{"id":143005,"date":"2021-02-16T17:49:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T17:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=143005"},"modified":"2021-02-16T17:49:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T17:49:55","slug":"the-content-renaissance-more-than-the-demise-of-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/02\/16\/the-content-renaissance-more-than-the-demise-of-cookies\/","title":{"rendered":"The content renaissance: More than the demise of cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A cookieless reality is imminent, but advertisers can\u2019t afford to run out the clock, willing an identity solution into existence.<\/li>\n<li>Today\u2019s environment is molded by privacy regulation, changing browser policies, and pandemic-induced consumer behavior shifts.<\/li>\n<li>Nativo&#8217;s SVP of Product comments on the need for a strategic pivot to content and context today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>While the advertising industry fixates on Google\u2019s 2022 expiration date for third-party cookies, a failure to live in the here and now is costing brands daily. A cookieless reality is imminent, but advertisers can\u2019t afford to run out the clock, willing an identity solution into existence.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s environment is molded by privacy regulation, changing browser policies, and pandemic-induced consumer behavior shifts. Brand attention must be trained up the funnel: Upper-funnel branding and mid-funnel awareness will define brand success in the coming years, begging a strategic pivot to content and context today.<\/p>\n<h2>The reality of cookies today<\/h2>\n<p>Google\u2019s decision is the final step in a long journey toward a cookieless reality. Current restrictions in Safari (iOS) and Firefox effectively hide 40 percent of brands\u2019 US audiences from their targeting and attribution efforts. Simply put, advertisers reliant on cookies are already missing out.<\/p>\n<p>While marketers anticipate the forthcoming retirement of cookies, many harbors hope that the ad tech industry will deliver an alternative between now and Google\u2019s scheduled doomsday. Unfortunately, that logic doesn\u2019t hold:<\/p>\n<h3>A one-to-one cookie replacement doesn\u2019t exist<\/h3>\n<p>Cookies power several disparate elements of adtech, and replacements will come with limitations. A mix of new \u201csolutions\u201d will fill gaps in measurement, targeting, or attribution, but each will have drawbacks, adoption curves, and implementation costs. Even with new technology, it won&#8217;t be business as usual.<\/p>\n<h3>Maintaining the status quo ignores the real problem<\/h3>\n<p>Google\u2019s decision is a direct response to consumer privacy demands. Additionally, the pandemic has fundamentally transformed consumer behavior, necessitating a prioritization of the consumer experience at the brand level. If privacy and UX aren\u2019t at the heart of a brand\u2019s post-cookie plan, even a full-fledged replacement isn\u2019t enough to remain competitive.<\/p>\n<h2>Moving up the funnel<\/h2>\n<p>It is clear that advertisers must update their marketing stacks to compensate for cookie depreciation by 2022. What\u2019s equally clear? Brands must overhaul their foundational strategies to optimize efforts across the entire customer journey. Those predisposed to experimentation today will be far ahead of the competition when it comes to connecting with consumers tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>But it goes beyond technology.<\/p>\n<p>I recognize it\u2019s a little unusual for a product guy to tell people there\u2019s no one-stop solution for all of their challenges. And don\u2019t get me wrong\u2014some very cool tech is in development to tackle the cookie depreciation fallout. All the same, marketers must focus on the end goal: The objective isn\u2019t a click from someone on their cookie list. It\u2019s to inform and influence <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/11\/20\/how-social-media-influence-71-consumer-buying-decisions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">consumer behavior<\/a> through a beneficial brand experience.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to executing their marketing strategies, advertisers need to keep their eyes on the prize and double down on content\u2014and the context in which it appears. Need proof?<\/p>\n<h3>Industries that need a comeback<\/h3>\n<p>The pandemic has devastated certain industries, like hospitality and airlines, more than others. Brands aren\u2019t attempting to drive direct sales right now. Rather, they\u2019re underscoring the value their products and services provide and demonstrating their role in the consumer\u2019s new normal. \u201cBuy now\u201d banners don\u2019t achieve that. Smart contextual targeting of relevant <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/12\/17\/seven-smart-ways-to-upgrade-your-ecommerce-content-marketing-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">content marketing<\/a> does.<\/p>\n<h3>Less shelf browsing<\/h3>\n<p>The pandemic has proven that ecommerce is here to stay. Shoppers are eschewing brick-and-mortar businesses in favor of their online counterparts. People naturally gravitate to the familiar when purchasing online, meaning brands that thrived on point-of-purchase displays must now prioritize high-level awareness among consumers researching certain product categories.<\/p>\n<h3>Greater emphasis on product research<\/h3>\n<p>Even quarantined for the foreseeable future, people are making important purchases: appliances, cars, home furnishings, soft goods, you name it. Consumers are buying online, and extra time at home translates to deeper product research and evaluation. To be in the consideration set, brands must deliver valuable mid-funnel content to influence purchase affinity and intent.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than fixating on the deprecation of cookies, advertisers must train their focus on the industry dynamics and strategies that can impact their bottom lines today\u2014by pivoting to content and context. Instead of chasing clicks and flooding low-fidelity audience profiles, today\u2019s advertisers are wise to invest in the strategies and technologies that build awareness, affinity, and purchase intent that will sustain their brands for the long haul.<\/p>\n<p><em>Eugene Cherny is SVP of Product at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nativo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nativo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Upper-funnel branding and mid-funnel awareness will define brand success in the coming years, begging a strategic pivot to content and context today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":143008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27893,7],"tags":[27483,460,53,37,27796],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-143005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-industry","tag-ad-tech","tag-digital-advertising","tag-digital-marketing","tag-google","tag-third-party-cookies"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/The-content-renaissance-More-than-the-demise-of-cookies.png","category":"Digital Marketing","timeago":"5y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143005"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=143005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}