What will a cookie-less future look like?
Third-party cookie tracking has been slowly dying since Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) came into play. Even Google’s Chrome will soon get controls that let consumers block cookies. So what does this mean for digital marketers as we see this significant change in online advertising?
Ad networks are already adapting and finding loopholes in the future of digital ad tracking, and there are a few ways you can break your cookie addiction too.
Programmatic targeting will focus on anything keyword or keyword contextual-based. Also, people-based targeting heavily focused on consumer data will be very important. And building as much first-party data as possible.
The move to contextual targeting will also mean a move back to focusing on producing and distributing relevant content.
With contextual targeting, the ads you see are based on the content you are looking at instead of your overall behaviour profile. So when you are looking at your dog blog, you see ads for chew toys, and when you’re reading up on how to improve user engagement on your social media campaigns, you see ads for relevant social media management tactics.
The future of automation will continue with AI-based programmatic advertising. Utilized with first and second party consumer-driven data. Google & Facebook will still be the primary 2nd party go-to platforms. And any 3rd party data source will have to change gears and become a data content resource to remain relevant.
There shouldn’t be that much job loss that goes along with a more AI automated ad buying future, more of a job shift to new positions requiring different skills. Automation has just made the easy parts of buying easier, and the hard parts harder, like campaign reporting methods that still need a human touch.
As long as organizations are creating cookieless tracking systems that allow for protecting privacy, they will be steps ahead of even the largest platforms in the world. The innovations that are available to marketers who are disconnected from the flaws of cookie tracking are diverse.
Derrick Branco 