Cookie apocalypse: Is this the death of digital marketing?
What is a cookie? 
A cookie - or informasjonskapsel in Norwegian - is a small data file that stores information about your activity on a website or app; it tells where on the page a person has been and what choices they have made, where they have clicked, what they have clicked on, and so on. Cookies are an important tool for any marketer. It's this trail of cookie crumbs that enables improving the visitor experience on social media and websites, among others. Cookies allow individuals to be tracked, customers or target audiences across digital platforms so that marketers can perform targeted advertising and tracking.
What does this mean for marketers?
Does this mean the death of digital marketing? Fortunately not. It will become more challenging for marketers to engage in targeted advertising, but not impossible. In short, although tracking and collecting user data will still be possible, it won't be as personalized and effective as before. It will no longer be feasible to track users across websites. This means that a customer won't see ads from your company if they have visited your website earlier in the week. Less tailored ads will also be less relevant, and this is where the challenge of future advertising comes into play.
Social media becomes even more important going forward. Millions of people spend several hours on social channels daily, and a presence on social channels is already a current trend.
The market is moving towards a more personalized experience for each user, based on their friends, interests, and preferences through social channels.
Traditional "surfing" is slowing down, while surfing on social media is taking over. This provides excellent opportunities for marketers to leverage social data as cookies disappear.
What should we marketers do now?
How this will affect marketers is still somewhat uncertain. However, there are things we know we can do to adapt to the cookie-less future we have ahead:
- Have you seen those colorful posters with large and catchy text from the 1920s? Look back to a time when branding was crucial. We can no longer rely on the context around advertisements to capture attention, which is why content and design become even more important.
- Focus more on the customer journey. It takes more than ads to convert a customer – follow them from the first to the last moment and ensure to meet their needs. Without the ability for data tracking, it's more important than ever to understand the customer and their needs, allowing marketing to be more organic.
- CRM matching becomes even more crucial. Even though we no longer have cookies to rely on, it doesn't mean that all data disappears. Lead generation and the use of first-party data become even more critical to leverage.
- Keep an eye on the developments and alternative methods around cookies that emerge.
- Utilize more impactful videos that capture attention and publish more frequently – organic spread becomes even more crucial. Ensure your customers see you without relying on targeted ads based on cookies.
- Focus even more on social media and presence there. Marketing is increasingly shifting to social channels, and social data can be one of the major replacements for cookies.
The cookie jar isn't completely empty.
The cookie apocalypse does not mean total annihilation for marketing, but there are many adjustments we need to make. Large companies like Facebook and Google have so far earned significant sums from ads, and they will likely find new solutions to avoid billion-dollar losses. Marketers will also find alternative solutions. Performance-based marketing will still be possible as long as we adhere to new systems and regulations.