Preparing for a Marketing World Without Cookies

If you’ve followed the digital marketing industry in recent years, you know that the deprecation of cookies has been a central point of discussion in marketing. Cookies are slated to be sunset in 2023, but Google has already pushed this timeline back several times. But regardless of whether or not Google keeps its target date, advertisers can no longer rely on cookies as a part of their marketing strategy. This change will ultimately have a lasting impact on the advertising industry, likely to affect everything from ROI to privacy policies.

Luckily, advertisers and small business owners have plenty of time to adjust their strategies, but their changes need to impact the upcoming shift significantly. Here at JSL Marketing & Web Design, we put our heads together and started thinking through the future of advertising. Every business’s game plan for a post-cookie world will be unique, but we put together some starting points to consider.

Keep reading to learn more about marketing in a post-cookie world!

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small pieces of data that help users identify you. Think of it like a valet park situation. You visit a website and receive a small amount of data that links your computer to you and your searches, much like a parking lot might give you a ticket to identify which vehicle is yours. There are many uses for cookies so we won’t dive into the finer technical details. (But you can read more here if you are interested in learning more!) We can, however, share three of their common uses:

• Authentication

• Personalization

• Tracking

Essentially, cookies help advertisers and websites curate and personalize their message and content to your interests. This also allows advertisers to understand more about you as a user and what advertising content they are interested in.

Are you a small business owner? A heavy news consumer? An Atlanta Falcons fan? A Quick Service Restaurant frequenter? Cookies help advertisers expand their reach outside off-the-shelf data segments and show ads to a particular audience with more efficient data collection.

Naturally, the demise of cookies will have a significant impact on the industry. The main consequences we can expect are

• Difficulty personalizing content to users

• Difficulty tracking users

• Difficulty expanding target audiences

Ultimately, advertisers will have a hard time knowing which users are interested in their product, resulting in less successful paid ad campaigns.

However, Google’s delayed timeline for the deprecation of cookies means you have more time to plan accordingly and develop your strategy for a cookieless future.

Cookie Tip #1: Rely On Other Mediums

You might be lucky if your business spends only some of its marketing budget on advertising. Marketers can use a slew of mediums to reach new customers that will be largely unaffected by the end of cookies. Social media advertising, search engine optimization, and Pay-Per-Click advertising are all tactics you should consider weaving into your outreach. You should be diversifying your marketing tactics already, but the fall of cookies is the perfect excuse to reevaluate what mediums are part of your media mix.

Cookie Tip #2: Put Relationships First

Cookies primarily help advertisers reach, track, and serve new customers, but a marketing strategy that relies on customer loyalty will likely be unscathed by the loss of cookies. We encourage advertisers to keep reaching out to their existing clientele as cookies are sunset. Tactics like email marketing are a great way to engage with your customer base without relying on cookies.

This is good advice for a post-cookie world but also good business advice. Your existing customers are much more likely to convert than new clients, and they are typically a more cost-effective audience. Marketing to your current clients will help your business grow, regardless of whether or not Google allows cookies.

Cookie Tip # 3: Don’t Forget Conversion Rates

Cookies have historically helped advertisers reach people via online advertising. This has led to more potential customers entering any advertiser’s pipeline. However, the end of cookies means many businesses will struggle to categorize and reach potential customers. Most of those brands will likely see fewer people in their marketing funnel. So how do you handle this curveball?

Well, improvements in conversion rates can help brands offset any declines due to a loss of cookies. Suppose you have 100 new leads in a month, and 2% of those can be expected to purchase from you. If those monthly leads decline to 80 a month, but your conversion rate rises to 5%, you’re getting more purchases than before! We suggest focusing on conversion rates and optimizing accordingly for the best results! Changes in email copy, web design, branding, and Calls To Action can boost conversion rates and help you succeed in a cookie-less world!

Cookie Tip #4:  Improve The Customer Experience

Since cookies help advertisers reach more people, most advertisers expect a decline in new leads and web traffic post-cookie deprecation. We’ve talked about how conversion rate improvements can offset traffic declines, but improving your customer experience can also help! Responsive web design, quicker customer service via chatbots, and e-commerce landing page optimizations also help streamline your customer experience and reduce the risk of steep traffic declines post-deprecation.

Contact JSL Marketing For A Cookieless Strategy

Need help planning a marketing strategy to deal with these advertising industry changes? Look no further than JSL Marketing & Web Design! We’re an award-winning Dallas marketing agency ready to help you review and optimize your marketing strategy.

Fill out the form below and get in touch with our experts!