful company that compliments that vision and excellence. I’ve watched his business partner, Hallie Janssen move from VP to CEO and create and achieve high expectations for her team and for herself (she recently qualified to run in the Olympic Trials in the marathon).
I’ve watched David Mihm dominate the spotlight as local search has evolved as a top marketing budget item in small business and enterprise-level companies.
I’ve watched Todd Mintz become an editorial voice represented on many of the top search marketing networks.
I’ve witnessed two advisory board members (Anne Kennedy and Heather Lloyd-Martin) publish and release a new version of a book.
I’ve seen Benjamin Lloyd bring in great talent and win competitive projects with his very talented team.
I’ve marvelled as new board members Michael Cottom and Alan George have brought stellar technical skills, vision and a practical attention to detail to the group.
I’ve watched as Scott Orth and Mike Rosenberg started their own successful companies.
I’ve listened to Scott Hendison create the groundwork for technical projects before you read about them. He is the epitome of a thought leader.
I’ve witnessed Kent Schnepp (and Sean McMahon) strategically partner their company, (EngineWorks) with ethologys’ Jeffrey Pruitt and Mike Corak’s amazing leadership and vision.
Each experience has molded and changed me and I credit belonging to this organization for helping me learn from my failures and successes as a search practitioner and as a person.
Growing the size, influence and reach of SEMpdx has been my assignment and it has been a very successful group effort. I’ve been proud to watch our membership bloom from a little over 100 members to 204 members. We now engage large companies and well-known service providers as well as consultants and agencies.
I have been blessed to be a part of the growing and exploding of our industry by being in the mix of talent that is creating that change and expansion.
If you’re known for the company you keep, I am about as fortunate as they come.
In the next few years, I’m looking forward to serving on the SEMPO Research Committee to learn more about the organization and helping it impact the digital marketing industry as it continues to evolve.
I’d also like to thank Rob Garner for the idea of writing about why I think I’d be a good candidate for the SEMPO Board of Directors (thanks Rob;)
Whether I serve on a Committee or on the Board, I’ll be bringing 5 years of skill and experience from an organization whose regional goal matches SEMPO’s global goal – to serve and engage the digital marketing industry.
There are so many people I want to thank, but I’m running out of time. Not just because it’s Oscar week, but because I mean it, it’s truly an honor just to be in the running. Remember to Vote!
Related articles
- SEMPO Announces 2012 Board Of Directors Nominees (searchengineland.com)
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Greg Batiansila of EdgeNet interviewed me regarding data feeds, he included a short excerpt on his site, here’s the full interview (just for fun;)
1. A little about you: Your website says you’re an SEO rockstar. What does that mean? Do you get to demand what color m&m’s you have in your trailer? Tell me about your company.
That testimonial is one of my favorites, but I have to say that our industry has few rock stars (and I wouldn’t count myself among them). I do think there’s an advantage for search practitioners who’ve been around awhile. Yet the industry is still so new and being a rock star or guru to me means owning a discipline the way Jimi Hendrix owns a guitar. For online marketers our guitar changes all the time. I think the best online marketers can do is push the limits, spend lots of time learning and testing and keep coming up with wins for their clients or bosses. We do Pay for Performance online marketing so focus is primarily on immediate ROI, I love that model because both client and vendor have the same success metric of sales. Though I love the term Search Rockstar, my preference is Goddess or Princess.
2. Great blog post (about data feeds), btw. I’m assuming you’re among those who believes search is sexy. Why?
I think search is super sexy. It’s so much fun, so unpredictable, so messy, so thrilling, sometimes scary and never boring. There’s always something new to explore. If you have a handle on Paid search, spend more time learning about Analytics or Landing Page Optimization. You can’t rest on your laurels in this industry, you have to keep succeeding and experimenting. It can only get boring if you’re boring. Hate to go too far with this analogy, but also think some of the best practitioners have long term experience with a single site. It’s a red flag to me if a marketer brags about wins with a lot of companies and all those wins are from simply doing one thing. You can only become skilled if you experiment and win (and it doesn’t count unless both client and vendor agree you’re winning.)
