Marketing In a "Post-Cookie World"

Abstract
There is no announcement that sent more shockwaves through the marketing world than
Google's decision to phase out the use of third party cookies by the beginning of 2022.
But, many popular browsers already block third-party cookies by default. Combine that
with the challenges of cross-device attribution and in many ways, we are already living in
a post-cookie world. Learn how to focus your efforts, maintain relevance and measure
interactions with real value, even without reliance on third-party data.

Summary
As a "privacy-first" initiative, Google
plans to remove support for third-
party cookies across their ad networks
and Chrome browser by the beginning
of 2022. Some popular browsers, like
Safari and Firefox, already block third-
party cookies by default.
Cross-device attribution and multi-
touch attribution have always been
challenging for marketers to track.
Changes to third-party cookies will
disrupt many common tracking
models and advertising plans.
According to McKinsey, about 78% of
digital advertising in 2020 was
programmatic and may be impacted.
Without third-party tracking, it will
become even more important for
marketers to utilize first-party data in a
way that adds value for their customers.
Find opportunities to improve first-party
data collection, like the new version of
Google Analytics, registered/logged-in
users, and your CRM.
A strategic shift will also be needed in
advertising placement, and this will
require robust buyer personas.
Contextual advertising will replace
traditional retargeting and ecosystems
that can reach people based on first-
party data will see more utilization.

© 2021 Refinery Lab

Post-Cookie Considerations
Collect and make better use of first- Marketers are always fond of saying they
party data want to make "the right offer to the right
customer at the right time," and one of
The more first-party data you have, the the easiest ways to do this is to create a
better your view is of your customer - full marketing preference center within
how they interact with your site, what your website or app. Allow customers to
drives their purchases and what channels select the channels of their choice - like
and offers will drive them to convert. text or email marketing - as well as which
There are some hurdles to overcome to of your product lines they want to hear
get customers to trust you with more of about.
their information - according to a study
by Pew Research Center, 72% of people
already feel that almost everything they
do online is being tracked by advertisers,
tech firms and companies, and 81% say
the potential risks of so much data
collection outweigh the benefits.

How can you get the right first-party

data to offer real value? First, take a look
at your existing website and app
offerings. A simple step - encourage
customers to register, log in and stay
logged in. This eliminates cross-device
issues, and provides the opportunity to
measure their interest in products and
services. Special offers, tailored
recommendations and other exclusive
content or downloads are good ways to
encourage logins and registrations. Gated
content has long been a strategy for B2B
businesses to get prospects into their
CRM, and it will remain essential to
understanding these prospective buyers'
intent.

© 2021 Refinery Lab

Loyalty programs are another way to
reward customers for sharing more of
their data. This can help link online and
offline purchases, attribute browsing
behavior to purchases and give you
additional demographic information that
customers provide in order to receive
more personalized and relevant reward
offers.
Your website tracking may also need an
upgrade. For example, Google Analytics
has launched a new product - named
"Google Analytics 4" - designed to
address many of the concerns related to
attribution. Its advanced machine
learning models can help you identify
overall trends in customer needs,
aggregate and predict potential revenue
from groups of customers and calculate
the probability of churn from various
customer sources. There will also,
assuredly, be new players in this market
looking to help solve attribution
challenges.
And finally, make sure your internal team
is skilled up to the challenge of leveraging
all of this data. Software will provide
some of the inferences, but there is no
substitute for the ability to use those
insights to draw meaningful conclusions
that drive strategy.
Context is everything
In the past, you may have followed your
current and prospective customers
everywhere with retargeting ads, based
on where they were in the sales cycle.
Now, you'll need to target your
messaging to specific arenas where you
think those customers might be. The first
step, if you haven't thought about your
customer personas in a long time, is to
update this tried-and-true marketing tool.
What are your prospective buyers'
interests? What can you expect them to
be watching, reading or doing? This small
investment will have major impact in
selecting the right contextual advertising
opportunities.
It's also a good opportunity to consider
your location marketing strategy. As a
contextual tool, "near me" searches for
specific products or services are a
substantial indicator of purchase intent.
Easily attract and convert these searches
to purchases with a robust presence on
Google My Business and your store
locator, so it's easy to find you on Maps,
see your store hours and special offers,
get directions and more. Especially if you
have multiple locations, a comprehensive
management tool can help optimize and
unify your presence.
© 2021 Refinery Lab
Make the most of partner platforms
Even before the Google announcement
about third-party cookies, platforms like
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook had been
ramping up their advertising and
targeting offerings, seeking a larger piece
of companies' advertising budgets. These
"walled gardens" can collect a wide
variety of first-party data about people
who are your current or potential
customers. While they, too, have made
many changes recently to better address
customer privacy concerns, they still
provide robust options for interest
targeting.
Partner platforms can be an arena for
more than just ads. Seek out
opportunities that allow you to utilize
these platforms for seamless
transactions. For example, creating a
Facebook showroom with a real-time
feed of your available products is a great
way to reach potential customers on a
channel where they are already
comfortable, and facilitate an immediate
and seamless sales process that doesn't
require complex tracking of the customer
across multiple devices or from an ad to
your website.

Often LinkedIn is the platform of choice

for B2B marketers while B2C advertisers
flock to Facebook, but much like
contextual advertising, picking the right
partner platform requires an
understanding of your customer persona.
And don't forget that the big three social
networks aren't the only ones out there.
For example, recently, Hulu deployed
self-service advertiser tools that make it
easier to promote your products
alongside the content your customers
watch. We expect to see more growth in
this area from both existing and new
streaming and social services that
command a large portion of people's
attention.

© 2021 Refinery Lab

 Summary
A "post-cookie world," while scary in
theory, provides an opportunity for
marketers to refocus on what matters:
their relevance to their customers.
Major players like Google and innovative
startups alike already offer, and will
continue to develop, powerful and
important tools for collecting, analyzing
and making optimizations based on your
first-party data. When those
optimizations add value, your customers
will enthusiastically opt in.
When it comes to reaching new
customers, your relevancy matters now
more than ever. In the absence of
retargeting and third-party interest
tracking, first, revisit your available first-
party data and use it to offer real value.
Then, explore available contextual
advertising offerings and platforms that
collect a wealth of knowledge about their
users, as well as their ways to directly
connect your offerings to your buyers.
This will provide the best opportunities
to reach the right people at the right
time.

Ready to get started in with new strategies for the post-cookie world?
Contact us at info@refinerylab.com or +1-720-319-7860 to learn more
about customer persona building, contextual advertising, location
management tools, Facebook showroom platforms and other ways to
add more linearity to the complex conversion progress.

© 2021 Refinery Lab