With the soon to be extinct third-party cookie, advertisers, and agencies are going to have to look to new ways to track digital customer engagement as well as target key audiences. What began as a way to track online behavior and ensure better targeting has shifted to a growing concern over the misuse of this information.
For more information on what cookies are, what is changing, and why it is important, check out Brunner’s cookie-less POV.
Because no one can expect to control or predict what Google, Apple, and other huge players do, advertisers need to come up with ways to track customer behavior and target key audiences. But more importantly, they need to ensure that they are doing so in an ethical way focused on customer privacy.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Instead of trying to fight the inevitable, Brunner is taking steps to maintain strong measurement across all advertising channels and find new and better ways to target key audience segments, all while ensuring privacy is at the forefront. Download Brunner’s latest cookie-less attribution and targeting guide to learn how we have identified alternatives to tracking and targeting.
First-party data will become essential to supplement pixel-based remarketing and lookalike models through the capture of ‘soft’ conversions like email addresses and phone numbers. How can advertisers do this in a creative and non-invasive way? Instead of expecting customers to fill out long forms or supply email addresses without getting anything in return, advertisers should instead look to allow customers to provide information in exchange for a value. Brunner is working with clients to develop new and creative ways to collect customer data in non-invasive ways, all while providing value back to the customer. This includes recommending simple strategies like supplying an email address for the download of a brochure or suggesting the creation of a less information-heavy applications for 4-year and master’s degree programs so that they can begin the application process without having to fill out 30 pages of information.
ENSURING PRIVACY & ETHICAL COLLECTION OF FIRST-PARTY DATA
Customers have proven that they are willing to provide their information, especially when exchanged for a value (whether it be a free beer or results to a cat personality test). However, they also expect that the context in which they are providing their information is upheld, and that companies aren’t using that data to be sold or to be used out of context. Brunner is partnering with clients to ensure that their focus on first- and zero-party data follows Forrester’s tenets of contextual privacy: transparency, choice, and caution.
SILVER LINING?
While the immediate response of most advertisers when they think of the looming demise of the third-party cookie is one of panic and uncertainty, Brunner feels that this can actually be an opportunity to be better marketers. Learn more about how Brunner feels poised to change the viewpoint to something of positivity for their clients and their customers, who we will aim to get to know better in a more ethical and privacy-focused approach.