Back in November, I asked 4 experts from AKQA Media, Booyah, ethology and iCrossing whether the overlap was real (see: The Industry Speaks On The Overlap Between Search & Display) and the general consensus was that it is and that it can be measured.

Techniques like search retargeting especially are the first real examples of search and display working together for a beneficial outcome, combining the power of search with the reach of a display buy.

The Reality

However, the more marketers I talk to, the less real overlap I actually see occurring.

A common scenario for an agency client will be a weekly call where a display buyer will walk through their results and plans, and then listen as the PPC manager does the same, hearing each others ideas for the first time at the same time as the client does.

The teams are disparate and have little time to do their own jobs (see: Follow-up to A Manual For The Brand-Agency-Vendor Relationship), never mind try and be collaborative with their counterparts. Clients have driven margins too tight for an agency to operate optimally causing time to be short and the talent working an account to be less experiences than the ideal.

Technology lacks too, with display often being tracked in Dart, and PPC in Kenshoo or Marin, and very little use of additional tools that bring everything together. As our experts said back in November, it has to be tracked in order to optimize and measure the impact!

Yet despite these problems, banners ads and search ads keep appearing, clients keep spending and (in a good relationship) both channels keep improving despite the optimization being in isolation.

So the question becomes ‘is there a better place for search or display to live than with each other’?

The SEM Partnership – PPC + SEO?

I doubt I will get many objections from the Search Engine Land audience that there are benefits of putting both types of search together!

I have always felt the most obvious is that an SEO team will have terms that they simply can not rank effectively for, and therefore PPC can fill in the gap, and likewise, PPC will want to remove expensive head terms from their campaigns if they can rank naturally using SEO.

Again, the story seems simple, but how often do the two teams collaborate – and how often do they really need to? The occasional comparison of campaign tactics and consumer behaviors related to keywords would seem to be frequent enough and what happens in practice.

Relevent Messaging – Display + Creative?

So if benefit can be driven from moving PPC over to SEO, that leaves display looking for a new home – and given it’s a visual execution, shouldn’t that home be over with creative?

In a recent article by Sarah Lockwood at Booyah (The Crawl, Walk, Run of Display Creative) the benefit of creative optimization seems apparent with examples showing over 87% improvement by making small tweaks to the banner ad or the landing page. Those are improvements difficult to drive from any algorithmic media optimization!

Additionally, when creative and media teams work together, clever executions can be produced that produce high engagement rates because of their relevancy and unexpectedness.

My favorite currently is the banner buy on Map My Run – as you build your run on the map, the total distance is fed into the display ad and a relevant message is shown.

That’s eye catching and cool!

Dare We Talk About ‘Traditional’?

I sometimes feel that mentioning traditional is a dirty word on sites that focus on digital media and search, but the reality is traditional still works otherwise marketers wouldn’t use it. TV, radio, print and outdoor all drive activity online and offline and shouldn’t be forgotten.

The tendency is to think digital leads and that there doesn’t need to be collaboration with what happens elsewhere – the smart marketer realizes that consistent messaging and persistent brand exposure across all channels is what really matters.

In a recent discussion with a client, it was explained to me that they were combining all buying (SEM, display and traditional) under the watch of a single resource to make sure they were making the most of these potential benefits. It seems that would give the consumer a better experience too.

Home Is Where The Heart Is

That’s the answer – your unique situation and experiences will determine the right solution; PPC + display under one team can be argued as strongly as PPC + SEM or Display + Creative can be.

The message is that if you can track and measure overlap between any of these disciplines then there are clear benefits of doing so –  but if you are like many budget holders where that is simply not happening then you need to look hard at your team / agency and work out where you can generate the greatest uplift. Chances are it relates more to the messaging than the buying.

In some ways, search marketers are right in this action, since display advertisers manage campaigns for creative display ads and naturally search retargeting falls into the display camp. Yet, this can sometimes lead to a huge missed opportunity for search marketers to expand search campaigns.

Search retargeting can be an incredibly effective tool for search marketers who are capped out on search, cannot afford certain keywords, or wish to use more engaging forms of creative.

However, in order for a search retargeting campaign to be successful in the eyes of a search marketer, the proper expectations and understanding must be in place ahead of time.

Here is what you need to know:

1. Search Retargeting Will Not Perform As Well As Search Engine Marketing

Search is the best performing form of online advertising, period. Search marketers must understand that even though search retargeting uses search data, it will not perform as well as SEM.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. Search ads appear on the search results page, typically in above the fold position. Since the ad is being shown so soon after the search, click-through rates (CTRs) will usually be higher than search retargeted display media.
2. Consumers tend to visit search engines just before they convert, meaning conversion rates will be higher than in display.

Think of search retargeting as an influencer for what consumers type in the search engine and a factor in your search conversion. By no means am I suggesting replacing search.

