DEFINITION:

    Retargeting is a method which enables the website owners to “re-attract” the previous visitors to their site. The concept of retargeting primarily focuses on increasing the conversions. Most of the times the users visits the site but does not participate in any call for action and leave the site, so retargeting tool or concept keeps the track of those visitors and follow them throughout the web. By doing so, when those visitors surf the web, the ad of the websites which the user recently visited is displayed to them, which most often compels the user to again visit the site.

Retargeting ensures that advertising infrastructure is utilized in the best possible way, media gets spent on the people who have already visited the website and have shown interest in the past. This helps the marketers achieve high Return on Investment or we can say greater chances of getting a conversion. Every time the customer sees the retargeting ads it generates the interest to visit the site again which increases the click through rates and conversions.

Concept of Retargeting believes in:

• Right Ad to Right People.
• Right Ad at Right Place.

Basic Working:

    Retargeting is a cookie-based technology which involves the use of a tag, usually a Javascript code. This Tag enables the marketers to follow the users all over the web.

A small javascript code is placed in the footer of the website. This code, also known as pixel is placed in such a manner that it remains unnoticed by the site visitors and also doesn’t affect the performance of the site. Whenever a new visitors hits the webpage, the code generates a random cookie which is placed in the user’s browser. This cookie is helpful in tracking the user throughout the web. Now, when this cookied visitor surf the web, retargeting provider serve the ads of your website, which ensures that ads are served to only to people who had earlier visited your site.

Types of Retargeting:

1. Search Retargeting: This is most commonly used form of retargeting which focuses on searching the users through search engine on the basis of the keywords searched by them which are relevant to the sites data.
2. Site Retargeting: Site Retargeting focuses on the users that have already visited the website. This is done by tagging all the users who visit the site and then through the tag they can be followed thorughout the web.
3. SEM/SEO Retargeting: This form of retargeting targets the individuals on the basis of the keywords which they use to reach to the website.
4. Email Retargeting: Email Retargeting focuses on the users on the basis of the actions they take in response to your email. Users interaction with the email program is the basis of targeting the users.
5. Contextual Retargeting: This form of retargeting targets those individuals who visit the site which have almost same data as your site.
6. Engagement Retargeting: This is least used form of retargeting which targets individuals who have interacted with distributed content like facebook page, video, online game.

Best Practices:

• Retargeting becomes more effective if the site visitors are grouped on the basis of the priority of items they were looking for. E.g: the user looking for a travel bag, or rented house should be retargeted first as compared to the user looking for some luxury item like camera or jewellery. (Here priority is based on the need, someone who is looking for a house is a necessity)
• We should try and avoid showing ad to the customer who has recently purchased that very product.
• Avoid showing same ad for longer period.
• Retargeting ad should contain “call-to-action” button which should directly take the user to the desired page upon clicking.

Limitation:

    Retargeting can guaranty to increase the rate of conversion but it cannot attract new visitors to the site. So, in order to get the best out of retargeting it’s important to follow practices like content marketing, Adwords and targeted display which helps in driving more traffic to the site.

So, with this combination marketers can achieve higher return on Investment.

The official definition of remarketing according to Google:

Remarketing can help people who have previously visited specific pages on your website to accomplish while visiting other sites in the Google Display Network.

    Usually people visit the websites but not always indulge in any actions. So, remarketing is a technique which aims at reaching out to those people who have previously visited the website. Remarketing is done by showing ads to the potential customers all across the web.

In more simple words, It’s bringing back to customer who visited your site but did not perform any transaction.

This is something very similar to retargeting (but not same), as remarketing also uses the concept of small piece of code known as tag, added to each page of the website which helps to catch the users whenever they visit the site, the code helps to track the users and ultimately helping to form a remarketing lists using which they can be reached all across the web.

Types of Remarketing:

• Remarketing for Display Network: Ads are shown to the visitors while they browse the web.
• Remarketing lists for search Ads: Ads are shown to the visitors while they search for what they need.
• Dynamic Remarketing: Visitors are shown dynamically created ads powered by your Google Merchant Center Account. This is used to reach out to the advertisers and the ads are created on the basis of how customers visited the site and what paged were viewed.
• Remarketing for mobile apps: Ads are shown to the visitors who used mobile apps to visit the site.

What is Remarketing List?

    Remarkting list is the collection of cookies and tags from people who have visited the site. In order to run the remarketing campaign successfully, remarketing lists plays the most important role. It helps in knowing all the potential customers which should be reached and can be right target.

Remarketing list can be created by going to the “shared library” in Adwords.

Once remarketing lists is created it is added to the ad group. Ad Group can vary depending on the type of remarketing campaign.

