Is the online advertising industry on the verge of a total renaissance?
For the last 25 years, marketers have heavily relied on third-party cookies for users’ analytics, behavioral targeting, retargeting, and any sort of data-driven advertising, but these will soon be a thing of the past. By 2022, the way industry is using cookies will dramatically change as a result of Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies.
And while many marketing professionals are not thrilled with the news, aren’t trends meant to change?
The future of privacy is getting remodeled, and the future of online advertising too.
But has this data been really effective in ad targeting? I’m not so sure.
Ever since the birth of cookies, marketers have overused them to track internet users’ every move – age, gender, location, behavior, and much more. But when it comes to effectiveness, cookies-based targeting doesn’t hold the best track record. It’s neither accurate nor close to it. It is just like random guessing and solving the crossword puzzle. Cookie-based targeting is good for branding activities, but sets you back when it comes to the delivery of ROI.
So, what’s next? How will the advertisers survive the cut-throat competition post the demise of third-party cookies?
Welcome to the Rise of Contextual Targeting
Contextual targeting or context-based targeting is used to place ads adjacent to relevant content. In the digital world, contextual targeting includes much more than the content itself. Brands can get gritty with context by targeting video titles, descriptions, audio transcripts, comments, related keywords, and all metadata files.
These content signals give contextual targeting over behavioral targeting by drilling into the things consumers are actively looking for when they search for content. Brands can start mining these signals and deliver personalized messaging.
Even if a consumer opts out of cookie-based targeting, a website with shoe content can share insights with different shoe brands about the type of consumers visiting their website. Insights like when, how frequently, and why different consumers might visit a page can be shared with brands. These brands can advertise on the website with targeted messaging.
Google’s “Custom Intent Audiences” feature helps a brand to target ad campaigns based on the insights captured from search and content history. This is somewhat like behavioral targeting that informs contextual targeting on video and display. Many publishers are partnering with brands to provide them insights into targeting strategies.
Keeping up with the Change – Advertising Tactics Post Demise of Third-Party Cookies
So, what are marketers going to do without the comfort of third-party cookies? Just get creative with their advertising strategy.
1. Leverage New Performance Metrics
Most marketers believe metrics like clicks and CTR are important metrics to monitor. Marketers don’t need to look to the third-party cookies data to unfold valuable campaign insights. Campaign performance can be measured by analyzing the website data.
Paying attention to how campaigns influence branded search is one of the ways to measure success. Or, your metric can be the effect advertising has on direct and organic website traffic.
How about tracking the average time a visitor spends on a landing page post a click?
2. Investing in Quality Platforms and Ad Placements
Before technology, brands were more interested in investing in advertising placements. An easy strategy that worked. Modern-day marketers should always be investing in advertising opportunities that best align with their brands. Actively exploring the publishers with an established online presence among your target audience will help you invest in high-quality ad placements that will actually reach them.
Consumers are not always glued to their social media handles and search engines. They subscribe to engaging newsletters, listen to podcasts, and visit specific online publishers every day. These are all contextually-based opportunities that marketers must explore to connect with consumers and share their targeted message.
Finding an ad platform that can help reach these publishers directly will have a significant impact on your advertising strategy.
3. Landing Page Retargeting
Most marketers use third-party cookies for ad targeting. The bad news is that this will not be possible for much longer. The news is that retargeting without cookies is still possible.
All you have to do is create a dedicated landing page that corresponds to your ad campaign. Once you start your campaign, you can run retargeting campaign against the visitors of that dedicated landing page. This ensures that you are not retargeting irrelevant consumers. It’s one of the brilliant strategies to move consumers through different stages of your funnel.
The End with a Beginning
Third-party cookies have taught us not to become overly reliant on a technology that could disappear tomorrow. While this change might seem to be overwhelming, there are multiple consumer-approved and industry-friendly approaches that can help you achieve the same outcomes.
Advertising in a post-cookie world is a new opportunity for marketers to explore new channels, innovate and create a good relationship with audiences. A deeper understanding of content preferences can help brands innovate and create a more flexible plan.
Contextual targeting is there to offer a new avenue of opportunities to the marketers. In this case, contextual relevance is in the eye of the beholder as much as it is in the eyes of the brand.
Third-party cookies have run their course.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
