Imagine walking into a physical store, eyeing a snazzy purple shirt, and deciding not to buy it. The next day, you're in the park, reading a book, and a photo of that exact shirt lands in your lap with a message, "Did you forget something?" Creepy, right? This eerie scenario is similar to how online retargeting works.
It's a digital marketing tactic that uses cookies to remind you of products or websites you've previously visited. Essentially, it's the internet's way of saying, "Hey, remember that purple shirt?" It's a clever strategy that keeps products you've shown interest in fresh in your mind, making you more likely to revisit and, ultimately, make a purchase.
What Is Digital Remarketing?
Remarketing, or retargeting, is like a digital wizard that keeps products you've shown interest in following you around the web. Imagine visiting a shoe paradise like Zappos, gazing at a stunning pair of boots, and then exiting without a purchase. Suddenly, those boots pop up everywhere you go online – on your local news site, in your Gmail inbox, and even on your social media feed. It might feel a bit like magic, but it's all about technology and clever advertising tactics. This digital marketing sorcery reminds you of what caught your eye, enticing you to make that purchase you can't resist. But where did this enchanting online practice begin, and how does it work its spell? Let's dive into the fascinating world of web remarketing.
Web Remarketing — A Brief History
Remarketing, a relatively recent addition to the marketing world, can be traced back to the inception of the third-party cookie in 1994 by Lou Montulli, a Netscape engineer. In 1998, Doubleclick introduced retargeting, later acquired by Google. By 2010, Google launched its version, coining the term "remarketing." It initially focused on the display network, eventually expanding to the search network and YouTube in 2013. Facebook joined the retargeting arena with FBX targeting in the same year. Today, remarketing is a standard practice in digital marketing, with various advertising and social media platforms seamlessly incorporating it into their targeting strategies.
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- How Does Web Remarketing Work?
- Why Do We Need Remarketing?
- The Future Of Web Retargeting