Working:

    The most important step while starting the remarketing campaign is adding the remarketing tag to the site. A tag is a small piece of code usually added to footer of the webpage.

Once the remarketing tag is added to the webpage, remarketing lists are created . Remarketing lists are generally created for each webpage depending on the category of product. For example: Remarketing list can be named as “Gadget list”for the webpage containing electronic gadgets.So whenever a visitor visit this page, his cookie is added to the list so that he can be reached in future.

Remarketing campaigns needs to be designed in such a manner that they utilise the remarketing lists. Remarketing lists enables the business owners to reach out to the potential users with the ads related to the specific items that the customers were looking for.

Example: Suppose people looking for Sweaters visit the online store and checks out available items. These visitors can be added to a “Winter Wears” list , which would help in showing them ads related to winter wears.Then the ads related to winter wears can be shown to these visitors while they browse other websites.

Advantages of Remarketing:

• Personal and targeted advertising – No unnecessary impressions but precise targeting of users
• Name recognition increases
• Top of mind – Once the user has shown interest on the product and then showing the ad with same product will keep that product on top of his mind
• More conversion – Easy to get the user convert who has shown some interest
• Lower cost per conversion – By focusing to a very specific audience, you avoid irrelevant ads leading to a more efficient management of the budget

Disadvantages of Remarketing:

• High content Spam
• Overload banners
• No control over placement

Remarketing Strategies:

    Remarketing in itself is not difficult. Good and efficient remarketing is an art. “The sky is the limit”. Here the principle is Be creative with other words and do not focus just to people who have visited the site.

A few simple strategies:

• Visitors without a conversion: if you have a configurator application for a car brand, focus your remarketing campaign to people who have completed the full configurator yet no info brochure or appointment asked.
• Visit time: a visitor who has done your Christmas shop, a purchase can be re interested in a purchase for the Christmas period.
• Cross-selling: someone who has bought a printer may also be interested in printing paper and cartridges for this.

USES and BEST Practices for Remarketing :

• Usually people add items in their shopping cart but don’t purchase them. So, remarketing lists can be created in such a way that helps in reaching out to users who visited the site and added the items in their shopping cart.
• Remarketing helps in reaching out to the customers when they are most likely to buy.
• Ads with special discounts on the items which the visitors is interested in, helps in pulling the customer back to the site.
• Large no. of users can be reached out, that too multiple times in a day.
• Ads can be shown only to those websites where they get better response, this would improve the performance of remarketing campaign.

    Geographic targeting is not a new concept but a very common criteria coming from the time when web advertising was not there, the other means of advertising which was there before web advertising was newspaper, radio stations, billboards, TV which was automatically Geo(local) targeted and also covered the around places but it’s true not like the way it is targeted today.

The real Geographic targeting need came into need only when web advertising came into existence as generally all the publishers were global, now to make this possible a geolocation service was required, a geolocation service is a service which provides real-world geographic location of an object, such as a radar, mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer terminal.

OVERVIEW:

    As we know Geographic targeting is the common criteria of every campaign in online advertising so all the ads to be served must have to pass this criteria before being rendered on a webpage and this criteria is taken care by the ad server including all the other criteria’s such as frequency capping, behavior targeting, end date , start date of campaign, impression goal, etc. All these checks are done by ad server and that to in milliseconds.

The process of selecting an ad by an ad server is called Ad selection or matching process, but this process does not satisfy in checking the Geographic targeting criteria as it runs for other features like ad size, impression goal, etc. The reason is clear as ad selection process works on pre defined values given to an ad server but with Geographic targeting it is not possible as every time the ad server gets a request a query is made which than gives the result like country, state, zip code. etc. Let’s know the proper working now.

WORKING: It’s all about IP’s!

    In the real working of geographic targeting it’s the IP address’s which plays the game. As mentioned there is no such pre defined values set for geographic targeting criteria, it’s always through queries the ad server gets the live value. Geographic targeting works on mapping process, it completely depends on mapping/connecting a USER’s IP address with it’s physical location.i.e. using the IP address of an user the location is tracked not exact but yes near by like in which city, state or country depending upon our need.So now as we know IP address plays all the game in tracking there are number of processes which are followed within to catch a single IP address after which the physical location is tracked.

The processes includes: These all process comes under geo location services!

• PINGS – Ping is a basic Internet program that allows a user to verify that a particular IP address exists and can accept requests.
• TRACEROUTE – Traceroute is a process of recording network routing process of the ping services i.e. it’s a utility that records the route (the specific gateway computers at each hop) through the Internet between your computer and a specified destination computer. The routing of the ping can off-course lead to the last router which will send the information requested by the user and traceroute plays the main role by giving the IP address of final router which will surely be geographically near to user.
• REVERSE DNS – Reverse DNS is a method of resolving an IP address into a domain name, just as the DNS resolves domain names into associated IP addresses.

