What are Smart Alternatives to Third-Party Cookies?
Google’s latest guidance is that it expects to end support for third-party cookies sometime in 2024. Meantime, professional marketers are scrambling to test smart alternatives to third-party cookies.
Why? Well, we’ve become very reliant on them. And bad marketers who misused third-party data messed it up for all of us.
Consumers Shouldn’t Fear Cookies, They Should Fear Bad Marketers
Consumers, spooked by the idea that anyone is tracking their on-line activity, have risen up and demanded greater on-line privacy. Google took a leadership role on this front, followed by Apple. But, really, they just pounced on the market opportunity consumers inadvertently created.
Now the owner of your device, website, or app you’re using becomes the sole arbiter of first-party data between you and it — and most EULA (End User License Agreement) language says something to the effect of, “we’ll let you block third parties, but not us.”
The entire “move to privacy” has a strong chance of backfiring on consumers. Be careful what you wish for, because lazy marketers will just go back to “spray and pray” tactics that will likely INCREASE irrelevant advertising in the near term. Oops.
How To Be a Responsible Marketer
Let’s take this in a more positive direction. Quickly.
If you want to be a responsible marketer who targets relevant prospects who actually want or need your product or service and you don’t want to annoy uninterested bystanders, there some smart alternatives to third-party cookies that have proven to work well so far.
Some of these tactics are even out-performing campaigns that have relied on third-party cookies for a long time:
- Contextual Advertising
- First-Party Website Cookies
- LiveRamp Authenticated Traffic Solution
- Google’s Privacy Sandbox
- Digital Fingerprinting
We Are Here to Help
One of the most common ways we create new client relationships is through sharing information and education. As professional marketers who transitioned to digital marketing long before it was the obvious strategy, we add value for customers having learned everything the hard way during the pioneering years of digital marketing.
Whether it’s third-party data that’s your big challenge, or you just have questions and need an honest opinion, we’re here to help. Schedule a free consultation with our team of experts here. Or if you’re not ready to take that step, just sign up for our free e-mail newsletter so you get notified when new articles like this get added to our Local Marketing Blog.
Thanks for visiting today. We look forward to meeting you soon!
