Programmatic Digital Marketing

     Programmatic Digital Marketing is an advanced and automated digital marketing strategy designed to replace human negotiations with machine learning, which relies on automated and real-time bidding processes that allow companies to reach their target market with hyper-targeted and effective ads by advertising targeted customers in specific contexts. Businesses can reach the target audience who is more likely to be interested in their products or services with programmatic advertising through real-time auctions. Detecting, analysing, and reaching the optimized audience through behaviour-based advertising leads businesses to achieve a higher return on investment and expand their customer base. In 2021, 88% of display marketing in the United States is expected to transform programmatic advertising (Rask, 2021).

How Programmatic Digital Marketing Works?

 

The process starts when someone clicks on a page that is modified for programmatic marketing. After an auction among the advertisers is being put by the marketplace for an open advertising place, the advertiser who bids more for that advertising spot gains the right to display its ads. That allows the advertiser to increase sales and conversions since customers see that ad and make purchases. Although it may seem complex, it is an easy and fast process that takes only milliseconds which means the winner of the advertisement auction can be determined even before the user’s page uploads. Besides, there are several points that need to be considered while embracing programmatic digital marketing:

 

·      Companies should have the understanding and knowledge of not only consumer data but also customer behaviour to achieve successful programmatic advertising.

·      Companies should rely on not both website analytics and survey data that reflects more natural indications while designing programmatic work.

·      Companies should use insights to identify the most effective channels and devices.

·      Companies should use existing customer data to deliver hyper-personalized messages.

·      Companies should track and test the effectiveness of advertisement to make sure where to focus on, considering business objectives and brand metrics.

 

Benefits of Programmatic Digital Marketing 

    Programmatic digital marketing allows companies to focus more on their target market and audience at the right time and in proper context. Programmatic digital marketing enables businesses to save on costs since it helps set the frequency, time, and price of ads and requires payment for only relevant impressions. In addition, it helps companies keep track of their advertisement budget while achieving their set goals since it allows them to have control over ads by providing more flexible options. For example, a telecom company in Qatar, Ooredoo achieved to reduce the acquisition cost to reach their target audience 88% by using programmatic advertising, compared to traditional channels (Fayez, 2016). Lastly, it enables companies to provide a better user experience by promoting tailored advertisements and advanced targeting. There numerous brands that achieved building successful ads by embracing programmatic campaigns based on consumer data, such as O2, The Economist, Turner Sports, Audi, ScS, and Amanda Foundation (Keane, 2018). Regardless of the industry type, sector, or size of the company, programmatic digital marketing can be embraced to increase sales, conversions or drive awareness.

Buket Bostanci

Keywords: programmatic digital marketing, programmatic advertising, target market, target audience, personalised advertisement

References & Sources

 

Al Fayez, N., 2016. What is Programmatic and Why is Everyone Talking about it? [online] Think with Google. Available at: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-145/marketing-strategies/programmatic/what-programmatic-and-why-everyone-talking-about-it/ [Accessed 13 April 2021].

 

Rask, O., 2021. What is Programmatic Advertising? The Must-Have 2021 Guide. [online] The Match2One Blog. Available at: https://www.match2one.com/blog/what-is-programmatic-advertising/ [Accessed 13 April 2021].

 

Keane, L., 2018. Programmatic Ad Buying: 6 Examples of Brands Getting it Right. [online] GWI. Available at: https://blog.globalwebindex.com/marketing/programmatic-ad-buying/ [Accessed 13 April 2021].

What is Netnography and How It Can be Used for a Better Marketing Strategy?

Netnography can be described as a tool used by marketers, which aims to collect and process the data related to social behaviour of people on the Internet. There have been other research tools for data collection, such as surveys and focus groups to obtain the consumer insights, considering they might be misleading due to ostensible responds; netnography focuses on gathering data accurately and instantaneously while consumers are behaving freely (What is Netnography? | Martech Zone, 2021). To understand the difference of netnography from traditional methods, it is better to go through the history of the term.

The History of Netnography

The word netnography was invented by Dr. Robert V. Kozinets in 1995, depicting a connection between ethnographic research and free social behaviour of the individuals on the Internet. Accordingly, the name of netnography comes from the combination of ethnography and internet which is also as known as net in short. As ethnography is considered one of the qualitative research methods that requires the researcher to be present in the actual place of the study for data collection, its context depends on cultural or sociological insights. As well as ethnography, netnography holds similar perspective in terms of searching about people’s behaviour, which means both studies are descriptive, immersive, benefiting from different methodologies and may easily adapt to different contexts (How Market Research Is Like Anthropology, 2021).

How It works and Why It is Different from Other Methods?

To understand how netnography works is simple. It uses from the same methodology as ethnography does, but it also integrates online or social media data into cultural insights. According to Kozinets, in the light of netnography, online interactions are regarded as cultural reflections. 

Comparing with other methods, netnography looks more useful and realistic than surveys and focus groups as they might be intrusive, artificial or irrelevant to consumers, and cost more considering the number of research population. Netnography is “cultural insights” and “context” focused, which means it doesn’t interpret online interactions and communications as simple content and searches for meaningful conclusions from that cultural insights. Netnography aims to provide significant outputs to the marketers to help them with better decision-makings while discovering characteristics of the online communities by analysing their images, texts, symbols and the language in general (2021). Now, it is time to take a look at the advantages of netnographic approach for creating successful marketing strategies. 

What Netnography Offers to Marketers and Companies?