How the three processes helps Geo Location Services to catch the Physical Location?

    The ISP (user’s ISP) eventually moves the packet of information to a nearby network router to the user, which connects directly to the user. By using the traceroute utility, the geolocation service can know every system the information was passed through in order to get to its final destination. The final important piece of information the service gets from a traceroute process is the IP address of that final network router which will off-course be geographically nearest to the user, thus getting the around location of the user. Now when we have the network router’s IP address in hand, the next process which is reverse DNS can be used to get the the domain name or to identify who owns that network router which in then can be used to lock in on the physical location of the user. Example, if you are using an airtel broadband connection, using this service you will get to know the region from where the request is coming which indirectly solves our purpose.

Limitations of Geolocation:

This service has improved a lot in it’s accuracy but still it’s not always accurate and has some limitations like:

• If IP address is associated with the wrong location, everything goes worong!
• If the address is associated with a very broad geographic location area then it’s difficult to get the nearest location of the user.

Ad Server Role:

    After the physical location has been tracked, the value passes to the ad server so that it renders right ad to right user. There is again a mapping process followed to serve the right ad at right location.

    Demographics can be defined as the parameters which are used in segmenting the targeted audience into more specific groups. Some commonly used demographics include gender, age, location, languages known, annual income, parental status etc. Depending on these traits audience is segmented into more specific groups which automatically makes a precise and accurate targeting.

The use of demographic targeting can help the advertiser to target the right audience reducing the unnecessary impressions thus indirectly saving budget. The targeting is no more a tough zone as almost all the ad server provide such facility of doing demographic targeting. Knowing the business has no relation to kids it is always better to exclude users below 18 years old similarly if the product is related to female it is better to exclude male audience, etc.

The demographic variables are the most commonly used segmentation bases for the distinction of groups of customers and consumers. They are also the easiest to evaluate and helps in targeting the accurate users.

Demographic segmentation is so important that even when the market is not described in terms of population, it is necessary to relate the demographic characteristics so that one can estimate the size of the target market and the means of communication should be used to achieve it more efficiently.

Needs, desires, demands and consumption habits of customers are often related to these variables. Thus, the market is divided into groups of basic demographic variables such as social class, gender, age, family size, income generation.

Role of these demographics in Advertising World:

    Advertisers use demographic traits like gender, age, location, languages known, annual income to group the audience in more specified groups. All members in the groups share the common trait. So , when the advertiser wants to run a campaign aimed at specific group of people then that campaign is only served to the group that contains those traits at which the campaign is targeted.

Demographic segmentation enables advertisers to identify the potential audience for ads and product which are meant for specific group of population with common traits.

Advertisers are able to identify when and where the ad should be positioned so as to achieve maximum profits. Advertisers generally combine no. of parameters to define the demographic profile.

Difference between Target Market and Demographic Targeting:

    Although both the target market and demographic targeting belong to broader marketing segmentation process known as S-T-P marketing i.e. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. But there is a slight difference between what these two are aimed at.

Target Market aims at advertisers identifying the potential market which could guarantee them better results and maximum profits. Few of the parameters which are taken into account while looking for potential market are Market size, growth potential, number of competitors and company strengths.

Demographic targeting aims at segmenting the audience based on the shared traits and then targeting them with the campaign meant for them. Demographics segmentation works best when a product has customers with clearly definable personal traits.

1. Run a demographic report to see what demographics are converting for you.
2. Create a new placement campaign where all the sites are ones where demographic bids apply (you don’t have to choose every site that allows demographic bidding, however, since its a demographic campaign, the placements you do choose should be part of that list).
3. Enable demographic bidding and bid based upon how different groups respond to your ads.
   Note: It can be helpful to set low bids and then use the demographic bidding options to raise them considerably. Since the demographic bidding options only allow you to raise bids (you can’t bid less for a demographic), your placement bids should be what you’re willing to pay for anyone, regardless of demographic characteristics to view your ad.
4. With placement campaigns, you bid at the placement level, not the keyword level, therefore benchmark each placement campaign for performance for your initial bid, and then the demographic bidding ‘bid booster’ will raise your bids when the correct demographics view your ads.
5. Run both placement and demographic reports to see your conversion statistics.
6. Change your bids/placements as appropriate.

    As the name says it targets the users as per their BEHAVIOR, if any user’s behavior is categorized as sports enthusiast so showing him some sports related Ads will increase the probability of some response. Behavior targeting promises to target the right user as per the advertiser product, say an advertiser HP want’s to advertise their new product so targeting the users with Techi behavior will show more interest rather than users showing behavior for sports. This technique has helped a lot to increase the effectiveness of campaigns running for any product.

