How To Overcome The Doom & Gloom Surrounding 3rd Party Cookies
You’ve likely heard the doom and gloom about the death of the third-party cookie and the end of cross-app behavior tracking. It’s true – some things will change – but with change comes opportunity. The good news is brands with strong relationships with their users and appropriately gather their own first-party data will thrive.
What Happened, Who Is Involved, What Tech Changes?
- Google announced its intention to eliminate third party cookies on Chrome by the end of 2021
- Apple will require apps that use IDFAs to notify users via pop-up notifications to obtain opt-in consent.
- Third-party cookies are tracking codes placed on a web visitor’s computer. They relay information and behavior to the cookie’s owner.
- IDFAs (unique Identity for Advertisers) is primarily used by Facebook to track affinity and interest targeting options in Facebook advertising
So Reaching The Right Healthcare Professionals is Difficult Now?
Yes and no. You still own your relationship with your customers. All of your first party data is available and all the “bag of tricks” such as contextual advertising, retargeting using first party data, nurturing and leveraging your email list, and strategic media partnerships will help you resonate offsite with your targeting audience.
“Organizations that own direct relationships with high-value audiences and do not rely on third-party tracking will enjoy a distinct advantage over those that do not” – Leverage Lab
However, certain tactics will be impacted. Apple’s change will negatively impact affinity and interest targeting on Facebook. Advertisers will find it more difficult to retarget website visitors on iOS devices unless they have first party data to lean on. If you build ad campaigns on top of spotty PII data without third party “enhancements” then targeting may be more expensive and less effective.
What Are Some Good Solutions?
Build relationships with your customers and partnerships in your industry. There is currently no projected impact to first-party cookies. Everything that happens on your site and in your emails could be tracked with proper consent protocols in place – which means you can still learn about your customer’s behavior and connect with them at the right times. Also, you should work with publishers who already have the attention and trust of your audience.
“Developing strong relationships with customers has always been critical for brands to build a successful business, and this becomes even more vital in a privacy-first world. [Google] will continue to support first-party relationships on our ad platforms for partners, in which they have direct connections with their own customers. And we’ll deepen our support for solutions that build on these direct relationships between consumers and the brands and publishers they engage with.” David Temkin, Director of Product Management for Google
“Developing strong relationships with customers has always been critical for brands to build a successful business, and this becomes even more vital in a privacy-first world. [Google] will continue to support first-party relationships on our ad platforms for partners, in which they have direct connections with their own customers. And we’ll deepen our support for solutions that build on these direct relationships between consumers and the brands and publishers they engage with.” David Temkin, Director of Product Management for Google
MEDQOR’s Commitment To Privacy And Relationships
Medqor is not impacted by the deprecation of third party cookies and other third party tracking, because our marketing and advertising products were never built using third party cookie infrastructure. We have always invested in our first party data and our privacy compliant relationship with our consumers. No cookies? No problem. We operate ten different trusted healthcare brands which reach across much of the healthcare space. We’ve invested millions of dollars in database and CDP development and spent multiple decades building trustworthy relationships with our customers, crafting content and uncovering industry stories to help healthcare professionals stay on the cutting edge and improve patient outcomes.