How to Target Your Audience Without Third-Party Cookie Data

What are third-party cookies?

Third-party cookies are set by a domain other than the one visited by a user. They are used to identify a user across websites and profile them to send highly personalized ads based on their interests, sites they visit and other online behavior.

The problem with third-party cookies is that the data they capture and share is hard for users to control. It gives them no visibility into which companies are processing their data and when they are being followed across the internet. As concerns around internet privacy prompt regulators to mull data governance, it’s important that marketers create transparent standards for user privacy and find better means to collect user data. 

Changes in digital ad targeting: Three possible scenarios

As the rules of digital advertising get rewritten for the new era of privacy, Gartner predicts three scenarios that can emerge from the ongoing tensions between three power centers (full research available for Gartner clients).

Use these scenarios to understand what’s next for digital ad targeting and measurement amid the shifting landscape of privacy laws and data governance.

Whichever power center prevails and users choose to trust, marketers with access to user data will succeed at the expense of those who lack it. As you wean your advertising spend from third-party cookie data, strengthen your marketing campaigns with other data sources.

Making the most of non-third-party cookie data

Nurture these alternative sources to gather information about your users and achieve similar levels of personalization while balancing concerns around privacy.

1. Double down on first-party data collected with consent

To succeed in the world without cookies, employ a first-party data strategy and refocus on consent-based advertising by obtaining users’ informed consent before collecting their data.

You can source first-party data either internally, by gathering information from users via your website and during other interactions, or it can be collected on your behalf by an ad agency, through ad performance or a survey. This data will become quite valuable as third-party cookie data ages. 

When done right, first-party data can be used to team up with publishers and advertisers to map out user behavior for better ad targeting and intent data measurement.

2. Enter direct relationships with large publishers

Partnering with large and trusted publishers that collect first-party data, from within or outside your industry, can be a solid kickoff strategy to leverage alternate data wellsprings without a major investment.

Publishers and reviews sites know a great deal about the interests of audiences they serve based on content consumption. You can use data from these platforms to enhance the measurement and planning of your marketing campaigns.

Sourcing first-party data in such a manner makes it second-party data. Among a few challenges for marketers in collecting this data is to figure out how to share secondary data while ensuring user privacy. Collaborative clean rooms and differential privacy are some high-value-add options that promise to link anonymous data from multiple parties (full research available for Gartner clients).

3. Use contextual advertising for nonpersonal targeting  

If consent solutions come up short, marketers can also bet on contextual advertising, particularly for upper-funnel goals such as awareness. 

Contextual advertising focuses on the page instead of the user. It helps marketers position ads based on the content of the webpage, expecting that users with certain collective behavioral attributes will visit that content.

It takes advertising beyond personal targeting and creates personalized marketing while minimizing the need for consent.

Next steps

Third-party cookie data that long powered digital advertising is going away. It will shake up the marketing world, but provides the ground for marketers to rethink and restrategize alternatives that deliver a better experience for users and advertisers.

Keep an eye on the new developments from walled gardens and other power centers as you overhaul your digital advertising playbooks.

Discover three ways digital marketers can capture first-party data with “Marketers Are Under a Digital Ad Siege and Must Now Convince Customers to Share Data.“

Amita Jain

Amita Jain covers B2B content creation and strategy to help businesses reach their marketing goals. She received her master’s degree from King’s College London, United Kingdom. Exploring the world of art and reading fiction are some of her usual happy distractions outside of work. Connect with Amita on LinkedIn.