Have you ever noticed that when you are in the market to buy something, you begin to notice those items all around you, even in the ads you see. Very recently, I was in the market for a new vehicle; specifically, a cool SUV. I discovered so many, too many great models from which to choose. WHY do I see all these great SUVs on the road, suddenly of great interest to me? So it is with all the ads for these cars start to become more obvious and interesting to me. At least that is what I thought,as i started to see many ads on TV, my Facebook feed, and everywhere I went online. Great deals on exactly what I was looking for at local dealerships.
It isn’t just me. I really am getting bombarded with online ads for SUVs because the marketing model for selling cars (and many other goods) has changed and technologies have been employed to identify and target people just like me — in the market, searching, and ready to buy.
What is Retargeting –
I started my ‘research’ with simple online searches for rankings and SUV comparisons — trigger #1 to dealerships. I may have even visited an auto company website as well. Cookies were left behind on my computer so that SUV ads appeared next to my morning news, while reading USA Today. This is called “re-targeting”, a fancy word for a digital ad placement targeting people who visited a site (therefore, expressing some interest in the product) and then being shown these ads across all participating on-line media.
The logic is simple. Virtually no one buys an item when they first visit a website, (statistically, fewer than 5% of purchases are made based on a first visit). Can you imagine what the actual rate for an SUV would be(?), zero. Advertisers buy media for digital banner ads and pop-ups to appear, made especially for you, while you attend to whatever else you attend to on your phone or computer. This is a high efficiency media buy that really helps convert you from a shopper to a buyer.
I really love my new SUV.
