Most People Are Doing Their Online Marketing Wrong

Bold statement I know, but let me give you an example:

Say I’m looking for a new washing machine. I’ll boot up my laptop, get onto Google and start searching for washing machines.

But what I won’t do is make a decision there and then. I won’t go from browsing to buying within a matter of seconds unless I’ve got a pile of smelly pants laying around  and no way to wash them.

And it’s the same in most industries, and for most products and services; whether you’re in B2B or B2C, whether you’re selling Sky TV or skylights.

People just don’t make impetuous buying decisions, and if they do, it’s a rarity rather than the norm.

The Internet has changed.

It’s significantly easier for us to do our own research.

Think back 15-20 years ago, and a lot of people were relying on Which Magazine to give them an impartial view of which products or services to buy – there weren’t many other places they could go to get detailed and non-partisan reviews.

Now there are thousands of places they could do. There’s a mountain of information online, on billions of subjects, and consequently, the consumer has been empowered – we’re able to do as much research as we want, just by typing in a few words and clicking a few buttons.

As a result, the likelihood of someone typing something into Google, clicking a link and getting out their credit card has diminished – people like to make sure they’re making the right decision before they hand over any cash.

Which means more competition, but also more unease in the consumer – how do we know how to trust?

This doubt about who to trust generally works to increase the length of the buying process; none of us want to make a bad decision, so we take our time and do our research to make certain that we’re doing the right thing.

Okay, so people don’t just click through to your website, get out their credit card and buy what you’re selling.

Just because a website visitor hasn’t contacted you as a result of their first visit to your website, it doesn’t mean that they’re not interested in buying from you.

Maybe they’re going to check out a few competitors before coming back to you.

Or maybe they’re not ‘ready to buy’, but they’re researching for when they will be.

Whatever the reason is, the fact is that a whole load of people who ARE interested in what you do are visiting your website, only to drop off and never return.

Which is a bit frustrating, particularly if you’re paying to drive traffic to your website, whether it’s through Adwords, Facebook, print ads or whatever other marketing you’re doing.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, because there is a way to ensure that you’re able to contact all of your website visitors AFTER they’ve left your website, even if they haven’t left any details or given you a call.

It’s called remarketing, and the way that it works is simple:

Every person who lands on your website gets a piece of code placed on their machine, and that piece of code will allow you to advertise to them on an ongoing basis once they’ve left your site.

It really is as simple as that.

Prospects who are being remarketed to are THREE times more likely to click your ad than other audiences

Research shows that you’ve got 200% more chance of getting website clicks when you show ads to people who’ve already interacted with your site – giving you more chance of building trust and generating good quality leads.

Your conversion rates INCREASE over time

As I said earlier, it can take over 6 touches to generate a lead, and the beauty with remarketing is the fact that as time goes on, the chance of conversion is higher, as you’re continuing to touch your prospect and build trust with them.

It’s an incredibly LOW COST way to build your brand

Because remarketing works on a ‘pay per click’ basis, you only pay when your prospect clicks on your remarketing advert.

For a start this means you’re not wasting money on people who have no interest, but it also means you’re able to build your brand for FREE – if they don’t click, they don’t pay, but your brand is still getting into their head.

Who’s It For?

The reality is that pretty much everyone can benefit from remarketing – if you’ve got a website, then showing adverts to people who visit it is a smart thing to do.

But there are 2 key characteristics that can help you identify if you’ve got the perfect business for remarketing:

You get decent levels of traffic

If you’ve got no website visitors, then I’d recommend you fix that problem first before investing in remarketing.

But if you get a decent flow of traffic to your site, and you’d like to advertise to each visitor after they leave, then this is for you.

You want more conversions

If you’d like to increase the number of telephone calls, conversions and conversations you have as a result of your existing web traffic, then I don’t think you’re going to find a more cost-effective way to do this.

Unlike other marketing “tactics”, this isn’t about getting more people, it’s about maximising the people that are already putting their hands up and expressing an interest in what you do.

Is retargeting right for you?

If you’ve got a whole bunch of people landing on your website and then leaving without taking action…

If you’ve got a website, that gets visitors but you’d like to convert more of them…

If you’ve got a viable product or service that generates you healthy income and you want to sell more of it…

If you see the value in ensuring you can advertise to people who have already expressed an interest in what you do…

…then remarketing is pretty much a ‘no brainer’, and I urge you to get it in place sooner, rather than later.