[Video #5] Will You Be Able to Conduct a Full-funnel Marketing Strategy Without 3rd-party Cookies?

Last Updated on: 10th November 2023, 11:26 am

Conducting a full-funnel marketing strategy does not mean targeting everyone in your funnel and pushing them toward conversion. A good full-funnel strategy takes into account how ready different users are for conversion, and serves them with appropriate advertising. For buyers in the conversion stage, who have strong purchase intent, effective ads show specific products and offers and make clicking and converting easy. However, in the upper funnel, you may want people to feel a connection with your brand and plant a seed that grows over time, allowing them to make better purchasing decisions later on. This may take the form of more aspirational or engaging content that makes a real impression.

This kind of contextual analysis of intent and behaviors requires powerful technology. At RTB House, we use the most effective Deep Learning algorithms to achieve this. However, when 3rd-party cookies are switched off in 2022, will it be possible to measure intent so accurately to build bonds with online users? In episode 5 of our Cookieless Future video series, Laurie da Silva and Richard Johnson show how a full-funnel approach will still be possible with only a slight reimagining of the current processes.

[Full transcription below]

Richard Johnson (00:00):
When Chrome becomes cookieless, will the ability to advertise across the purchasing funnel become obsolete?

Laurie da Silva (00:05):
In a cookieless world, how the funnel operates will need to change.

Richard Johnson (00:15):
This classic diagram illustrates an approach that’s been used by marketers for decades, but when Chrome becomes cookieless, will the ability to advertise across the funnel become obsolete? While it will become more complex, its foundation will remain stable.

Laurie da Silva (00:31):
In a cookieless world, how the funnel operates will need to change. Finding the right approach starts with the fundamental question: What do you want to achieve? Do you want to reach people with specific interests and raise their awareness for your brand or your products? Do you want people to feel a connection with your brand and plant the seed that grows over time, allowing them to make better purchasing decisions not only on the web, but also in stores? Or do you want to focus on current results such as building traffic to your website, converting e-com visitors into new customers and maximizing revenue from existing ones?

Richard Johnson (01:07):
The answer to these questions is typically connected with the type of business you run and the vertical market you operate in. An awareness strategy, for example, might be employed by fast-moving consumer goods or beauty brands that use a wide network of shops to sell their products. A web-performance oriented strategy on the other hand, might be used by different types of online stores, including brands that have their own e-commerce sites. They can try to focus on consideration and conversion stages.

Laurie da Silva (01:39):
Then, there are some industries like automotive or fashion who might want to run both strategies, as they know that while online results matter, final decisions are often made at the dealership or in a dressing room. The choice will depend on how strong of a bond you’ve managed to create with the person making a purchase.

Richard Johnson (01:59):
Once you know what you want to achieve, you can focus on executing your campaign. Let’s begin with awareness campaigns. In a cookieless world, advertisers will build awareness of their brands using four methods.

Laurie da Silva (02:14):
First, they will need to employ cohort data, which will be provided by a user’s browser. This will deliver tailor-made targeting to fit their audience while still protecting their users’ privacy. Next, they can use 2nd-party data from key local publishers based on contextual analysis, content or audience behavior.

Richard Johnson (02:36):
Third, they can use proprietary contextual data available via a DSP, based on natural language processing and website content analysis. This contextual analysis will be helpful for positive and/or negative targeting used for brand safety.

Richard Johnson (02:51):
And lastly, they can use DMP or CDP data corresponding with subsidiary technology to 3rd-party cookies, or based on a user’s interest groups that meet our targeting criteria.

Laurie da Silva (03:03):
To execute performance-oriented campaigns from the considerations stage, you can employ 1st-party advertiser and publisher data to both interest groups for audiences considering your brand or having a higher engagement with your advertising.

Laurie da Silva (03:19):
You can also use DMP or CDP data corresponding with subsidiary technology to 3rd-party cookies, or data based on interest groups considering your products with a higher engagement with your advertising.

Richard Johnson (03:33):
And what about conversion? You can use 1st-party advertiser data from both your landing page and CRM to re-target your audience.

Laurie da Silva (03:43):
Addressing each of the components of the marketing funnel will be much more complex in the future. Since it will require a deep understanding of your goals and ways to achieve them, it will be critical for you to choose a partner who can fully support the multiple methods we mentioned. Only vendors who can create and use highly efficient technologies to analyze the vast amount of complex data points can help you achieve a successful outcome.

Richard Johnson (04:10):
In the future, all elements and strategies related to addressing each stage of the funnel can be executed under the same roof, provided that a powerful technology such as deep learning is employed.

Laurie da Silva (04:22):
Learn more about adapting to this new strategy at blog.rtbhouse.com. Thanks for watching.

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