For example, a customer might search for “plasma TV” in Google, but they will likely click on an organic listing and end up on Best Buy, and other sites over a period of time before they choose the make and model.

During the consideration phase, search data is extrapolated and used to power display advertising  (i.e. search retargeting). Eventually, the consumers will make their way back to a search engine, type in a more specific term, such as “Sony Plasma 32” TV” and then click on a search ad (similar to reason #1 above).

If you were Sony and capped out on keywords, this would be another way to extend the utilization of search data beyond the search engine and influence audiences to take action.

2. Know How To Measure Search Retargeting Campaigns & Give Feedback To Partners

Attribution for a search campaign is easy; if a click leads to a conversion, that click receives credit. However, running a display campaign means dealing with multiple touch points and paths to conversion.

It’s too large a topic to tackle here, so make sure to consider the following points:

• Give some credit to view-through conversions
• Use a smart attribution company like C3 Metrics or Adometry

When you’re running a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign with Google, you can make adjustments and affect performance on the fly from a self-service interface.

When you’re working with a full-service search retargeting partner, optimization is a joint effort between the search marketer and the search retargeting experts. It’s become increasingly crucial to communicate real-time campaign performance so adjustments can be made as needed.

3. Leverage Your Experience & Assets, But Remain Open To New Ideas

If you have been running search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns for a while, you probably have a rotation of high performance text ads. The good news is that existing text ads are easily transferable to search retargeting.

Most search retargeting partners have a system of placing text ads within display boxes, so you can use the existing text ads from any given campaign. However, be sure that these ads are viewable, as most search retargeting companies buy exchange media, which is prone to un-viewable impressions.

Most of all, consider the differences between keyword lists for search, and keyword lists for display. There are many nuances to keyword based display media and in order for SEM to make the leap to display there needs to be a clear, open path to new placements, targeting, etc.

4. Use Ad Verification Software To Monitor Impressions

Since many search marketers do not run display media on a continuous basis, there is hesitation about running exchange media. To prevent such hesitation, use an ad verification company like AdSafe or DoubleVerify. This will help keep your campaigns safeguarded from the “wild wild west” of exchange based display inventory.

According to comScore, consumer search activity is still on the rise, up 7% over the last year. As search grows, prices will increase and the Googles, Bings and Yahoo’s of the world will have greater control over pricing.

Search retargeting is a cost-efficient extension for anyone using search marketing. After all, nobody knows performance-driven media better than search marketers. Instead of passing on an opportunity because it’s associated with display, search marketers should understand the benefits and embrace it.

Search retargeting is a highly effective targeting technique that has been attracting lots of buzz lately. Using search retargeting leading brands and agencies around the world are deploying successful display campaigns targeting online consumers based on search behavior.

Search retargeting has been hailed as a major leap forward in both reach and effectiveness for search marketers and display marketers alike. Traditional paid search conversion rates are typically less than 5%, but search retargeting has given marketers the ability to continue the conversation with the other 95% through relevant display ads across thousands websites while maintaining the same keyword level bidding and optimization control search marketers have spent years mastering.

On the other side, display marketing professionals are utilizing search retargeting as a smarter, more transparent behavioral targeting technique with high conversion rates. Search Retargeting also offers significantly more element-level insight into consumer intent than the pre-built data segments historically made available.

While search retargeting is highly effective, it does not address the increasing number of users whoare navigatingdirectly to websites. The millions of consumers actively searching for products, services and topics across a vast array of specialized publisher sites without leaving a keyword breadcrumb trail. Leading websites spend millions of dollars increasing direct navigation and building links to landing pages in an effort to bypass search engines all together.

Why The Focus On Direct Navigation?

Direct navigation users translate into sales. Direct navigation offers high conversion rates, as the user is already entwined  in the consumer purchase decision process. According to a study performed by WebsideStory’s StatMarket division, direct navigation traffic converts into sales for advertisers at a rate of 4.23% of total visits.

Take travel for instance.  Has anyone on the planet not been exposed to TV commercials for sites such as Kayak, Expedia and Travelocity? Looking for a hotel for that upcoming vacation to Maui? That search likely isn’t going to begin on Google.

In many ways, increased spend in direct navigation only strengthens the case for search retargeting. A great deal of the data accessed by search retargeting companies is coming from the specialized search taking place on second tier search engines and the publisher sites themselves.

However, there are at least two compelling examples of why many ideal customers never perform a search at all.

First, high performing websites and technology providers continue to improve website consumer experience and conversion rates through enhancements in on-site navigation, predictive content modeling and recommendation engine generated content.

Thus, more consumers can reach their destination and complete their transactions without engaging in a search at all. They, for example land on the travel site, click on the hotel tab, click on the conveniently placed link for Hawaiian destinations and two drop down menus later the investigation is complete. Good luck reaching the millions of consumers like this who evade your search retargeting radar.

