Retargeting in Digital Marketing Is Amazing - But How Does It Work?
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Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is another remarkable capability of digital marketing
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is unique to digital advertising. In its simplest form, it causes ads to display again when someone clicks on an ad, which reminds them about the thing they clicked on. But retargeting can do so much more, and also become a weapon in the living room when pitching for business - if you have the right approach. But how does it work?
Understanding retargeting
1. Building a Retargeting Audience List
The basic mechanics of retargeting is that when someone clicks on an ad, they are added to a list that is held in the ad platform (Google or Facebook, or both). Special ‘instructions’ are given to the ad platforms telling them how to build these lists of users that are called Retargeting Audiences.
AIM manages this automatically, so you don’t have to. Most digital marketing solutions use retargeting, but only make one large retargeting audience that is shared with all their customers. This means that a click on one of your ads could easily cause an ad for a competitor to display. We think that's a bad idea. AIM’s approach is different, by creating a unique retargeting audience for every agent and office that is not shared with your competition. Because of this, your retargeting audience becomes an asset you can take advantage of by mentioning it in the living room when pitching for business. If you’re using AIM, you can see your retargeting audience size on your digital dashboard. “We have a digital retargeting audience in Google & Facebook of over 30,000 people who are already actively engaged in property research - we advertise to those people as part of our marketing solution, casting a wider net.”
2. Using Retargeting
Ads in Google & Facebook can be configured to re-display those ads to people who have clicked on them previously. This reminder helps keep the property, or you as an agent, top of mind. An advanced solution like AIM does this automatically - but goes further. It stands to reason that if someone has clicked on an ad for a large house in a given suburb, there is a good chance they might be interested in other properties that you are selling or that you list in the future. AIM will automatically include these same people in the targeting of future properties. It can do the same thing for ads that promote you as an agent - remembering that most people looking for a property will also need to sell a property.
It’s worth remembering that platforms like AIM will use your retargeting audience as part of its targeting as well as use other targeting strategies to find new potential buyers & sellers, who will be added to your retargeting list if they click on an ad. The more ads you run, the larger & more powerful your audience becomes. That’s why we advocate for digital marketing on every campaign - and bigger campaigns obviously grow your audience faster and larger.
3. Can I Use my Own Email List for Retargeting?
Whilst strictly speaking this is not retargeting, it amounts to the same thing. AIM lets you upload your own database of contacts (at office level) so that they can be matched on Facebook. Whilst not every email/phone number will be matched, often it's a high percentage that are. When you do this, AIM will ALSO ask Facebook to show your ads to that audience. In effect, you are retargeting people who have visited your open homes and made enquiries from traditional property portals.
4. Can You Download Your Remarketing Audience?
Sorry, no. These lists are held in Google & Facebook on your behalf, and they won't let you download them. But that really doesn’t matter because their purpose is to show digital ads to a more engaged audience, not to send them an email. Just because you can’t download it doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable.
5. Why Using Multiple Digital Marketing Solutions Could be a Bad Idea
Assuming you could find another solution that makes exclusive retargeting audiences like AIM does, each solution would make their own retargeting audience lists, meaning you’d have a bunch of disconnected lists that would not work together instead of one larger audience that allows all your listings to benefit from.
6. What About Apple Privacy Changes?
With the stated aim of caring about your privacy, Apple made it harder to track people clicking on some ads. As troubling as this sounded to digital marketers around the globe, Google & Facebook should not be underestimated. It’s true that some Apple users clicking on some types of ads won’t be added to your retargeting audience. AIM has sought to mitigate the effect of this, working with Google & Facebook, and our ad performance is as good as it’s ever been. On Facebook for example, a person is added to a retargeting audience when they click on an ad inside Facebook. Since this action isn't being shared with an external, 3rd party website - it's permitted by Apple. Google have improved their ad targeting and optimisation of ad delivery so we have not noticed a reduction in performance.
7. What is Remarketing Audience Segmentation?
It’s more than a fancy term that digital marketers love to use because it makes them seem clever. Segmentation is automated in AIM and the simplest way to look at it is this: Someone who clicks on an ad for a small apartment might not be as interested in a big house, so rather than just show a property’s ads to everyone in your office’s retargeting list, why not show ads for big houses to people who clicked on big houses. The better your targeting/retargeting the higher the chances you will generate interest in what you are selling.
Clever technology working for you and your vendor
Remarketing is a powerful tool that will help your ad campaign performance, whilst equipping you with a worthy talking point that most of your rivals won’t have access to. While there is a lot going on behind the scenes to make this magic work - AIM makes it easy by automating everything. Read about other articles on digital marketing and the real estate industry here.