Time to make a prediction! I believe
that the SEM world is poised to control a significant portion of the
retargeting market...should they choose to start jumping now! And I mean, right
now. There are countless reasons why I believe this is the case, but the major
reason that stands out in my mind is the mere fact that the possibilities seem
endless with retargeting! The results speak for themselves in this case, and
the results are significant enough that these SEM players should be jumping on
board, if they want to be the ones to prosper.
SEM and Retargeting make excellent partners for a variety
of reasons. The top reasons are listed below in this nice little list:
o SEM is held to a different standard -
Believe me, the folks in this industry know it. It’s testable,
customizable, optimize-able, etc. etc. Plus, there are ROI objectives that
expect SEM to perform precisely. The online advertising arena is to a point
where there’s an attitude that no other form of advertising is worth it (“it”
being risk, money, time, headaches, etc). They’ve tried many different types of
ads, have been burned, and have come to a consensus that nothing works as well
as paid search…until now.
o It’s Logical –It makes sense
to drive the traffic to your site, convert what you can, then get back those
that didn’t, and turn them into customers later. It just makes sense.
Especially considering how much time/effort/money goes into optimizing SEM
campaigns, when the point is conversions, right? Well only 2% of your traffic
will perform the desired objective. That means 98% people that came are
interested consumers, just waiting for something to persuade them. Get ‘em
while they’re hot!
o Bundles of Joy - SEM
firms find it more and more competitive every day. It’s very difficult to stand
out when everyone is offering the same types of services. We’re seeing more
firms starting to offer the SEM+Retargeting package to stand out from the
crowd. And guess what? Those firms that do are the ones realizing the potential
that lies here. They’re the ones seeing the best results, meeting their ROI
objectives, and get to report this to their joyous clients.
o ROI – The bottom line
is retargeting delivers the same, if not better, ROI that paid search
does. This means that retargeting is going to be the next “line-item”
budget next to paid search. It’s as simple as that.
o It works for anyone -
Arguably this is the only form of online advertising that can be as effective
for the small mom-and-pop sites selling shoe laces, to the Amazon’s of the
world; sounds a lot like paid search, doesn’t it? '
Agencies are learning; and faster than most SEM firms at
this point. This could be due to the open attitudes about experimenting with
different targeting methods. They spread their risk with different forms of
advertising all the time, thus enabling themselves to see what works and what
doesn’t. SEM firms seem to have a strong aversion to display ads, which,
in the end, could ultimately hold them back if they don’t see the potential
here…
…Time to jump.
“I don't look to jump over 7-foot
bars; I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.” - Warren Buffett