Second, for millions of in market searchers, when a keyword search is completed your window for influencing the destination and transaction may already be lost. The customer has already visited a trusted website to research, participated in a online discussion group, reviewed a trusted blog or more. For example, individuals in market to buy laptops, cell phones, and televisions can visit trusted websites to review product recomm

endations and reviews. These sites are easy to navigate with simple product and brand drop down menus. Think sites such as CNET, Consumer Reports, Popular Mechanics and Wired. After performing research a consumer may perform a search, thus opting them into your search retargeting display, unfortunately no matter how recent the search, your ability to influence this consumer’s decision has been diminished.  If only you could have captured their intent sooner.

Combining Keyword Contextual Targeting With Search Retargeting

This is where a well defined and executed keyword contextual campaign deployed along side a keyword search retargeting campaign may complete the picture, leading to significantly more in market searchers and ultimately more conversions.

Traditional contextual targeting has long been available on a category basis. By evaluating a webpage or URL, site text, language, link structure, page structure or other elements; consumers are shown display ads on a webpage that has a basic theme relevant to your product or services.

Results for category contextual have varied degrees of effectiveness.  However, just as keyword search retargeting strengthened behavioral targeting data efforts; so will the evolution of keyword based contextual targeting.

Keyword Contextual Targeting provides more precise control and deeper insights as it enables advertisers to leverage their keyword segment building expertise and optimization skills to pinpoint the pages with display ads utilizing exact match targeting. Marketers can bid, report and optimize with a high level of granularity.

For example, you may be targeting consumers researching a new smartphone purchase.  With keyword level transparency you may quickly learn that “Android OS Cell Phone” or a wide range of competitor specific product terms are five times more profitable than the keyword, “Android”.

You can now build specific keyword segments and bidding strategies to reach searchers who are on webpages in which those lower funnel keywords appear regardless of any keyword search performed.

Combine a well executed keyword contextual display campaign concurrently with a high performing keyword search retargeting display campaign and you have a more complete recipe to reach more searchers, more often, more effectively.

Looking Ahead

Leveraging intent based keyword data in display will continue to grow and evolve. Much like site retargeting, there is little doubt that the adoption of search retargeting will lead to more companies viewing this display channel as a line item in their marketing budget.

The ability to further expand keyword targeting with contextual display will allow brands to engage ideal in market searchers in a conversation earlier in the decision making process, resulting in more conversions and a far more complete long term strategy.

In short, search retargeting finds those individuals who have searched for a term that matters to your business but who have not yet visited your site. In contrast to site retargeting, search retargeting is a prospecting tool and is best used when looking for new customers.

Search retargeting from companies like ours (Chango) is in common use by retail brands, personal finance clients, travel companies and more and is predominantly used for revenue generation and all forms of direct response. The reason being that it is a display media buy that actually works consistently, talking only to those hand-raisers that are likely to convert.

1.  The First Hurdle Is Scale

When we talk to prospects about campaigns it is common for them to ask about how far can the campaign scale if successful because if its always going to be small then is it worth them testing.

In some niche cases scale is going to be limited by a finite audience, but there are also clients spending as much as $500k a month today and hitting aggressive ROI goals, and so clearly in the right circumstances the scale problem is old news (see The Highs & Lows Of Search Retargeting: Version 3.0 Is Here Already).

It is also common for marketers to ask about how our data will be impacted by the Google SSL move or the Firefox announcement of secure browsing. In order to answer this, you must first understand how search retargeters generate their data.

Whilst method and quality vary, in general a deal is struck with a 3^rd party site that sees incoming traffic from search; when a visitor arrives on that site the individual is cookied by the search retargeter and their search query is matched against an anonymous cookie ID.

If a client then requests to target individuals who have searched for that very term, a display ad is matched to them through the media exchanges (i.e. Google Display Network, AdBrite, AdMeld, RMX etc).

The reality is that the Google SLL decision has had very little impact to date – there is an enormous supply of data available and there have been no limitations on the campaigns that can be run; there are also steps that data partners can take to secure their pages and start to see all their referrer data again.

In addition, there are additional methods of data collection that generate enormous quantities of data for search retargeters, which we will visit in a future article.

2.  Ask For Transparency

When buying campaigns across the media exchanges, it can be easy for a company to buy what they want and for the marketer to not have a lot of insight of the specifics. Whilst there is no easy fix for this, asking for more information is always a good start and ensure that your chosen partner uses verification partners like AdSafe on campaigns.

In two recent cases, we discovered search retargeting vendors that were ‘stuffing’ campaigns with site retargeting to add false scale. I am sure they had their reasons, and this may have even been explained to the client who didn’t quite understand it, but it raises an important point – be sure you are buying what you think you are buying.

