It’s that dang privacy!! It’s so hot right now!!
Privacy. So hot right now. Privacy.**
The days of the good ol’ “cookie them and stalk them” are coming to an end. The days of apps just sucking everything you do into third party data aggregates are winding down. Even your devices have vowed to have your back.
Just the other day our Apple TV straight up asked me if I wanted to freely give up all of my watching information, and I had a choice to make.
Do I let the apps sell my behavioral data of binge watching House and Law & Order SVU (I’m a sucker for a procedural drama) as a way to cling to the third party data I actively use everyday at my job? Or do I select ‘Do Not Allow’ which is the option already highlighted for me.
I decided to go the privacy route. And it felt great. And I bet it feels great to the millions of others out there who are also opting out of third party tracking.
So what do we do about it? As third party tracking falls away, what can media strategists like me do?
We start collecting zero-party data.
First and foremost, let’s get some definitions out there. Zero party data is data that a customer willingly gives you. So how do you get info out of customers? Here are a few ideas:
- Quizzes (our favorite, and we’ve seen a lot of success with this in the past!)
- Polls/Surveys
- Questionnaires for personalization of a product or services
- Chat boxes
All of these can be built into digital campaigns, and even something you can do with interactive ads through a provider like Roku or Hulu.
Expand your media planning horizon.
Everyone loves digital because of tracking, targeting and the results oriented nature of the tactic. Digital marketing comes complete with a scoreboard. But with third party out of the way, you’ll need to perhaps shift focus on what tactics work best for your business.
Cable is a route that a lot of people have taken a step back from, but it’s full of first party data. You freely give your provider your job, address, family makeup etc. when you sign up. And it’s typically in the terms of service that they get to use that info.
Podcasts are another avenue that contain a lot of first party data, especially podcasts that do merch sales, webinars, shows or events or have active message boards (My Favorite Murder is a good example of this).
I will be a champion of Outdoor until the day I die. And that’s because it works. We have been working with a client that for the last 3 years gets the most visits to their site (with a vanity URL) via outdoor. So, if you’re looking to target individuals within a certain market, outdoor is a fun, creative and smart way to go.
You know what else you can do?
Be super upfront about your data collection policies. Love this article from Forbes that touches on some options for collection, but the main key here is the focus on a “Data Bill of Rights.”
If you have any questions, feel free to holler at us! Until then, I’ll be media planning by day, watching the same drama over and over again by night.