What is remarketing?
Remarketing is a digital marketing technique that helps you reconnect with people who have already shown interest in your brand. You target ads at those who, for example, have visited your website, clicked on a social media post, or interacted with a previous ad. The goal is to maintain their interest and guide them toward a specific action, such as a purchase, a sign-up process, or another conversion.
In other words, you use remarketing to bridge the gap between curiosity and action. You remind potential customers of what they’ve previously viewed or engaged with, and you do so across the platforms they already use—from the Google Display Network to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
How do you use remarketing?
You enable remarketing by placing a small piece of code—often called a tag or pixel—on your website. The tag stores an anonymous cookie in the user’s browser, which makes it possible to identify that the user has visited a specific section of your site. When the user later browses online, you can use platforms such as Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager, or LinkedIn Campaign Manager to display targeted ads based on their previous behavior.
This means that you don’t just reach people once, but that you continue the dialogue with them. For example, you can showcase a product they’ve previously added to their cart or display follow-up content that matches their interests. When you combine this strategy with social media marketing or content creation, you can create consistency between the creative expression and the advertising messages that users encounter across channels.
That's Why You Should Use Remarketing
Remarketing is effective because it focuses on those who have already shown an interest in making a purchase. Instead of spending your budget on entirely new audiences, you invest in retaining existing leads, who often have a shorter path to conversion. This reduces waste and improves your ROI. At the same time, you achieve more relevant communication because the messages are tailored to the user’s previous interactions.
This technique serves as a complement to broader channels such as SEO and branding, where the goal is typically to build visibility and trust. Remarketing takes over once the user is already familiar with you and helps you turn that traffic into concrete results. You do this by tailoring ad content to support the specific stage of the customer journey the user is currently in.
What types and varieties are available?
- Display remarketing: Visual ads on display networks like Google's, where you reach previous visitors with graphic messages.
- Search remarketing (RLSA): Search ads that adjust the bidding strategy, text, and message for users who are already familiar with your brand.
- Dynamic remarketing: Dynamic ads that automatically display the specific products the user has previously viewed.
- Email and SMS remarketing: Direct messages based on data from your CRM system, through which you communicate with users with whom you already have a relationship.
- Cross-channel remarketing: Campaigns that link data and messages across social platforms, search, and display networks.
Although many people use the terms “remarketing” and “retargeting” interchangeably, some experts view remarketing as a broader discipline that also includes direct communication such as email automation, while retargeting is often used to refer to ads shown to anonymous visitors via cookies.
How do you use remarketing in practice?
You’ll get the most out of remarketing when you take a strategic approach to data and targeting. Start by creating segments based on behavior—for example, users who have visited a specific product category but haven’t made a purchase. Then, design ads that address their specific challenge or next step. This could be a discount code, a product demo, or an inspiring blog post.
You can also link your campaigns to your existing data from Google Analytics or advertising tools like HubSpot, giving you a comprehensive overview of how your target audiences move between channels. When you combine remarketing with a well-thought-out content strategy and digital design, you create a significantly more consistent brand experience across touchpoints and increase the likelihood of conversion.
A simple example:
What should you keep in mind?
Balancing personalization and frequency requires careful consideration. If you show the same ads too often, it can lead to ad fatigue among your target audience and, in the worst case, drive users away. That’s why you should always use frequency capping and exclusion lists to ensure your messages remain relevant. You should also test different messages and visual formats through A/B testing to find the combination that performs best.
At the same time, be sure to follow applicable consent rules and cookie policies to ensure that your data collection is transparent. By combining strategic planning, creative execution, and ongoing performance analysis, you can get the most out of remarketing as an integral part of your overall digital strategy.