3. You noted that product data feeds can contribute to an uptick in revenue. What did you base that on? Are there stories you can tell or studies you can cite?
Sure, we do see lower CTR (Click Thru Rate) and lower Conversion Rate from Product Listings, but we also see CPC (Cost Per Click) decreases and CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) decreases across the board. We saw CPC decrease by 25% with a 10% lift in Conversion for a best selling category for a client. When you have multiple links on page one (Natural Search listing, Paid Search listing and Product Listing) there’s a lift from that consistency and branding. From a math standpoint, you’re getting more links on the page, from a psychology standpoint, you’re reinforcing the brand.
4. We see Data Feed Optimization’s growth and popularity paralleling that of SEO – a lot of ignorance at first, but eventually, a general acceptance that it is critical to today’s marketing. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
Absolutely agree. Test it, refine it and if it works, keep trying to make it better. Data Feed Optimization helps Product Extensions (extensions on Paid ads that include additional product information), Product Listings (supplemental listings that appear in Paid search results) and Shopping Results. It generates enough revenue that it deserves more than just a “set it and forget it” mentality. Helping clients understand the upside to Data Feed Optimization and creating reporting that demonstrates value of that optimization helps companies make it a standard line item in their online marketing strategies.
5. What would you say to someone who is trying to make a “business case” for employing data feed optimization tactics?
It is free to upload your data feed to Google Merchant Center, but it’s not free to implement and maintain. The business mistake some companies make is thinking that since sharing the feed is free, the entire tactic is free. It takes skill to employ data feed optimization tactics and to make a business case for it, implementation needs to be attached to business goals and strategies. I believe there is a branding case to be made here as well. More links on the page is brand reinforcement. I think that’s a business case that’s fairly easy to prove.
6. Plug your business/book/latest enterprise/blog/twitter/facebook/googlePlus/scheme.
I’m working on a book titled “Sustainable Online Marketing: When Everybody Clicks”. I’ve interviewed many of the best online marketing practitioners in search of the path to great client/vendor relationships. I am proud of the work I’ve done for many of my clients, but to be honest, there have been times in my career that I sucked. I didn’t appropriately create expectations for the client, or manage unreasonable expectations. I started writing the book to learn how to be better at my job.
I’m so impressed by the level of brilliance in this industry. Search practitioners come from science, computer science, information retrieval, journalism, PR and other backgrounds, but what the great ones have in common is their desire to win. Their desire to approach their work with honesty, integrity and fairness in a field that, frankly, has seen its’ fair share of practitioners that suck. I’m grateful to the industry for all they’ve shared and if I never sell a copy the process has been awesome. It’s still a work in progress, but looking forward to sharing.
In the meantime, I’m excited about speaking at SMX West and to learn more about my fellow geeks!
SMX Biggest Search Geek Contest! Contest is over, but you can still play and check out the winners;)
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Thank you Google
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The difference between Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech and any political rhetoric we’re experiencing now is the difference between love and hate, the difference between inspiration and loathing.
At no other time in my life have I been more inspired by this speech and at no other time have I been more disenfranchised with our political leaders.
Image via Wikipedia
Kings assertion that:
’Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’ – Martin Luther King, Jr.
should drive political messaging. Never in my life have I been so disgusted and so irritated with the political rhetoric driven by accusation, misinformation and hate.
It’s beneath us. All of us.
Contact your senators and representatives and encourage political campaigning without hate.
You don’t have to like Martin Luther King to understand its’ longevity. The message is honorable and inspiring, whether or not you agree with his politics. Politicians may want to ask themselves, “Would my children, grandchildren and fellow Americans watch my political message 10, 20, 50 years from now with pride and honor?” If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board.
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