Hunting Ad Revenue - ex-Yahoo! starts innovative internet advertising company (Globe St.)

Retargeting, in simple terms, means capitalizing on the relationship you have with people who have already visited your website. As Arjun Dev Arora explains, it’s a way to find your users again after they leave your site.
It’s a way to increase visibility, build customer relationships and increase the likelihood of completing a lead or deal. And for Arora, it’s a marketing technique with significant potential for just about anyone--including commercial real estate developers, multi-family operators and leading retailer.

Arora just resigned his position as head of business development at Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo! Real Estate, a leading real estate search site, to launch San Francisco-based ReTargeter, a site that promises to bring back your website visitors. GlobeSt.com asked Arora about his new venture, retargeting and the implications of behavioral marketing for commercial real estate professionals.

GlobeSt.com: How would you explain ReTargeter.com?

Arora: ReTargeter is the most effective way to optimize your current online ad spend/marketing efforts and a great way to make your brand unforgettable with your customer base. We accomplish this by showing ads to your website’s visitors after they’ve left your site.

GlobeSt.com: You call the ReTargeter network "the first and largest self service behavioral targeting network." What do you mean by that? What makes it unique?

Arora: We have partnered with a few large advertising technology players and thousands of publishers, which is why we consider ourselves a "network." We are "self-serve" in the sense that once you reach out to us, in about three simple steps, your ads are up and running across the web. Finally, we are a "behavioral targeting" network because we only show ads to your website’s visitors. Our uniqueness comes from the ease with which you can set up this solution for your site and the power of our network.

GlobeSt.com: What’s the technology behind the site? Who developed it?

Arora: This technology is a creative amalgamation of several pre-existing technology platforms with some custom work. It was developed by one of the investors/advisors to the company and me.

GlobeSt.com: You say some of the best online marketers, including Netflix, E-trade, Vonage, Verizon, Sprint--even the Obama campaign--have used retargeting. Who else uses it? And, more importantly, who has potential to benefit from it?

Arora: We have recently signed a non-profit organization looking to maximize donations, a rock band looking to sell more albums and a large B2B company, which is targeting high value marketing executives. Any company, organization, politician or musician can use this solution. For example, let’s take a commercial real estate professional that plans to market a multi-unit property online. This technology allows the professional to optimize all the effort and money spent getting people to his/her website by making sure those users come back and continue to be engaged with the property after they leave the site. As the old marketing adage says, "a potential client has to see your brand/ad seven times before they buy." We help with times two through seven.

GlobeSt.com: What’s it cost to use ReTargeter? What’s the potential return on investment?

Arora: For $500 a month, your ads are shown across the web. We work diligently to optimize your ads across the web during the month. So far, the ROI for our clients has always been positive and it is especially strong in high value markets where users are making large purchases--e.g. commercial real estate. Bringing the high value clients/customers back to your site and ensuring that they remember your brand is incredibly powerful.

GlobeSt.com: Are there any specific strategies to make retargeting successful, generally speaking? Do you have to provide a new, better offer to prospects than they’ve already seen on your site to persuade them to return?

Arora: Actually, just having well made creatives--banner ads--is the key to success. People will react to banner ads that have a clear call to action and are professional looking. For a series of tips on how to create powerful display ads, check out our posts on www.twitter.com/ReTargeter. There are some great tips and tricks there.