As more consumers prioritize privacy, marketers may find themselves having to move away from cookies. Without this useful tool it’ll become more challenging for advertisers to identify, group and target audiences, as well as report on behaviors and conversions.
Key strategies for measuring marketing performance without cookies
What will a cookieless world look like and are there any alternative strategies to measure marketing performance?
1. Partnering with publishers who have first-party data
In a post-cookies world, the first-party data collected by publishers from their subscribers that have ventured beyond the paywall becomes very valuable. To capitalize on it, marketers must scrutinize the composition of the subscribers to ensure it fits with their target audience, before agreeing to any partnership.
This requires having high quality first-party data on their own demographic to match with potential targets. The data provided must also be current, as consumer preferences change so quickly that any out-of-date source material will have lost its relevance.
Learn more: Harnessing the Power of First-Party Data
Marketing ops is more than just software
Transform your marketing by bringing strategy, people, processes and technology together.
VISIT THE HUB ifp.ClickDetails"2. Embracing new and existing technology platforms
AdTech and MarTech stacks have become increasingly useful to marketers running campaigns, but as consumers leave cookies behind, they’ll become vital. AdTech is all about creating more targeted campaigns and its analytics gathering capabilities will ensure paid marketing campaigns end up in front of the right audience.
MarTech can help marketers utilize their database of known customers to learn more about a company’s demographic. This analysis of behaviors will inform the messaging going forward and facilitate a better one-to-one connection with the target audience.
Learn more: The State of Marketing Operations in 2022 [Infographic]
3. Investing in privacy compliance, demographic based IDs
Balancing the juxtaposition between personalization and privacy will be the main feature of a cookieless future, but can be achieved through an ethical data solution. While still honoring opt-outs, converged IDs can use consent-based data to create personalized customer experiences at scale, encapsulating everything from planning to measurement.
4. Contextual targeting
It’s easy to assume that in the world of digital, marketers have to continually be looking forwards and never at the techniques levied in the past. This isn’t the case, as contextual targeting will become more relevant once again in a cookieless environment. Personalized creative can still be produced using theme-based targeting, assuming audiences sit across multiple verticals, even if they’re not identifiable.
5. Data management platforms
Liane Nadeau, Senior Vice President and Head of Precision Media and Investments at Digitas North America, said:
She went on to say that she thinks customer data platforms (CDPs) are in a better position than DMPs to work in a cookieless world. That’s because CDPs are rooted in people and not device IDs, therefore putting the spirit of the shift away from cookies at the heart of measuring performance and targeting individuals online.
6. Demand-side platforms
Demand-side platforms (DSPs) are likely to remain popular as cookies disappear, as they allow campaigns to be managed using an alternative set of parameters. These include:
- Content categories
- Keywords
- Location
- Time of day
- Day of the week
- Site whitelists
- Device
- Browser
- First-party audience
7. Federated Learning of Cohorts
Google has set out its own plans for effectively replacing third-party cookies with Federated Learning of Cohorts (FLoC). It intends to use a number of technologies to enable the level of reporting required by marketers while still protecting consumer privacy.
Google is still evaluating how conversion measurement Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) will be used alongside its other measurement products. Eventually, it expects to have a system that’ll support reporting on view-through conversions, determining reach and performing attribution.
Further reading:
- The Core Four Essential Marketing Technologies
- Why Marketing Data Management Remains a Huge Headache for Marketers
- What Does the Future of Programmatic Advertising Look Like?
Access the latest business knowledge in Marketing
Get Access
Marketing Insights for Professionals
Insights for Professionals provide free access to the latest thought leadership from global brands. We deliver subscriber value by creating and gathering specialist content for senior professionals
Comments
Join the conversation...