Search retargeting is a standalone tactic and should be seen as such – its purpose is to find new prospects and therefore any campaigns that include a site retargeting spend are simply overlapping with your existing site retargeting program and driving up your total cost (see 2012 Is The Year To Cut Your Site Retargeting Budget).

Asking for greater transparency is a help, but definitely get to know your chosen vendor and make sure you establish a good level of trust through the relationship.

3.  Correct Measurement

Every form of display has its place, and search retargeting is no different. Many marketers get excited about the high ROIs they see and want to treat it as a direct response tool. Search retargeting is actually an effective way to fill the top of the funnel too and keep the awareness growing as each individual moves through the consideration process.

In the case of a retailer selling electronics, a search for ‘TV’, ‘new tv’ or even something that indicates the target audience ‘xbox 3d’ are all great indicators of relevance and showing a generic ad will build awareness and add people to the funnel. A search then for ‘compare TVs’ is the right time to hit them with a mud funnel message, and ‘best buy coupon LG TV’ is perfect for a dynamic ad designed to generate the close.

To do this, the marketer must be able to break these strategies into their component parts and assign a goal to each one. For upper and mid funnel, a marketer should ideally be looking at traffic, clicks and peripheral benefits like tweets, Facebook likes etc, and for bottom of funnel, ROI.

This becomes particularly important when search retargeting is running alongside site retargeting and an adserving tool like DoubleClick is tracking both. The role of the ad server is to de-dupe the results, making sure that the number of conversions reported by each vendor do not total more than 100%.

Because of the way in which site retargeting works, it will often have the last click or last impression and therefore steal all the credit, when the reality is that without a prospecting tool like search retargeting, the visitor would not have visited in the first place!

I personally suggest taking site retargeting out of your ad server account and tracking separately and then de-dupe all your prospecting tactics. An attribution study can be give a good answer, but is more than a pain in the proverbial, and so consider a simpler alternative (see 3 Simple Alternatives To Attribution Modeling For Search Marketers).

4.  Whose Job Is To Manage Search Retargeting?

Search Marketers are the Future Media Planners

When we started Chango we honestly thought it would be mostly self-serve search marketers who would be interested.

I also came from what used to be a search only agency and established a display practice and so know what its like to steer the search ship around to display buying – I would have loved search retargeting to have been around to make search clients see our value in display!

It is true that search marketers have shown an interest but for a number of reasons often remain hesitant, leaving search retargeting to their display-buying cousins. The simple fact is it remains more of a display tactic and that group is more comfortable owning it… for now.

In time, I imagine this will change and more search marketers will use it to cross the bridge successfully (see The Industry Speaks On The Overlap Between Search & Display) and take more display budget from martini-drinking planners (of which I have happily been one for years:)).

So What Did We Learn?

Search retargeting works and scale is solved. However insist on transparency, measure it correctly and if you are a search marketer, don’t be scared of a display tactic – this one makes real sense for you to be a part of.

The panel discussion provoked thoughts around the value of each user, customer interaction, ad creative, and the impact on one channel on another, from TV to online.

However, what I really started to think about later that day was not just data meets e-commerce, but this idea of Big Data.

What really does this all mean and how should we define it? The fact is, data is defined differently by different groups of people – definitions that are driven by their own personal and corporate goals for using the data.

From an e-commerce-based company to a search marketer, from display teams within an ad agency to a luxury brand, data is at the center of business decisions today.

Yet, while data is used differently, the goal is often the same –to drive more effective and efficient marketing messages through enhanced relevancy and data-driven advertising.

For me, I see search data as the highest indicator of intent, but for a luxury brand, it might be more focused on demographic data. Using data to further your campaigns and initiative is great, but only if you are diligent about which types you are using and strategic in the way you match data to your goal.

Define Your Objectives & Pick Your Data Accordingly

If you’re running a branding campaign with a goal to get in front of 18-34 year old males, you should be using demographic data. Companies like Bluekai, Exelate, and others offer data either a la carte or through their DSP partners. This idea of demographic data was one the initial topics in the data game.

However, demo data only goes as far as narrowing down the age range and gender of the audience. Alone, it is great for awareness campaigns, but its value is diminished if your campaign focuses on driving lower funnel activities.

If you’re looking for large swaths of users who have visited specific types of sites, and you feel that a user who has visited those types of sites are in market for a specific product, you should be using behavioral data. Behavioral data is a bit more “lower funnel” than demo-based data because a user has visited sites that seem to indicate an interest in a particular product or service type.

However, let’s be sure we carefully define interest-based data. It can be difficult to say that just because a user visited Rollsroyce.com as well as similar types of sites, that the person is in market for luxury goods.

For example, I visit Rollsroyce.com all the time, and my NYC apartment is about 200 square feet. I literally couldn’t even fit a Rolls Royce into my bedroom, let alone afford one. I visited the site and sites similar to it, but I’m more interested in checking out the latest model than actually purchasing one. If Rolls-Royce is focused on driving awareness, then I’m a key audience, but if they are looking for an actual purchase, they may have wasted their marketing dollars.

