The third-party cookie is crumbling.

Even as Google opts to delay the cookiepocolypse, one thing is certain — brands need to rethink how they connect with their audiences.

Don’t let data depreciation fool you either! As Forrester noted, “there’s a lot of Chicken Little going on for an announcement that really shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise to anyone.” Marketers have historically been able to target consumers in an unfettered way, but are now having to evolve into a post-cookie world.

With this news in mind, here are three marketing trends I see happening in Q4.

In some, you’ll recognize where brands are jumping on the bandwagon again to personalize their advertising and meet consumer demands in a privacy-compliant manner. If you’re still hoping that Google will continue to push shot the 8-ball, don’t bet on it. Instead, pay heed to the consumer and go back to the basics to get much farther down the road to building relationships and meeting your customers’ needs.

Brands Trade Remarketing Strategies for Contextual Advertising (Again)

As you work to gain trust and build relationships with your prospective customers, remarketing may not be your friend. Beyond Google’s depreciation of cookies, customers feel more at ease when their data can’t be automatically collected. In its stead, brands are using proven – and trustable – methods such as contextual advertising to combat reduced targeting.

Contextual advertising is a great way to target customers who are likely to be interested in a product. The automated process works by matching the content of a webpage with the content of an ad. Instead of focusing on the user data, algorithms place ads based on keywords and other metadata included in the content.

For example, if you’re a pool company, contextual advertising would place your ad next to an article about fiberglass pools. Those readers interested in fiberglass pools may be more likely to be interested in your services.

While contextual advertising is not new, PowerChord is seeing more brands choose it instead of remarketing. Due to the depreciation of cookies, remarketing will soon prove to be less successful in driving conversions.

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The Future of Conversational Marketing: Script-Driven AI

Consumers have been conversational with technology for years — from talking with their virtual assistants to their smartphones and speakers. Starting this year, Gartner predicts that 70% of white-collar workers will interact with conversational AI platforms on a daily basis. Chatbots are the main AI-based applications used by businesses for personalized interactions.

But spending hours and days scripting how a chatbot responds is a laborious task, and is neither dynamic nor scalable.

Script-driven AI, on the other hand, is. The AI ingests content on its own, understands context, pulls out the key concepts, and guides a user to a matching destination. AI chatbots are more versatile and accessible as well as move at the speed consumers are looking for. For example, script-driven product selectors could give customers options to choose from as well as guide them to the right products. This helps businesses avoid cart abandonment while keeping customers engaged with the products that best suit their needs.

Conversational AI is something our PowerChord team is excited about. Finding ways to have more personal interactions with customers will hopefully translate into better conversations between brands and customers.

Marketers Increase Focus on First-Party Data to Prove Value

Although Google’s third-party data collection ban won’t go into effect until late 2023, 43% of marketers are already shifting gears and embracing first-party data.

Data collected from your company website, app, CRM, social media or other first-party sources will be the new oil as organizations continue to move from evaluating impressions to a more holistic view of campaign performance. Building up knowledge about your customers – vs. “borrowing” someone else’s data – will help drive down acquisition costs and identify which customers are worth the investment to increase their customer lifetime value.

Another benefit of a first-party data strategy is trust and relationship building. Customer surveys can help you respond to feedback and needs. You could even use a chat experience to launch a series of micro-surveys on the website to gather small, incremental pieces of data from their customers.

It’s important to establish a value trade between your brand and potential customers. Customers are far more likely to trust and offer their information when they are receiving something valuable in exchange. They are more likely to answer a few questions if you offer entrance into a giveaway for a free product. By leading with listening and trust, you gain knowledge and build an intelligent business.

Marketing is a field that is always changing — there will never be one right strategy for any campaign. But I hope these insights that we’ve seen from our own customers will help you thrive in Q4.

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