How many of your customers do you think are ready to make a purchase the first time they encounter your brand or product? The answer might surprise you. A lot of local businesses do a good job of marketing. However, many of them drop the ball when it comes to following up on their initial marketing – and that can hurt them. Marketing isn’t a one-time encounter with a customer. It’s an ongoing effort, a way of building relationships and convincing customers that your product or service is the best option to help them solve their problems.
The Importance of Retargeting 
Research shows that only a small percentage of customers convert (meaning that they make a purchase) on their first visit to a website or online store. That means that the overwhelming majority of the people who click through on an ad or social media post are not making a purchase.
How can you get those people to come back to your website? The answer is retargeting. Retargeting is a form of advertising that specifically targets people who have visited your website. For example, you might choose to target people who visited your opt-in page without signing up for your list, or people who put items in their shopping cart but didn’t complete their purchase.
It takes most customers an average of eight encounters with a brand or product before they make a purchase, especially if they encounter a new brand. That means that retargeting is your best option to connect with leads and convert them into paying – and hopefully repeat – customers. All you need to do to put retargeting to work for you is to install a Java code on your page. The code will install a cookie that will track customer actions and allow you to follow up as needed.
Surefire Retargeting Options
The good news is that you have several options when it comes to retargeting potential customers. Here are three methods you can use.
Method #1: Facebook retargeting
One of the most popular retargeting methods around is offered by social media giant Facebook. With well over a billion users, many of whom are highly engaged and visit the site every day, Facebook is a powerful marketing tool for local businesses.
Their retargeting tools are easy to use. All you need to do is install a Facebook pixel on the page you want to use to create your audience. The pixel will track the behavior of visitors to your site and allow you to create a Custom Audience using that information. As stated above, you might decide to target people who visited your site without making a purchase.
Once the cookies are installed and you create your ad campaign, Facebook will display your ad only to the people who have your cookie on their computer. What that means is that you will pay for the people you have targeted, but you do not have to pay for anybody else. That makes Facebook retargeting a cost-effective way to build your list or increase your sales.
One option to keep in mind when using Facebook is their “Call Now” feature. This is a feature specifically for mobile users that allows them to call your business with the touch of a button. If you decide to target your ad to mobile users, the “Call Now” feature is a powerful way to connect.
Method #2: Adroll retargeting
The second method you can use to retarget offers the possibility of reaching potential customers almost anywhere they go online. Adroll is an online advertising service that offers retargeting as one of their options. Because they have access to all of the largest internet ad services, they can display ads on any one of their partner sites, giving you multiple opportunities to reach your target audience.
The basic set-up is the same as Facebook. You install a bit of Java code on your home page and specify what information you want to collect. One of the nice things about Adroll is that you can segment your list. What that means is that you have the option to target customers who have viewed specific products. For example, a customer who looked at sweaters on your website could be targeted with ad that featured one of the sweaters they viewed. It’s a more personalized way of retargeting and it can be very effective.
In addition to their general internet retargeting, Adroll also offers specific options such as retargeting on Facebook and Twitter, and retargeting mobile customers.
Method #3: Google AdWords remarketing
There is no denying the importance of Google to local businesses. While the competition for top-tier keywords can be fierce, local keywords tend to be less expensive and less competitive than general keywords. Google is the largest search engine in the world and a likely first stop for any potential customers who might visit your website. It is also a likely destination for people who leave your website without making a purchase. Google offers several ways to retarget your customers.
- Standard retargeting targets customers as they browse websites and apps that are in Google’s Display Network
- Dynamic retargeting targets customers with specific products or messages based on their browsing history with you
- Mobile retargeting targets people who have used your mobile app or website while they are using other mobile apps or websites in Google’s network
- Search retargeting targets people who have visited your site when they search for related products on Google
- Video retargeting finds your customers on YouTube, which is owned by Google, and shows them video ads before they watch a video
The nice thing about all three of these methods is that they offer you a great 
deal of leeway when it comes to choosing who to target – and how to target them. Retargeting best practices suggest that it is best to target customers based on specific actions they take on your website rather than using general targeting. When you remind customers that they have items in their shopping cart or that they were interested in a specific product, you greatly increase the chances that they will return to your site – and make a purchase.