If you’re looking for users who are in market for a specific product, you should be using search data to target your campaign. The reason that SEM works so well is because users who are searching for your product are in market for it.

Search Data & Search Retargeting

Using search data outside of search engines is what search retargeting is all about because you can target users who have searched for your product once they leave the search engine. While search data is great for purchase intent, it must be combined with demo-based data if demographics are important to the performance of the campaign (which is not always the case).

For example, we can tell that a specific user searched for “fake teeth” and is therefore in market. However, a college student searching for “fake teeth” is probably looking for some accoutrement for their theme party costume. A 70-year old searching for the same term is looking for a very different product.

Additionally, search data can also be used to target based on interest. Let’s use Rolls-Royce as another example. If I visit mototrends.com and search for “Rolls Royce,” the search preformed is likely more interest based than intent focused. While search data drives response, it’s also become a vehicle for targeted brand awareness.

Long story short, this idea of big data is too large to be defined.. Whether you are an e-commerce company, an ad agency working with direct response or branding campaigns, luxury advertiser or so forth, many aspects to data might apply. Before you settle in on your data sources, think about the idea of “big data” and what it means to you.

(Editor’s Note: Magnetic has a new whitepaper on the Future Of Search Retargeting available for download here.)

Arguably the people with the best skillset to manage a search retargeting program are those skilled in PPC – search retargeting (when done right) is setup and optimized at the individual keyword level, and often a campaign begins by using the terms from an existing PPC account, and so the search marketer is front and centre in the process from the beginning.

In addition, the media that is bought to show the ads is through RTB (Real Time Bidding) from the ad exchanges (AdBrite, AdMeld, GDN etc), which is an auction environment… just like PPC.

(See: ‘Why Search Marketers are The Future Media Planners’)

And when we started Chango we presumed search marketers would be the bulk of our revenue, but interestingly it doesn’t work that way yet because any type of display buying still seems alien to the search marketer. Display media planners are in the game though and currently owning the space.

Why aren’t search marketers getting involved?

Scared Of Being Creative?

The creative unit in search marketing is the PPC ad, limited to 3 lines and a link, and is very different to the visual ‘banner’ units that display planners work with, and because most search marketers don’t have access to creative resources often find it intimidating to get started.

Display ads don’t have to be scary!

Every day online we see some very cool examples of interactive Flash units, homepage takeovers and clever use of video, and this must seem daunting if you haven’t done campaigns like this before. But the reality is that most campaigns can be started with a basic static as unit and improved on from there.

To get started, there are tremendous resources I have come across over the years that can help you cross the divide.

• Canned Banners (http://cannedbanners.com/)
• Build Flash ads easily using templates at a very low cost, quickly and easily. Very, very easy and they actually look really good if you spend a few hours working on them.

• Which Test Won (http://whichtestwon.com/)
• A great resource to learn quickly what works and doesn’t work in digital creative, and also the importance of lots of testing!

• Moat (http://www.moat.com/)
• See instantly what your competitors are running and learn from their efforts and designs.

The golden rule is just get started, get some basic ads produced and start running campaigns.

Measurement

In the search world campaigns are measured on spend, clicks, CTR, CPC and conversions. The display world is similar, but contains an added element of view thru (VT) or post impression (PI) revenue.

Simply put, this occurs when someone sees an ad but doesn’t click on it prior to converting on the site. Search marketers would love this to be the case with their AdWords investment, but just because it can’t be, don’t be closed to it with display!

I believe that counting 100% of the VT revenue is incorrect as some of the audience would have visited that site and converted anyway, but counting 0% is also incorrect as decades of advertising tells us the ads work! Importantly, the budget holders for display mostly believe in VT and so understanding how to work with it is critical.

In a recent article we explored 3 Simple Alternatives to Attribution Modeling that will give you some simple ideas for how to do this. Some of these techniques require the use of an ad server like DoubleClick in order to measure the VT impact, but DoubleClick is very expensive and has large minimums. Check out AdSwerve who have a unique reseller agreement and can offer the same tool for a very small minimum.

Go Innovate!

As the highest performing line item on media plans, search retargeting has cemented itself as a key prospecting tool for marketers. It’s only going to grow in popularity and usage and search marketers should act now, overcome these barriers and grab their share of the program.

Retargeting Campaigns Walk Hand-in-Hand

Sometimes the devil is in the details. That’s definitely the case with search data and search retargeting.

Search data is the basis of search retargeting. But it is also the intersection of search and display. At that intersection is site targeting, and this detail is often overlooked.

Above all targeting strategies, site retargeting goes hand-in-hand with search retargeting. Search data captures users who may have not visited an advertiser’s site but have expressed interest in a brand or service.

