The digital advertising industry is undergoing a once-in-a-lifetime transformation driven by increasing privacy concerns and regulatory changes. While there are still many uncertainties, adopting a wait-and-see approach isn’t prudent. Fortunately, there are actions you can take now to future-proof your advertising strategy by investing in first-party data relationships.

Understanding the Shift in Digital Advertising

As third-party cookies become less effective and privacy regulations become stricter, reaching relevant audiences is becoming more challenging. For example, if your remarketing campaigns still rely on third-party cookies, they may become ineffective, significantly impacting your overall performance marketing strategy. To mitigate this, it’s essential to focus on building and leveraging first-party data.

Building Direct Relationships with Your Audience

Many companies are already taking steps to build direct relationships with their audiences by providing real value, which helps generate first-party data and drives better performance. This can be achieved through the three-M approach: making data sharing meaningful, memorable, and manageable.

• Meaningful: Show users the value of sharing their data, such as receiving more relevant content.
• Memorable: Ensure users remember sharing their data and understand how it will be used.
• Manageable: Provide users with easy-to-use controls to manage their data sharing preferences.

Tactical Steps to Strengthen First-Party Data Collection

1. Build a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Strategy: If you don’t have a DTC strategy, now is the time to create one. For instance, Mondelez launched a website for Sour Patch Kids, allowing fans to customize their candy orders. This strategy helps understand users better and establish durable communication channels.
2. Move Email Capture Forward: With the decline of third-party cookies, email will become a crucial communication tool. Encourage site visitors to share their email addresses by moving email capture to the front of the user journey. Ensure this process is seamless and adheres to ad network policies regarding pop-ups.
3. Incentivize Email Sharing: Offer value-added services like loyalty programs and personalized offers to encourage email sign-ups, avoiding discounts that can lower lifetime value (LTV).
4. Simplify Sign-Ups with Single Sign-On (SSO): Use tools like Google or Facebook Connect to increase email sharing rates. Ensure you retain the user’s email address to maintain communication.

Measuring and Valuing Email Captures

Moving email capture forward may initially lower your paid marketing campaign conversion rates. However, focus on the overall conversion rate, including email conversions, and consider the LTV generated by email marketing. Treat email captures as valued conversions and use Smart Bidding to optimize for both email captures and revenue-driving transactions.

Enhancing Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Once you have more email addresses, improve their value by enhancing your CRM strategy. Invest in audience engagement platforms to communicate across multiple channels (email, SMS, push notifications, chat) and build a comprehensive view of user interactions.

Investing in Technologies for Cookieless Conversion Tracking

1. Site-Wide Tagging: Implement a strong tagging infrastructure using site-wide tagging solutions like the Google tag or Google Tag Manager to accurately measure campaign performance.
2. Consent Mode: Adapt to user consent choices with Consent Mode, which adjusts how Google tags behave based on consent status, filling measurement gaps with conversion modeling when necessary.
3. Enhanced Conversions for Web: Improve conversion measurement without cookies by matching signed-in Google account data with hashed user-provided data.
4. Google Analytics for Firebase SDK: Implement Apple’s App Tracking Transparency framework and use Apple’s SKAdNetwork for install attribution through the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK.

Recommendations for Privacy-Safe Growth

1. Build First-Party Data: Develop stronger relationships with your audience and invest in user engagement platforms to enhance first-party data collection.
2. Measure Data Accurately: Use enhanced conversions and machine learning models to modernize your attribution strategy and complement it with other tools like media mix modeling.
3. Activate Data with Automation: Leverage Google’s automated solutions and machine learning to optimize your advertising strategies and unlock better results from your campaigns.

Conclusion

Investing in first-party data is essential for adapting to the evolving digital advertising landscape. By building direct relationships with your audience, enhancing your CRM strategy, and investing in technologies for cookieless conversion tracking, you can create a durable foundation for future growth. These steps will not only help you comply with privacy regulations but also ensure the profitability and sustainability of your advertising efforts.

The following are the questions from this article:

• Q: What actions should your clients take now?
• Q: You’re working with a customer who wants to invest in a durable first-party data strategy. What should you tell them to do?
• Q: Which two Google tagging infrastructures help clients build durable first-party data?
• Q: How do Google’s user privacy solutions help deliver value to advertisers?
• Q: What’s an example of applying user privacy solutions as a positive business opportunity?
• Q: Which strategy is recommended to encourage as many site visitors as possible to share their email?
• Q: Your client isn’t sure how Consent Mode can benefit their business and asks for your advice. Which feature of Consent Mode should you tell your client about?
• Q: What’s the key benefit of implementing Consent Mode?