To define in one line: "Behavior targeting is a technique or ability to target users based on their behavior on the internet."

The concept of Behavior targeting says – the ad shown to the user should not be relevant to the page but to the user. This technique was the great help to the marketers as now they can directly target the interested users only.

Behavior targeting is nothing but knowing each and every impression where to be served . It’s about the knowing your customer well.

What made behavior targeting possible?

    The one and the only thing which made this technique works is TRACKING the user. Collecting user’s information made it possible to know about the behavior of the user. The tracking can be performed in multiple way like if a customer registers with an e-commerce site to make a purchase, those sales along with the user’s site navigation history are often stored and analyzed to make targeted offers the next time the user comes online. Also even without registration, the site might place that information in a cookie, which is saved on the customer’s hard disk and when the user revisits the site, the cookie is sent to the Web server making it easy to target the user. Above these all way there is one more deeper way to track data is for ISPs to perform deep packet inspection on their customer’s traffic to determine the types of Web sites they visit and then the data are sold to marketing and ad serving companies to deliver more personalized ads which is we know very common these days. Many ad serving companies buy the behavior data from third party like exelate, dataLogix etc.

What are the exact information that are tracked?

• Page views
• Keywords
• Demographics information
• Content that is being read
• Sections on the site that is normally checked out by a user
• Searches made
• Domain
• Geographic location (IP)

Type of BEHAVIOR TARGETING

    Behavior targeting has two major categorization: one is which helps in targeting all users as per behavior for your website in internet called as Network behavioral targeting and the other one which helps in targeting user within the website with different offers and promotions is called as Onsite behavior targeting.

1. Network Behavioral targeting: Another type of behavior targeting is network behavior targeting which uses customer’s or visitor’s browsing history which reveals the information about who that person is – like marital status, sex, age range, interests, etc. to target the user with relevant advertising on different sites in internet. This kind of targeting is more famous and familiar to the marketers, this targeting is done through showing Advertisement on different publishers or sites. Most Ad networks uses this kind of behavior targeting!
2. OnSite Behavioral targeting: If the behavioral targeting is done solely on one particular website, that is targeting certain content based on the behavior or information of the visitor then it’s Onsite Behavioral Targeting. Onsite BT plays a significant role in relationship building and customer retention once they’ve arrived at your website. Onsite behavioral targeting enables you to customize your website to create the most welcoming, enticing destination for your each visitor and ultimately engaging them more deeply in your site thus expecting some good response.
   Example: You hold a shopping site , what if every visitor is treated in a same way? naturally the user will lose the interest in time.. using onsite behavior targeting helps you to categorize your customer and the show relevant products, promotions, etc. which keeps up the interest of the visitor on the site to check more products. That’s Onsite Behavioral targeting !

Working of BEHAVIOR TARGETING

    Basically Behavioral targeting basically works through cookies on your browser. Each time you go to a website, they send cookies to your browser. These cookies then keep a log of the websites you have visited and try to develop an approximate personality. The surfing of internet forms a behavior of every user which is than used to target them as per their personality.

Lets know in steps how it starts to work :

Steps :

STEP 1 : COLLECTION – This step only deals with collecting users data, the data is collected as per cookies, searches etc
STEP 2 : ANALYSIS – This step involves lot of analysis on the data collected, the data collected is then checked if it’s robot data or actual data. Different analysis is done on it.
STEP 3 : SEGMENTATION – After the data has been analyzed and known what type of data we have received or collected it is then segmented into different segments as per behaviors, like the users showing behavior as gadget freak will go into gadget segment, similarly the users showing behavior of aged person will go into different segment. This way lot of segments are formed so as to target the users as per the product.
STEP 4 : APPLICATION – Once we have the segmented data we are ready to apply it on campaigns as per the product/ advertiser. If the advertiser is of HP, we will be targeting behavior of Consumer electronics so as to catch up the users who fall into that segment increasing the probability of response.

Important points to be noted before applying BEHAVIOR TARGETING

1. Know deeper about your customer – More you know about your customer, easier it will be to make business and get best out of it.
2. Consider Ad content too – If the Ad content is matched up with the content on the page the ad needs to be shown will increase the probability of the user to show interest on the Ad.

1. More Click-throughs
2. More Conversions
3. Improved ROI ( return over investment )

    Trust is always a concern in anything so when it’s about behavior targeting it has to be as this technique uses the personal data. But behavioral targeting companies claim that they are highly responsible for these data, and imposes number of bans and regulations. But still some consumers are not that confident.