Categories: Media Planning & Buying|By |3.8 min read|

The Differences between Retargeting and Prospecting Campaigns

The terms “Prospecting” and “Retargeting” float around quite a bit in the online advertising world. However, these terms are not synonymous. They’re actually very different concepts, and both of them are great tools to use for your brand’s ad campaigns and marketing purposes.

Let’s break down what retargeting campaigns and prospecting campaigns are, and what makes them so different from each other.

What are Retargeting Campaigns?

Retargeting campaigns are used to remind visitors to your websites that your products and services are still around– even after they’ve left your website without making a purchase. When a visitor visits a specific product page on your site and then bounces, a retargeting campaign can be used to offer them relevant visual or copy-based ads when they visit other websites.

Typically, a retargeting campaign involves the use of pixels. Pixels are attached to advertisements on social media platforms, websites, and blogs to display relevant content to visitors. When a consumer visits your website and looks at a certain product before leaving, a pixel will show them ads for similar products from your brand shortly after they visit different websites. Now let’s have a look at remarketing vs retargeting

Remarketing vs Retargeting Definition

Retargeting remarketing difference between the two concepts is that Remarketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves reaching out to people who have previously interacted with a brand or its products or services in order to persuade them to take additional actions. Retargeting is a type of online advertising in which individuals who have previously interacted with your website or social media channels are targeted. Retargeting is a powerful tool for increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, and increasing conversions. You can maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns and achieve the best results by tailoring your re targeting strategy to your specific goals and target audience. Marketing vs advertising both play significant roles in remarketing in order to engage potential customers who have already expressed interest in a brand or product.

Retargeting vs Remarketing 

These two concepts are commonly used interchangeably in digital marketing, but there is a difference between remarketing and retargeting. Both strategies aim to connect with potential customers who have previously expressed interest in a company or product, but they use different methods to do this. Remarketing campaigns often use email marketing or targeted advertisements to reach out to customers who have interacted with a brand in some way, such as visiting a website, clicking on an ad, or adding an item to a shopping cart. Retargeting in the sales funnel is to create a series of targeted ads to lure potential customers to act. Retargeting isn’t just used for pulling prospects back into the loop. The customer journey is an ongoing one retargeting can help bring back existing customers who haven’t purchased anything in a while as well as engaged prospects who haven’t committed to a conversion yet.

What are Prospecting Campaigns?

Prospecting campaigns are similar to retargeting campaigns but have a very specific and different focus in mind. Prospecting campaigns are large campaigns that use large amounts of data and data sets in addition to content consumption. Data is collected from publishers, advertising sites, and social media accounts and are analyzed by ad platforms to find customers who are most likely to engage with a specific brand. Prospecting campaigns are less about getting immediate sales and conversions and more about performing valuable analytics for ongoing marketing purposes. If you haven’t found your target market yet, a prospecting campaign can help.

The process of prospecting is relatively simple. It starts with identifying consumers who are most likely to engage through analytics and market research. From there, the prospecting campaign will aim to build relationships with these consumers and uncover their needs. At this point, it’s crucial for marketing specialists and brands to demonstrate the value of the product. Then, it ends with closing with a compelling proposal or losing the consumer entirely. The cycle begins again.

The Differences Between Retargeting and Prospecting Campaigns

The easiest way to explain the major difference between Retargeting vs Prospecting in marketing is that prospecting campaigns looks for consumers who are most likely to become engaged customers while retargeting campaigns aim to bring back potential customers who have bounced.

Prospecting and retargeting campaigns have some similarities as well. They go hand-in-hand as marketing tools that can make a huge difference in online ads. They both offer precise targeting, greater engagement, and increased conversions as well.