Bob owns a small, local furniture business.  He’s looking for ways to beef up his marketing and has heard a lot of good things about the ways customer relationship management (CRM) software could help his company improve customer communications and service

Like most consumers, Bob starts his search on the internet.  He checks out several sellers of CRM products and likes one in particular.  It promises to improve customer retention, and at a price he can afford.  After reading several blogs on the company’s website, Bob is ready to buy.  

Unfortunately, Bob gets an important call from his business partner just as he’s about to make his purchase.  That call distracts Bob, and he all but forgets about CRM. 

The next morning, Bob goes to his Facebook page where he sees an ad for the CRM software he wants.  That ad jogs Bob’s memory.  He clicks on the ad and buys the software that will make his customers—and the business selling the software—very happy. 

Finding that ad in the nick of time wasn’t a happy coincidence.  Finding that ad was a tribute to the power of remarketing.

WHAT IS REMARKETING?

Remarketing—sometimes called “retargeting”—helps businesses increase sales by showing prospective customers ads related to products they already viewed on their website.  For example, the SaaS business above knew Bob was probably interested in CRM software because he visited that page on their site.  They also knew there was a good chance he’d complete his purchase if he saw a “friendly reminder” ad—and that the more times he saw that ad, the more likely he was to complete his purchase.

As Blue Corona correctly points out, remarketing might seem like magic, but it’s actually a relatively simple way of tagging likely customers to increase the odds of a purchase:

“In digital marketing, remarketing (or retargeting) is the practice of serving ads across the internet to people who have already visited your website. It allows your company to seem like they’re “following” people around the internet by serving ads on the websites and platforms they use most…when someone visits your website, a few lines of code from your retargeting partner drops an anonymous cookie in the user’s browser. This cookie…tracks the site visit…Then, when this cookied user leaves your site to browse the web, the cookie tells your ad platform when that user visits another site.”

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HOW EFFECTIVE IS REMARKETING?

When properly leveraged, remarketing can be an extremely effective way to acquire new customers, increase sales and polish your brand.  Consider for example these remarketing metrics from Social Media Today:

• Almost half of marketers say that retargeting is the most “underused” marketing technology available to them
• Almost 80% of consumers say ads directed at their personal interests increase the odds they’ll make purchases from the companies that deliver those ads
• The top 4 reasons marketers use remarketing ads are increasing sales, acquiring new customers, increasing site traffic and building brand awareness
• About 30% of consumers have a positive reaction to remarketing ads, with about 60% registering a “neutral” reaction
• Only 11% of consumers have a negative reaction to remarketing ads

WHAT IS FACEBOOK REMARKETING?

For businesses that leverage remarketing, the name of the game is market reach—in other words, to be successful, you want your remarketing ads to be viewed by the largest audience of prospective customers possible.  Currently, Google and Facebook are the unquestioned leaders when it comes to the reach of your remarketing campaigns.  For example, Google’s Display Network reaches more than 90% of internet users around the globe—and Facebook boasts more than 1.4 billion users.

Both can help your business succeed, but they do so in slightly different ways.  Google, for example, displays remarketing ads across the many sites which constitute its display network—sites like YouTube, Gmail, Blogger and certain mobile sites and apps. 

Facebook, on the other hand, shows your remarketing ads to prospective buyers through their Facebook feed.  For example, that’s where Bob saw the ad the prompted his software purchase.  The point is, although Google and Facebook execute your remarketing campaigns differently, each can be remarkably effective, helping you achieve your principal marketing objectives.

HOW CAN FACEBOOK REMARKETING HELP YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS?

Every business is different, of course, with different customers and prospective customers, different objectives and different marketing challenges.  That said, most businesses that leverage Facebook remarketing see a similar group of key benefits, including the following 3:

1. YOU’LL INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS

Both pay-per-click (PPC) ads and the organic results you get through effective search engine optimisation (SEO) are critically important to a successful digital marketing strategy.  The problem is that neither can effectively portray the key elements of your brand, this because those ads are small and don’t permit you to showcase things like your logo, tagline, color palette or tone of voice.

Facebook remarketing ads, on the other hand, are larger and support all the compelling elements of a smart brand.  Simply stated, if you want to tell customers what your business is all about—if you want in other words to polish your brand—remarketing is the best way to do it.

2. YOU’LL ACQUIRE NEW CUSTOMERS

No business can thrive without a steady stream of new, engaged customers.  Remarketing on Facebook is arguably among the most effective ways to convert casual visitors to your website into first-time buyers and, eventually, into loyal brand advocates.  Although it’s true that sponsored ads continue to register the highest new customer conversion rates (this because of the buyer intent inherent in keyword searches), remarketing ads, like the ones your business posts on consumers’ Facebook feeds, come in a close second.

3. YOU’LL BOOST REVENUES

Among the principal reasons businesses use Facebook remarketing is to generate more sales revenue, and there’s a good reason for that.  Think about how many times you were on a website with the intention to buy a product or subscribe to a service and got distracted, thinking you’d come back later to complete the purchase.   Now think about the number of times you forgot about that search. 

Remarketing through Facebook harnesses the social media giant’s massive reach to put your products and services in front of a highly targeted audience of consumers who’ve already indicated an interest in those products and services.  For this reason, it’s also one of the best ways to increase your business’s sales revenues.

IN CONCLUSION

Facebook remarketing is an extremely effective way for local businesses to increase the return on investment (ROI) of their marketing campaigns, but it’s not the only one.  The businesses that achieve the greatest success are the ones which construct a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.  Constructing such a strategy can be a game changer for your local business—but it can also be both complicated and confusing.  That’s where we can help.