Site retargeting captures users that have visited a brand’s website, therefore, also signaling intent through online actions.

Let’s explore how search data can be used to increase the personalization and efficacy of site retargeting.

Make Site Retargeting Creative Unique With Search Retargeting Data

Brands need to make site retargeting creative unique with search retargeting data. The most straightforward use of search data to bolster site retargeting creative is to include the term that the user searched for in the creative. In an ideal world, the site-retargeting pixel will gather category level information from the page.

For example, if a user visits Best Buy’s TV & Home Theater section and then leaves the page, the data trail that shows the user visited the TV & Home Theater section should be readable in the pixel, as opposed to just BestBuy.com.

This obviously helps with site retargeting, since the creative can dynamically display products pulled from the TV & Home Theater section to the user when they’re browsing the Internet.

Let’s look at another example. What if we knew the search term the user entered? We could then tailor the ad not only to the specific product category, but also put in a very strong call to action.

With site retargeting that includes search data, instead of having a Best Buy ad that just showed TVs, it might capitalize on the fact that the user searched for “50 inch plasma,” and the creative might have the text “Looking for a 50 inch plasma? Click here for deals!” in addition to the product listing.

This enables display ads to take the shape of search in terms of personalization while maintaining the creative opportunities of display advertising.

Tailor Product Feeds Using Search Data To Capitalize On Brand Preference

To take it one step further, what if we wanted to actually change the products being displayed in the creative feed by using the user’s search data?

Using the above example, a user has visited the TV & Home Theater section of Best Buy’s site. Therefore, a site retargeting campaign is going to show ads that include products from that section on the site.

If the data shows that this particular user recently searched for “Sony TV.” It would make sense then to filter the product listings to only include Sony TVs, or perhaps a close competitor. Instead of just showing a generic product feed of TVs, we can customize the product listings to match the user’s existing brand affinity and therefore push them down the funnel.

Compensate For Lack Of Detail In Site Retargeting Pixel

Focusing on these details will compensate for other holes in the data set. For example, what if we aren’t able to get the valuable product-level data that we assumed we had in the previous examples? We can use search retargeting data not as an enhancement to the product feed (as we did above), but as the basis for it.

If we’re running a site retargeting campaign without insight into the category pages that the user has visited, we’re taking a shot in the dark if we include a product feed since we don’t know what the user is actually interested in. However, if we include the user’s search data in the campaign, we can match the search to a product category.

For example, a user has visited Best Buy’s site and then left, and that’s all we know about their interaction on the site. However, we look at that same user’s search history and see that they’ve been searching for TVs. Therefore, we know to call Best Buy’s TV product feed, and show “TVs” in the dynamic creative.

Search data provides detail into what search term the consumer preformed, and site retargeting enables advertisers to see which pages within a site the consumer visited. These two strategies work together because one drives customer acquisitions the other drives retention.

With the retargeting duo working in tandem, marketers can achieve a higher level of ad personalization, serving up ads that tailor specific messages to consumers based on search and site activity. Next time you’re planning your digital campaign, remember which targeting strategies go hand-in-hand.

The order of the words your company enters into the search engine algorithm has everything to do with success in search retargeting.

For example, let’s look at the search history for someone who is in market for auto insurance. Let’s call her Sarah. Sarah has performed three searches in the past 24 hours relating to auto insurance. In no particular order, those searches are: “auto insurance,” “auto insurance” (again) and “Allstate.”

Now let’s look at the difference in purchase intent when we shuffle those search terms around to create new sequences.

Scenario A

Sarah performs the following searches in sequence over the 24-hour period:

1.    “Auto insurance”
2.    “Auto insurance”
3.    “Allstate”

Conclusion: Sarah has done her homework for auto insurance providers and is now considering Allstate. Allstate should definitely show her an ad, as we want Sarah to request a quote right away. Scenario B

Sarah performs the following searches in sequence over the 24-hour period:

1.   “Auto insurance”
2.   “Allstate”
3.   “Auto insurance”

Conclusion: Sarah is in market for auto insurance, but has ruled out Allstate. She first did some homework, and then researched Allstate’s offering, and is now back to square one. Allstate should still show her an ad, but should be paying a very low CPM for this impression since it has a low expected value.

Sequential Next Steps

1.  To get the most out of your search retargeting campaign, it’s important to adjust your bid price not only based on the specific keyword that the user searched, but also based on their search history.

If you only look at Sarah’s last search in both Scenario A and B, it looks like you should show her an ad for Allstate. However, when taking into account her entire search history, it becomes clear that you should use different bid prices for each scenario due to the shift in her consideration.

2.  If possible, use sequential messaging based on the users’ search history.

We’ll explore this topic at a later date but, to put it simply, work with your creative team to create many different creatives with the purchase funnel in mind. Since we can gauge the user’s probability of converting based on their search history, it’s extremely beneficial to have different creatives based not only on where they sit in the conversion funnel, but where they’ve come from.

