Imagine you’re a florist, and it’s Valentine’s Day. You want people who’ve previously bought flowers at your shop to come back and buy more for this occasion.
Advertising to attract these repeat customers is called remarketing, and it works particularly well when selling consumables or services for annual events.
Remarketing can help to plan how you will continue the conversation with your customer.
Google Ads and other similar platforms allow you to re-advertise for variable lengths of time. This helps to increase the opportunity to convince your customer they have made the right choice in purchasing your product or service.
David Byatt, managing director at Moshi Moshi Marketing, says consumables ranging from Valentine’s Day flowers to printer accessories are good examples of items that should be included in forecast sales, “just as long as you take the time to get to know your customer after the first sale”.
“Remarketing comes in a variety of forms but should all share a basis of originating from a sound marketing strategy,” Byatt says.
“This no different than the way marketing plans have always been done.”
“Your journey of getting to know your customer starts from the first time you make any contact, and you should never miss an opportunity to connect with them on a personal level.
“You need to understand who your customer is, why they’re looking at your goods and services, what problem they have that your goods and services are going to solve, and then establish a way of trying to prompt the user to come back to your website. Then you can reinforce your businesses values to them.”
Customers will go through their own personal process and research before they search for a solution in the marketplace. As part of this process they are likely to speak to family and friends about what they need and this is the stage that remarketing is most useful for your business.
“There are certain strategies you can use to target these people. E-commerce-wise, you can target customers that have recently clicked on your website and perhaps placed an item in the cart but not finalised the purchase,” Byatt explains.
“You can even remarket based on pages they have visited. This strategy allows for banner advertising to entice your customer back to your website with an offer or a discount and encourage them to make the purchase.”
Byatt says remarketing technology is getting more specific and is helping businesses looking for future opportunities. Many platforms help you target customers more than a year after their initial purchase.
“If you’re not operating an e-commerce site and your purchases requires a lead and conversation before there is a sale, then remarketing allows you to start that conversation with the customer. You can develop a long-term personal contact plan using a customer relationship management software (CRM),” he advises.
