You may have noticed that when you browse the web, other websites you previously visited seem to follow you around. You’re likely to see countless banner ads prompting you to revisit those sites. This concept is called retargeting and most all ad network platforms offer some sort of service around the concept including Google AdWords and Facebook.
You may have noticed that when you browse the web, other websites you previously visited seem to follow you around. You’re likely to see countless banner ads prompting you to revisit those sites. This concept is called retargeting and most all ad network platforms offer some sort of service around the concept including Google AdWords and Facebook.
The marketing principle is sound. You’re getting in front of users that have at least some surface level understanding of your company or brand. You’re simply staying top-of-mind by greeting them across the Internet and driving traffic back to you. It can be a particularly effective way to extend your brand to the consumers who are much warmer than the general browsing population.
So how do we do it?
The Creative
It all starts with the creative and Google gives us a great specification for the ad creatives and recommends the following ad sizes:
- Mobile Leaderboard (320 × 50)
- Large Mobile Banner (320 x 100)
- Banner (468 × 60)
- Leaderboard (728 × 90)
- Square (250 × 250)
- Small Square (200 × 200)
- Large Rectangle (336 × 280)
- Inline Rectangle (300 × 250)
- Skyscraper (120 × 600)
- Wide Skyscraper (160 × 600)
- Half-Page Ad (300 × 600)
- Large Leaderboard (970 × 90)
- Vertical Rectangle (240 × 400)
- Billboard (970 x 250)
- Portrait (200 x 1050)
We’ve created a handy template for you that lays out each of these dimensions in a layered Photoshop file that you’re free to use to get started with the ad creative.
Pay close attention to your message here. These are visitors who have been to your website before. If your website does a good job of communicating to new visitors, you can further hone your message here and treat them as if they already have some understanding of you and your company.
The Mechanics
With the creative in hand, it’s time to take it to the ad networks for publishing. We’ve given you some links to resources for popular ad networks to help you get started.