Using Scenario A, here is how sequential messaging can work for a search retargeting campaign:

Scenario A (with ads)

Sarah performs the following searches in sequence over the 24-hour period:

Query #1  – “Auto insurance”

• An Allstate ad that is broad and only refers to the benefits on auto insurance is shown

Query #2  -    “Auto insurance”

• An Allstate ad that promotes the benefits of Allstate-specific auto insurance is shown

Query #3 –  “Allstate”

• An Allstate ad that detects the user’s DMA and dynamically displays local Allstate auto insurance rates is shown, driving the user to request a quote

Customers demand and respond to the delivery of the most relevant information at a time that is closest to the point of purchase. Ads need to respond with customized messages. If a customer searched for a brand or product and did not convert, then the logical next step is to retarget them with sequential messaging that directly relates to their sequence of searches.

For marketers, the ability to look back at the sequences of customer events helps them to make more informed decisions and ideally impact the end consumer result.

After all, haven’t you ever re-hashed a series of events over a certain period of time and wondered what would have happened if only you had slightly altered your actions?  That’s what keyword sequencing is all about. It’s about addressing the customer’s ability to consider and reconsider.

A widely cited 2011 IDC study found that the amount of data in the world is now doubling every 2 years. This trend is especially apparent in marketing, as massive amounts of data are being created by ever-increasing numbers of search queries, SKU views, social signals, page visits, and more.

Unstructured Data Volumes Exploding

Traditional paradigms for managing data are struggling under this tsunami. In addition to the sheer volume of data, the fact that so much of it is “unstructured” creates special challenges.

AdExchanger.com recently quoted John Iwata of IBM as stating that 80% this data is “unstructured”. This means that it doesn’t come pre-packaged in neat segments, fitted into a cascading taxonomy of some sort.

Instead, the data is hugely varied and constantly evolving. As an example consider search, where new terms and groups of terms are continually being formed as new artists, politicians, products, companies, and other evolutions take place.

The Old Way: Creating Static Segments

A traditional way of dealing with large amounts of unstructured data is to…you guessed it…add structure.

This typically involves spending lots of time analyzing data and then grouping various data elements (e.g., search terms, SKUs, pages visited, etc.) into segments that are then used for analysis, targeting, and other marketing activities.

This approach has drawbacks, however. For starters, it is time consuming and often requires the attention of experts in the data type. In addition, creating opaque segments often reduces the effectiveness of the data. This is because once data elements are grouped into a segment, the individual data elements within the segment are treated as if they are the same.

Search Marketers Know Better

Search marketers would not group dozens, hundreds, or thousands of keywords into a segment, and then be content with not knowing the individual impression volumes, click through rates, cost per clicks, and conversion rates on each keyword.

Search marketers know that keeping data at its elemental level (in the case of search, at the keyword level) is necessary to optimize and achieve the best performance.

Search marketers know from experience that some data elements (again, keywords) are far more effective than others, and they want the ability to pay more for the keywords that perform well and less for those that do not.

We also see this in search retargeting, where performance often varies greatly between similar keywords that would seem to belong in the same segment.

Elementary, My Dear Marketers

So how can display marketers take advantage of the rising tide of unstructured data, and leverage what search marketers already know?

The solution is elementary. Targeting at the data element level not only reduces the time and effort required to create and populate segments, it also provides improved performance, and deeper insights.

The improved performance comes from the ability to allocate budget to the best performing data elements. This can be done either manually or automatically.

In fact, the automated algorithms that make decisions on how much to bid on each impression are more effective when they are fed more granular, element-level data.

Element level targeting provides deeper insights by enabling marketers to analyze the performance of each keyword, SKU, page, or other data element targeted. From these insights marketers can develop future creatives, offers, and campaign criteria.

Making Unstructured Data Actionable In Display

Unstructured data is already actionable in search, which provides keyword level bidding, optimization, and reporting.

For marketers looking to take advantage of unstructured data in display, the latest generation of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) provide several options that enable managing, bidding, and optimizing to data at the element level.  These include:

• Keyword Level Search Retargeting – Keywords are not grouped into segments, but instead targeted at the individual keyword level. Campaigns can target over 100K individual keywords and maintain bidding, reporting, and optimizing at the keyword level.
• Keyword Based Contextual Targeting – Instead of targeting ads to pages about fixed contextual categories, custom contextual categories are defined by a list of keywords. Bidding, reporting, and optimizing is then done at the keyword (element) level based on which pages contain which word.
• Element Level Site Retargeting – Instead of grouping visitors to a site into just a few segments, ads are targeted based on the individual incoming search terms, individual pages visited, individual SKUs viewed, and/or the products that have been put into shopping carts.
• Element Level Behavioral Targeting – Campaigns target a set of behaviors while maintaining transparency into the volume, pricing, and performance of each individual behavior and/or site where the behavior is measured. This enables more spend to be allocated to the best performing behaviors.

