8+ Tips for B2B Custom Audience Targeting

All paid platforms allow you to create custom audiences based on cookies, emails, telephone numbers, and in some cases even home addresses. But, are you still just using the “all visitors” segment, solely because that’s the default audience a platform gives you?

According to Retargeter, B2B retargeting outperforms B2C retargeting by 402% in terms of conversions per impressions. It is basically insane. So, if it’s so powerful, why are B2B marketers not utilizing these tactics then?

Let’s cover some of the fundamental ideas behind retargeting and some awesome tips to get started or how to optimize your existing efforts.

The Power of Retargeting

Retargeting is a form of online advertising that allows you to connect with users who previously visited your site, interacted with your social profile, or completed a form on your site.

A good portion of users will land on a site and bounce. According to CXL anywhere between 25% to 55% of your B2B users will bounce back without even interacting with any other pages on a site. This is why remarketing can be a powerful way to bring attention back to visitors who might have not gotten completely who you are and what you do.

One of my favorite remarketing tactics is to bring the top of the funnel users who either signed up for a newsletter, infographic or whitepaper and provide them with a middle of the funnel piece such as a webinar or comprehensive guide.

You may be wondering which ad platform should you use to apply your efforts. Worry no more! I have some great information on which ad platforms will your B2B needs the best.

Google Ads Retargeting Capabilities

Google Ads is most likely the first platform to come to mind when considering retargeting. Google allows you to target users based on tags and list uploads:

• Tag:
  • Interactions on your site

• List Upload/Customer Match:
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers
  • Home address (not applicable for business addresses)

Something great about setting Google Ads remarketing based on a tag is that you most likely have Google Analytics installed on your site. This means you can connect your Google Analytics account to your Google Ads account to start creating audiences right away. In the past, you needed to install the Google Ads remarketing code – and why take this extra step if you don’t have to.

List uploads can be very powerful because you can show ads to the right person when they have the right intent (based on keywords, videos watched on YouTube and so on). The downside of list uploads on Google Ads is that historically, the match rate of business email addresses to “matched accounts” is very low – less than 15%. Additionally, Google requires an audience list of at least 1,000 active users to start running ads based on matched audiences but in practice, you need a way higher number to at least see impressions come in.

Furthermore, Google changed its requirements for customer matches. If you have never used it before your account must have:

• A good history of policy compliance and payment record
• At least 90 days of history in Google Ads
• More than USD $50,000 of total lifetime spend
• An assigned account manager

Here you may find further information and a list of the requirements.

Facebook Ads Retargeting Capabilities

Although Facebook is so large with 1.69 billion users, there are so many B2B marketers that are not leveraging the power of Facebook’s retargeting opportunities. The platform allows you to target users based on Pixel and list uploads:

• Pixel:
  • Interactions on your site

• List Upload:
  • Email addresses
  • Phone numbers

Similarly to Google, match rates on Facebook for business emails are very low because users don’t tend to associate their business email with their Facebook profile.

If you still choose to install Facebook Pixel on your site and easily remarket to users who previously interacted with your site to show them relevant offers or content.

LinkedIn Ads Retargeting Capabilities

LinkedIn is the ideal ad platform for B2B marketers. No other platform offers the same targeting capabilities. While LinkedIn does have a tag for targeting site visitors (LinkedIn Insights Tag), the high CPCs and low volume don’t often justify the spend.

This being said, LinkedIn is the best at matching business emails to active LinkedIn users. You can see match rates of 90%+ which is awesome!

Additionally, LinkedIn Ads allow you to add the dream accounts of your sales team to only target the job titles or job functions that you are interested in.

LinkedIn only requires you to match 300 active LinkedIn members to start running retargeting ads. This makes it easier to comply with its requirements – especially compared to Google or Facebook Ads.

Bonus tip: Gather your dream accounts through LinkedIn where the cost is higher but the targeting is more exact. Then use custom UTM strings to retarget them through Facebook or Google Ads where the CPCs are less expensive.

Quora Ads Retargeting Capabilities

Although Quora’s volume is small, the platform provides the unique ability to target users who are looking for specific questions that are potentially related to your business. The platform added retargeting back in 2017 and you have the following retargeting options:

• Tag/Pixel Based:
  • Interactions on your site

• List Uploads:
  • Email Audiences

• Question Retargeting
  • Quora is the only platform that allows you to show ads to users who have previously seen a particular question (s) on the platform.

Question Retargeting is a fabulous option that allows you to show ads to users who are comparing companies and expressing their pain points. It can be a very powerful tool.

Other Retargeting Opportunities

Other platforms such as Reddit, Pinterest, Amazon, and Snapchat provide different retargeting capabilities, but volume tends to be low for B2B companies. The good thing is that if you create an account (which is free) and install their tags on your site, you can quickly determine if these platforms might make sense for your particular B2B business.

8 Awesome B2B Retargeting Ideas to Implement Right Away

Don’t worry, here are some great tactics to get you started:

• Upload your sales dream accounts into LinkedIn Ads – who doesn’t want a happy sales team?
• If you are a SAAS business, exclude users who are going to the site to sign in from your ad campaigns
• If you have a client portal make sure to also exclude existing customers from your paid campaigns
• Create remarketing audiences of users who are in the same stage of the funnel (top, middle or bottom) based on the actions they are taking on your site and remarket them with an ad that shows then the next step in the funnel
• Paid ads are a great ally for upselling existing customers
• If you have a lot of emails, break them up on industries for ideal segmentation and show them ads that are answers to their pain points
• To increase brand loyalty, you can create custom audiences and segments and create targeted campaigns that make them feel good about your relationship or partnership
• If a user didn’t complete a form, remarket to them with a shorter form

Final Thoughts

I can continue to talk about retargeting forever but it’s all about going out there and being creative. Always remember to consider, who you need to re-engage with and why.

Is there a retargeting strategy you can’t live without that I didn’t mention? Please let me know via Twitter.