Ad Retargeting Misunderstood

Interesting article from FetchBack comparing the ROI of Search to Display.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=104840

Very relevant when looking at how marketing dollars are spent but also completely missing the point.

The mindset of someone seeing a display ad and a search ad is simply not comparable, it belongs in completely different parts of the purchase funnel.

If a display ad can change the user from consuming content to clicking and converting then it is doing 10x the job of search which is ... honestly mostly used as a navigational tool for consumers ready to buy.

Marketing 101:
When targeting people already aware of your brand and product and with purchase intent use Paid Search.
When targeting consumers unaware or uninterested in your brand, use a display channel to change this perception.

Why are we comparing Search to Display, shouldn't we be asking our selves how much the channels support one another, and how to optimize across channels, instead?

One comment to the article nails it:
"research that suggests a push medium outperforms a pull medium defies basic logic"

-Troels Smit