The Approaching Cookie-less World

The end of cookies is approaching – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With many marketers reacting and responding in different manners to the encroaching deadline of 2023 as presented by Google, it’s clear that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all for this transition. But despite that, the best next step is to simply dive right in. This next year holds the unique capabilities for you and your team to test drive your cookie-less strategy, so that when the bandaid is ripped off, there’s nothing to worry about.

If you’re wondering where exactly to begin, Quantcast and Digiday put together a guide on “The marketer’s playbook for the post-cookie world,” full of helpful insights, recommendations, and tips for the transition. You can download it here.

Here are our top takeaways from the download (though definitely check it for yourself!):

1. As already stated – don’t wait. This transition period gives you time to figure out what strategy and tactics will work best for you and your clients, before you have to switch to cookie-less. Test in both a cookie and cookie-less environment, view and resolve metrics differences, and figure out what will have to change once cookies are fully gone.
2. Don’t fear the loss of cookies. Since cookies have been the be-all-end-all for so long in marketing, the cookie-less market is less saturated, has lower costs, and provides a whole new world of inventory that is not currently accessible with your cookie-marketing strategy.
3. Focus on data, not necessarily results – right now. It’s still early, and cookies do still exist. Don’t put all your effort into achieving high results in your cookie-less strategy, and instead look more towards gathering as much data as possible before cookies disappear. Set your future self up for success.
4. Similarly to the previous point, keep your goals to a minimum. Focus on just a few things to learn and test when starting out, and then build up from there. Also, make sure you test your strategy and campaigns for a reasonable amount of time (think a couple of months), so that you have enough data before making any changes. As it’s a whole new environment, changing too many things at once or too quickly could easily skew your understanding of the results.
5. Consider a third-party partner to assist you and your company on the transition from cookies to cookie-less. There is a lot to learn with this transition, and there are partners out there that already have the knowledge and resources. If you do decide to work with a third-party, make sure you vet them thoroughly (check out the guide for suggestions).

All in all, while cookies will be gone in less than a year, the new marketing possibilities remain endless. Read more in Quantcast’s and Digiday’s guide, and contact BLKDG if you’re interested in learning more or getting that jump-start on your cookie-less marketing!