Retargeting is an incredibly effective ad strategy that most of your competitors aren’t using, which means you should start today. Even if you’re not familiar with the marketing term “retargeting,” we’re about 1000% sure you’ve experienced it. Consider this scenario...

First, a fish story

Let’s say you’re planning a deep sea fishing excursion in the Gulf of Mexico next summer. You want to buy some new gear, so you Google “best saltwater fishing rods” on your phone and click the link touting the FishFighter 3000 XL7. Then you get an at-need call and forget all about your search. 

Later that night, you’re at home scrolling through Facebook on your tablet and, lo and behold, there’s an ad in your news feed about the very same FishFighter 3000 XL7. You click on it, read a little more, then realize your wife would kill you if you spent $299 on a fishing pole, even though it’s constructed of super-high-quality TWIII graphite and protected by a hyper-carbon outer shield. You close out Facebook and help your wife with the dishes.

A week later you’re reading the local news on your desktop at work and can’t believe your eyes. There on the side of your screen is an ad for the FishFighter 3000 XL7 with its TWIII graphite and hyper-carbon outer shield, and it’s 20% off! You click the ad and buy the rod, which comes with a free FishFighter koozie, knowing your wife will appreciate your frugality and the 80-pound tarpon you’ll land during your vacation.

How retargeting works

What the folks at FishFighter did there is called retargeting. Basically, you showed an interest in their product by clicking on their website. While you were looking around, FishFighter placed a tiny piece of code in your web browser that recorded your visit to the site and, more specifically, that you were looking at the 3000 XL7. Then they used this information to show you 3000 XL7 ads when you visited other sites that allowed ads, like Facebook and your local newspaper’s website.

You may be thinking, “That’s great for companies that sell fishing poles, but would this work for me?” The answer is a resounding YES. Retargeting would and does work for most industries, including death care. DISRUPT Media has run the numbers, done the research, and seen the results, and here are three reasons we believe retargeting ads should be included in your funeral home or cemetery’s marketing budget in 2020.

1. Retargeting gets your name in front of the right people at the right time

If you buy an ad in the newspaper or rent a billboard on the highway, how do you know who’s seeing your message? Sure, there may be 50,000 subscribers or 100,000 people driving by each day, but how many of them are thinking about planning a funeral or purchasing a burial plot?

Retargeting starts when someone visits your funeral home or cemetery’s website. If they’re visiting, they’re interested. Sure, some people will only visit to read an obituary or leave a tribute, but others are there to see who’s on your team, learn more about pre-need arrangements, or see exactly how much a funeral might cost them. If they’re visiting those pages on your website, they’re actively showing interest in what you have to offer.

With retargeting, you can choose which visitors to retarget, and exactly what you want to show them. If someone reads your blog about new cremation options, you could retarget them later with an ad offering a free, no-obligation cremation consultation. If they spend some time using your funeral price estimator tool, maybe the ad you display promotes pre-planning to ease the financial burden. 

You can customize your ads to what you feel that particular person wants to know. Plus, you can change out your message on the fly to be sure your potential customers are seeing the newest and best products and services available.You’re not only reminding them of your brand; you’re also showing them you can help with their specific needs. 

2. Consumers actually like retargeting ads

Just like when you had to click off the FishFighter site for a call, other people have to abandon their searches for various reasons all the time. Retargeting provides a gentle reminder of that search, allowing them to pick up where they left off. Most people appreciate that personalized approach. In fact, research has found that while about 60% of online viewers are neutral or open to being served retargeting ads, 25 to 30% of online viewers truly enjoy them.

Let’s look at it from the consumer’s perspective. Perhaps someone is considering purchasing a  niche in a columbarium, and in their research they’ve looked at five different options in your area, including yours. They sign off on the last site without making a decision. The next day they’re on a completely unrelated website and see an ad for your facility, which reminds them of their search and the options they found. They like that you’ve taken the initiative to reach out in an unobtrusive way.

However, there’s a fine line between being gently reminded and being “ad stalked.” Your ads should be professional, dignified, and well-timed. No one wants to see the same ad on every site they visit. DISRUPT can help you design and create a cadence of ads that attract clicks rather than repels them.

3. Retargeting converts more visitors into purchasers

Now that we’ve talked about how and why retargeting works, let’s look at the statistics that prove it will actually convert visitors to your website into families you will serve.

• 10 TIMES more people click on a retargeting ad than on an ad for a site they haven’t recently visited
• 3 OUT OF 5 U.S. buyers notice ads for products and services they’ve already viewed elsewhere
• 70% MORE people will make a purchase from a firm that has retargeted than from other sites they’ve visited that didn’t retarget
• 1046% LIFT in business name searches resulted from retargeting efforts, more than other types of ad strategies

Retargeting is also cost-effective. There are several ways you can choose to pay for your retargeting efforts, and DISRUPT Media will help you decide what method works best for your funeral home or cemetery. Adding retargeting to your marketing budget in 2020 will complement your existing marketing efforts and allow you to compare which channels are the most effective.