Monumental shifts are taking place within the digital marketing ecosystem as it moves closer to prioritizing consumer privacy over unencumbered audience targeting, attribution and personalization. Privacy regulations, such as CCPA, coupled with browsers blocking the use of third-party cookies, are providing real challenges for marketers. Following are three ways brands can tackle these changes and win out in the end, according to a column in AdExchanger by Diane Perlman, CMO of Blis.
Perlman maintains that brands should broaden the scope of their marketing strategies to include customers who are happy sharing their personal data in exchange for a personalized experience as well as those who are not comfortable doing so. Use alternative ways to reach the latter group in order to balance consumer privacy with personalization. “The role of the marketer is now to cater to the variety of responses your target customers will likely provide,” she says.
Secondly, marketers should define what they mean by “personalization.” Some consumers will appreciate an ad served to them that uses their name, while others may find a favorite sport team to be preferable. Brands should determine what types of data they actually need (or don’t need) in order to create a relevant experience.
Third, and most critical, is measurement and attribution. Perlman suggests taking a more comprehensive and holistic approach. “With the vast amount of anonymized data sources available, marketers should be able to isolate and explore the mechanisms between different variables to find the real cause for a specific trend,” she says. “This is a crucial piece of the attribution puzzle that can stop marketers from making poor decisions.”
For more detail on marketers can successfully transition to privacy-first marketing, read on in AdExchanger.