For an ad to be most effective, it needs to appear in front of someone multiple times. Generally, it takes multiple appearances before they have some sort of recognition. It takes more appearances before the person recognizes and remembers the ad. Then, it takes even more appearances for the person to remember the ad and associate it with your business. If you want your event promotion to be as effective as possible, you need to utilize ad retargeting as a part of your marketing and promotion strategy.
How Retargeting Ads Work for Events
When you include retargeting in your online marketing strategy, you focus on using paid ads that appear in front of your target market who have previously interacted with your website or social media. Paid retargeting ads increase the number of touchpoints between you and your target client. With more visibility, you increase your engagement rate and ROI.
Tracking Website Visitors
The first step in setting up a retarget ad campaign is to set up website visitor tracking. You need to know who visits your website so that you know who you should target with your ad campaign. You can do this by adding a tracking pixel or code to your event planning website. The tracking code will tell you demographic information about the website visitors. It will tell you where they spend the most amount of time on your website and how they navigate the website from one page to the next.
Segmenting Your Audience
Once you have website visitor data to work with, begin segmenting them into categories. Focus on their actions while visiting your website. There will be visitors who spend a significant amount of time on the types of event planning services that you offer. Other visitors may spend their time on a specific event page, reviewing details. There could be others who started registering for an event but didn’t complete their registration. This type of information is essential because it will help you tailor your messaging in your retargeted ads.
Creating Tailored Ads
Now that you have your website visitors divided into categories, you can start creating campaigns for each segment. Create customized ads that speak directly to the type of behavior the visitors in that segment exhibited. Speaking directly to their actions increases the likelihood that your personalized ads will have the maximum impact. For visitors who look at your services, you can create ads that highlight the different types of events that you plan. For visitors looking at event details, you can include the essentials in your ads with an encouragement to register. You can encourage visitors who didn’t complete registration to return and complete registration. You can also offer a discount or promotion that will encourage them to take action.
Setting Frequency Caps
With your target audience and ads ready, the final step is to create your campaign. Decide how often you want your ads to appear in front of someone. More is not always better. The goal is to create the right balance. Seeing your ads too often will result in ad fatigue and annoyance, which will create negative feelings in the visitor. Not showing them often enough will create too much lag between ads, which creates a disjointed retargeting ad campaign. The visitor may not maintain an effective level of familiarity.
Benefits of Retargeting Ads for Events
Using retargeting ads has several benefits. All of them contribute to your overall goal of increasing your profits and growing your event planning business.
1. Increased Conversions
As an event planner, you likely have two sources for conversions. The first is people booking you to plan their events. Retargeting ads help you increase these bookings by having your event planning business appear in front of those searching for an event planner. The other method for conversion would be someone registering for your event or buying event tickets. Unlike someone looking to hire an event planner, website visitors aren’t comparing your event with others. They are deciding whether or not they want to attend your event. Retargeting ads can convince them to attend by highlighting the desirability and benefit of attending your event.
2. Enhanced Brand Recall
Because retargeting ads have your brand appear repeatedly in front of someone, your brand becomes more recognizable. This enhanced brand recall is important because it will create familiarity with your target market. This repeat exposure will increase the likelihood that someone will seek out your brand later. They will also recognize your brand later when seen in association with other events. By keeping your brand at the top of their mind, you are establishing familiarity and trust.
3. Targeted Audience Engagement
People are more likely to interact with your event planning business because they feel a sense of familiarity. The repeated exposure from your retargeting ads increases the likelihood that they will engage with you through your website, ads, or social media. Your retargeting ads are you responding and making offers to engage back with them. Because you are opening the door to continue the conversation, you make it more likely that website visitors will engage with you.
4. Cost-Effective Marketing
Using retargeting ads is more cost-effective than using traditional paid ads or other forms of marketing. The ad campaigns are aimed at those who have already shown an interest. Because of this, you have put the odds in your favor that you will convert someone. Your target market already has some familiarity and interest, which gives you a basis from which to work. Consider this similar to the cost comparison of reengaging a former customer vs. converting a brand-new customer who has never heard of your event planning business.
5. Improved Event Attendance
Using retargeting ads as a part of your marketing strategy increases conversions, brand recall, and engagement, which all lead to increased event attendance. Because these ads target people who have shown an interest in your business, you are focused on those who are most likely to complete a conversion. These undecided people may not have completed their registration on their own without your encouragement.
Create a Retargeting Ad Campaign
For a marketing strategy that can deliver a favorable ROI, consider adding a retargeting ad campaign to your online marketing strategy. By focusing on a target market that has already shown an interest in your event planning business, you give your business an advantage. You can build familiarity and trust that will lead to increased event planning bookings and event attendance.
Attend industry events for more tips and tricks to improve your event planning business. The Event Planner Expo brings together the best in the industry for education, networking, and innovation. Learn how retargeting ads have worked for others and what strategies have produced the greatest ROI. Get all the marketing advice you need for a monumental 2025 when you get in the room with the industry’s best at The Event Planner Expo 2024. Secure your All Access tickets today!
