Remarketing VS Retargeting – 9 Differences You Need To Know

Remarketing VS Retargeting - 9 Differences You Need To Know

Given how popular digital marketing strategies have become since the turn of the century, there is no denying the effectiveness of these strategies. Each strategy such as paid advertisement or social media marketing work in their unique ways.

Because of this, some strategies are more fitting for businesses than others depending on their marketing situation. This is where most of the confusion of digital marketing strategies come from. Understanding the fundamental differences of what makes one strategy different from another can be quite confusing to website and business owners.

A great example of this can be seen with the remarketing and retargeting strategies. Not only do they sound the same, even professional digital marketers sometimes mix up the two strategies due to overlapping similarities.

In reality, the minor differences between the two can make a huge difference in a marketing campaign when all factors are taken into account. More so than making a difference, knowing the specifics of these strategies goes a long way in helping businesses allocate their marketing budget efficiently.

Overall, these strategies contribute to the success of the main goal of marketing in the first place, a high return on investment. Having said all of that, let’s go over nine differences you need to know about the remarketing and retargeting digital marketing strategies.

#1: The Analyzed Interactions

 In the remarketing vs retargeting strategy debate, one topic that always comes up is the analyzed interactions. While arguing which strategy has the most effective analyzation methods, simply understanding that there’s a difference is very important.

Specifically, retargeting focuses on targeted visitors based on their interactions after they have left your site. On the other hand, remarketing focuses on the incompleted specific actions taken by a website visitor such as an incomplete cart or verified email.

In other words, the marketed strategy focuses on finding a specific reason to reach out.

#2: The Campaign Types

Another important distinction to know about each strategy is the type of campaign they are in. While both of them are in the general marketing campaign category, the type that they’re in is important to note given that one requires specific financial backing.

When it comes to the marketed strategy, the campaign type that is always used is email marketing. This allows for personalized messages as a way to retain clients. For the targetted strategy, the campaign type is situated in the retargeted campaign section inside Google Ads.

This type requires more of a focused financial backing.

#3: The Type Of Ad Copy

 Another topic that always comes up in the remarketing vs retargeting debate is which strategy has the better ad copy structure. In other words, which strategy allows for more convincing and persuading ways to bring a customer back to a website.

In reality, both structures have their benefits and drawbacks to them. However, the ad copy itself is another difference that needs to be addressed.

With the marketed strategy, the ad copy is in the form of a personalized email message including specific reasons for incompleted actions. With the targeted type, the main centrepiece of the ad includes a compelling infographic to draw attention.

#4: The Type of Platforms Used

One of the more obvious differences between the two strategies is the platforms used to implement them. When it comes to the targeted strategy, the platform used is the same one used for paid advertising. That platform would be the Google Ads and Facebook Ads interface.

As far as the marketed strategy is concerned, any third-party email marketing platform can be used.

#5: The Budget Costs

 As mentioned before, the targeted strategy requires specific financial backing because it is inside the Google Ads platform. This is because Google treats this strategy as another ad that requires factors such as ad placement.

However, that doesn’t mean that the marketed strategy is free to use. While it may be cheaper in some cases, the marketed strategy takes up website costs, marketing platform costs, and other similar factors. 

#6: The Network Type

 On the technical side of things, another difference to understand is the type of network that they’re in. This is important as it gives you an idea as to how to structure and place your ad copy.

That said, this difference only involves the targeted strategy. More specifically, the targeted strategy is situated within the display network. This doesn’t necessarily matter with the marketed strategy as most ad copy comes in the form of personalized emails.

#7: The Quantity Of Strategy Exposure

 One of the most significant differences between the two strategies is the quantity of exposure. In other words, knowing how many times it takes to send a targetted email or ad before it successfully converts.

With the targetted strategy, the number of ads needed to convert a client should ad up to around 25% of total customers. With an email campaign, the numbers of email sent should be no more than three a month.

#8: The Best Time To Implement These Strategies

 As you might have guessed, timing is everything when it comes to implementing these strategies. For example, you don’t want to send out a compelling ad in the of the night when no is available to check their email.

That said, for the marketed strategy, the best time to send an ad is any time between normal working or office hours. This range is the typical 9-5 work time range.

As for targetted ads, there is no specific time to send an ad as the tracking code used to send the ad will automatically place an ad whenever a customer is on a display network site.

#9: The Strategy Resouces & Tools

 As with any other digital marketing strategy, there are different tools that will help you implement them. The same thing can be applied to both the marketed and targetted strategies.

Each strategy has specific tools that make it easier to track, measure, and convert a client.