This list will surely grow as the display advertising eco-system evolves. In the meantime, online advertisers can look forward to a day when opaque data segments are nothing but memories of a bygone era.

Good money is disappearing into irrelevant impressions to talk to an audience that doesn’t care and would rather the brand stop stalking them at all.

The causes of the problem are varied, but usually boil down to a lack of time to fix something ‘that isn’t broken’, a lack of understanding of what retargeting really is and a lack of client’s pushing agencies to really explain it.

Before climbing onto my soapbox, let’s be clear on two fronts – firstly, I love site retargeting and I am a firm believer in the principal, and secondly this problem exists in both agencies and brands, whether they are working with a DSP, a specialist retargeting vendor or just using Google’s offering.

So my recommendation to any brand that asks me what they should be doing in 2012 is to explain to them that they should get smarter about their retargeting program as a priority and stop pouring good money after bad.

They should learn what it really is, how best to use it, and why it can be a valuable tool for both optimization and new customer acquisition, but only if done right.

‘Retargeting’ Is Not What You Think It Is

The first thought people have when they hear the term ‘retargeting’ is actually site retargeting – the idea that an individual has visited a site, left and is subsequently shown ads for that site. This is a great idea and there are very few scenarios where a brand should not be investing in something like this.

However, there are other actions and intents to retarget other than a site visit, but most marketers are still lacking the awareness of these tools and what they do.

The fastest growing is search retargeting – in this case the marketer is not targeting an individual who has visited the site and left, but is retargeting the action of doing a search on Google, Yahoo or Bing and has not yet visited the brand site.

These two tactics are polar opposite to one another – site retargeting is about driving increased revenue from an existing audience, and search retargeting is an acquisition tool designed to find new customers based on their search history.

Site Retargeting – Kill The Overlap

The motivation for this month’s article came from a recent meeting sat in the offices of what I would consider to be a major digital agency to discuss Chango’s search retargeting offering – they had the name, the sexy lobby, the hot client list and even a foosball table, so all the boxes were ticked.

As I talked to the planner on one of their accounts, I was informed that they had 11 site retargeting vendors in place. (Eleven!) With a polite look on my face I enquired why, only to be told that each vendor sends a report every month showing that they are ‘kicking ass’, so why wouldn’t they keep adding vendors?

For those readers who have not just rolled their eyes, the problem is that each vendor is targeting the exact same audience – they are all building identical cookie pools of individuals and are buying the same media from the same exchanges to talk to those same people. They each can see the conversions in their own reports and can claim they are indeed ‘kicking ass’.

Ironically, the site retargeting company that can show the best efficiency is actually the one dropping the fewest impressions, because as long as they scatter enough to be present, they can tap into the conversions from view-thru that were driven by their competitors.

The solution is simple – pick one site retargeting vendor. Note: there are occasional exceptions to this, especially if there is a private exchange you need to target, but this just emphasizes the need to work with a vendor that has access to a comprehensive media list (rather than something very limited such as Google’s network).

Drive Efficiency From Site Retargeting & Search Retargeting

Most wastage I see comes from showing too many impressions, or from building the cookie pool from the wrong events / site pages.

Whether talking about site retargeting or search retargeting, the most important thing to understand is your conversion window. Time and time again, I personally notice I am being retargeted by a brand for a product I looked at way beyond the time when I bought it (Vegas hotels are particularly guilty of this right now).

If your usual product consideration window is 2 days, why are you still serving retargeted ads 30 days later? Whilst I often hear vendors claim that “having a presence is valuable”, you are very likely just associating your brand name with annoyance.

The second factor should be frequency capping. The number that is right for you will vary, but its probably 3 to 9 impressions a day.

And thirdly, it is about who to retarget:

• For a site retargeting campaign only pixel relevant pages (probably not your ‘about’ page, your press page or your careers page, and work with a vendor who can eliminate convertors from your program
• For a search retargeting campaign, make sure you have a partner who optimizes at the keyword level (‘clothes shop’ performs very differently to ‘clothes shopping’)

What Do You Do Now?

Stepping off my soapbox for a moment, let’s look at what you do immediately to drive efficiencies.

1. Use site retargeting to increase the conversion of your site (it is not an acquisition tool)
2. Use search retargeting to find new customers at an efficient CPA
3. Test and implement a frequency cap
4. Use your standard consideration window data and shut down your retargeting for any individual that is outside of that window
5. Verify that your site retargeting program is only targeting the right people by pixeling only the right pages

If done right, these steps should leave you with the same amount of revenue being driven from your site, but from a reduced media investment, freeing up budget to then drive new customers into the pool with an acquisition tool like search retargeting.