Reach, Re-engage, Retarget
Three essential ‘R’s’ for a digital marketing strategy that actually works.
Digital marketing allows you to develop customized messages, and usually, to automate them to save time in the delivery process. By using data and insights to segment your audience appropriately, you’ll be able to reach an even likelier customer for your product/service—digital marketing success!
Reach...
...the right people, at the right time, with the right message (and preferably with little effort on their part). Start by using what you already have at your disposal. Find a way to mine your customer data (or website data, or sales data—really any data you collect) to draw some conclusions on how to reach your target audience. Marketing is often experimentation, so if you come up with the formula for the right audience, you’re already 90% on your way to marketing success. To get digital, take the conclusions that you’ve come up with and place a targeted ad on a relevant website or social media platform, run a PPC campaign, trade ads with a complementary product/service vendor, tweet, or post, or podcast, or YouTube—just get your digital self out there as best you can, but don’t spend money trying to reach everyone with your message. Focus on places your target audience would go, and ask people to come back to your website, subscribe to your e-newsletter, etc.
Re-engage
Once you have some people in your digital pipeline, find ways to re-engage them regularly to A: keep your brand top of mind, B: further qualify potential customers, and C: make the sale. Don’t be a nag—but think about how many times you could see the same or similar messages from a company before you might go ‘I get what this is, and it turns out that I actually (don’t) need this product/service. I’m (not) going to buy it.’ Usually around 4-6. In the meantime, most consumers won’t get too annoyed with a company for trying to earn their business; if what you’re selling is or could be of use to them, even if they don’t need it now they’ll usually stick around for what you have to say. If not, they won’t.
So have a re-engagement strategy that includes a follow-up email or two (or a newsletter), and maybe a promotional offer or special event invitation. Remarket to them using ads that speak to what they did on your website. You’ll probably learn a lot about your target audience, be able to identify where there’s sales potential, and as a bonus: any clicks back to your website help set up R #3.
Retarget
You’ve reached, you’ve re-engaged; now you can retarget. Using data from your website (Google Analytics), insights from all the awesome digital ads you’ve been running (Google Ads, or some other such platform), and your own customer database, you can make some additional decisions. Retarget those who engage with your ads, website content, and emails, and personalize the message based on their behaviors, interests, engagement/activities, persona—wherever you see a customer segment.
Serious Note: Digital marketing isn’t a cure for a bad business model. The above is a process that can work for every business, but not every business is ready to implement it. So start with a goal, be sure to track those in your pipeline who convert (they buy whatever you’re selling) along the way, and ensure the trends are going in the right direction. If that’s not happening, evaluate whether it’s your product, your message (don’t forget a call-to-action!), or your delivery that’s causing the trouble. If you can’t find the problem, get help figuring out what’s ailing your business before spending money on digital marketing campaigns.
If your business is ready for a digital marketing transformation, get started by getting your FREE marketing plan audit from Brio.
Want more tips like these? Subscribe below.
Digital marketing allows you to develop customized messages, and usually, to automate them to save time in the delivery process. By using data and insights to segment your audience appropriately, you’ll be able to reach an even likelier customer for your product/service—digital marketing success!
Reach...
...the right people, at the right time, with the right message (and preferably with little effort on their part). Start by using what you already have at your disposal. Find a way to mine your customer data (or website data, or sales data—really any data you collect) to draw some conclusions on how to reach your target audience. Marketing is often experimentation, so if you come up with the formula for the right audience, you’re already 90% on your way to marketing success. To get digital, take the conclusions that you’ve come up with and place a targeted ad on a relevant website or social media platform, run a PPC campaign, trade ads with a complementary product/service vendor, tweet, or post, or podcast, or YouTube—just get your digital self out there as best you can, but don’t spend money trying to reach everyone with your message. Focus on places your target audience would go, and ask people to come back to your website, subscribe to your e-newsletter, etc.
Re-engage
Once you have some people in your digital pipeline, find ways to re-engage them regularly to A: keep your brand top of mind, B: further qualify potential customers, and C: make the sale. Don’t be a nag—but think about how many times you could see the same or similar messages from a company before you might go ‘I get what this is, and it turns out that I actually (don’t) need this product/service. I’m (not) going to buy it.’ Usually around 4-6. In the meantime, most consumers won’t get too annoyed with a company for trying to earn their business; if what you’re selling is or could be of use to them, even if they don’t need it now they’ll usually stick around for what you have to say. If not, they won’t.
So have a re-engagement strategy that includes a follow-up email or two (or a newsletter), and maybe a promotional offer or special event invitation. Remarket to them using ads that speak to what they did on your website. You’ll probably learn a lot about your target audience, be able to identify where there’s sales potential, and as a bonus: any clicks back to your website help set up R #3.
Retarget
You’ve reached, you’ve re-engaged; now you can retarget. Using data from your website (Google Analytics), insights from all the awesome digital ads you’ve been running (Google Ads, or some other such platform), and your own customer database, you can make some additional decisions. Retarget those who engage with your ads, website content, and emails, and personalize the message based on their behaviors, interests, engagement/activities, persona—wherever you see a customer segment.
Serious Note: Digital marketing isn’t a cure for a bad business model. The above is a process that can work for every business, but not every business is ready to implement it. So start with a goal, be sure to track those in your pipeline who convert (they buy whatever you’re selling) along the way, and ensure the trends are going in the right direction. If that’s not happening, evaluate whether it’s your product, your message (don’t forget a call-to-action!), or your delivery that’s causing the trouble. If you can’t find the problem, get help figuring out what’s ailing your business before spending money on digital marketing campaigns.
If your business is ready for a digital marketing transformation, get started by getting your FREE marketing plan audit from Brio.
Want more tips like these? Subscribe below.