Here are some convincing reasons why companies and marketers need to pay attention to netnography (Netnography is Digital Anthropology — Netnografica, 2021):

• Brand perceptions can be easily recognised by netnography.

• Netnography provides significant insights for companies that want to achieve their goals in brand positioning and repositioning.

• Ensuring meaningful cultural insights, netnography also helps companies and brands for customer segmentation process.

• Netnography is a great tool to measure the customer feedbacks before the development and innovation of new products.

• Netnography can be used as a trend identification tool by determining future trends of the market.

• Netnography can guide to a new service models for value creation such as crowdfunding.

• Netnography can lead to an effective social media strategy by increasing customer reach.

• Netnographic insights helps to activate emotional connection between customers and brands.

Keywords: Netnography, Cultural Insights, Social Behaviour, Ethnography, Social Media, Marketers

Ilgin Damla Omay

References and Sources

Martech Zone. 2021. What is Netnography? | Martech Zone. [online] Available at: https://martech.zone/what-is-netnography/ [Accessed 7 April 2021].

Netnografica. 2021. Netnography is Digital Anthropology — Netnografica. [online] Available at: http://www.netnografica.com/netnography-101 [Accessed 8 April 2021].

Preventviolentextremism.info. 2021. [online] Available at: https://preventviolentextremism.info/sites/default/files/White%20Paper%20%E2%80%93%20Netnography-%20The%20Marketer%E2%80%99s%20Secret%20Weapon.pdf [Accessed 8 April 2021].

The Balance Small Business. 2021. How Market Research Is Like Anthropology. [online] Available at: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/investigate-social-media-like-an-anthropologist-2297153 [Accessed 8 April 2021].

Emerging Technologies

    Emerging technologies can be considered the type of technologies that are still in the development stage or the new technologies existing out in front.  Although all new technologies may not pass the testing or development stage, the ones that can pass may transform the lives of people and, finally the world (Williams, 2017). Evolving technologies not only bring new opportunities and practical applications for tech firms in terms of generating new business, revenue, and improving customer experience, but also improve the quality of people’s lives in numerous aspects such as efficiency, safety, health, environmental conservation, and so on.

The Emerging Technology Community has released the list of Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2020, considering the research on the technology landscape and the marketplace’s assessment (Fitzgerald, 2020).  The list includes:

 

1.     Artificial Intelligence

2.     5G

3.     Internet of Things

4.     Serverless Computing

5.     Biometrics

6.     Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality

7.     Blockchain

8.     Robotics

9.     Natural Language Processing

10.  Quantum Computing

 

What are The Emerging Technologies?

 

Artificial Intelligence: Being used in the daily lives of many people and was adopted by numerous industries, AI refers to systems, machines, and algorithms that mimic behaviour associated with human intelligence such as perception, learning, planning, reasoning, and decision-making.

5G: Fifth-generation wireless (5G) refers to the cellular technology designed to increase the speed of wireless networks and provide connectivity of multiple devices.

Internet of Things: IoT refers to the significant number of connected physical devices that collect and share data over wireless networks.

Serverless Computing: Serverless refers to a cloud-based execution model that eliminates the need for managing servers to run applications.

Biometrics: It refers to the process in which unique physical traits of people are being detected and used to verify their identity.

 

Benefits of Emerging Technologies in The Supply Chain 

 Integrating emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, the internet of things, virtual reality, blockchain, etc., in supply chains and embracing the transformations is crucial for businesses’ futures and values since they allow companies to save on time and costs by improving business processes. There are several examples of how emerging technologies may benefit the supply chain in preparing companies for the future. (Chorley, 2018).

 

·      Contributing to the real-time problem-solving performance of companies by predicting and preventing potential problems and malfunctions.

·      Improving the customer service and reducing the cost to serve by connecting the digital thread by leveraging information gathered from emerging technologies like the Internet of Things or Big Data.

·      Allowing companies to monitor and interfere with the processes, changes, and the supply chain not only remotely and globally by the use of cloud-based emerging technologies but also autonomously by the use of artificial intelligence in decision making.

·      Training and preparing supply chain workers using Virtual Reality to provide better practices, realistic experience, and remote training.

·      Helping companies manage supply chain related crises easily by tracing failures, offering correct balances, and providing complete transparency in the product information.

·      Transform the way that supply chains are being operated by the use of IoT-based inventory, asset, or order management systems that consider sustainability and green initiatives.

Buket Bostanci

 

Keywords: emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital transformation, supply chain, IoT

References & Sources

 

Williams, O., 2017. The Advantages of Emerging Technology. [online] bizfluent. Available at: https://bizfluent.com/info-8427727-advantages-emerging-technology.html [Accessed 3 April 2021].

Chorley, J., 2018. 6 Benefits of Emerging Technologies in the Modern Supply Chain. [online] EBN. Available at: https://www.ebnonline.com/6-benefits-of-emerging-technologies-in-the-modern-supply-chain/ [Accessed 3 April 2021]

Fitzgerald, L., 2020. 10 Emerging Technologies Making an Impact in 2020. [online] Available at: https://connect.comptia.org/blog/emerging-technologies-impact-2020 [Accessed 3 April 2021]

Unleash the power of Business Intelligence for your company

The terms business insight and business intelligence are frequently utilized reciprocally. The term business intelligence means inspecting information to discover patterns in them which leads to arriving at certain facts.  At the point when utilized together, business intelligence and business analytics are two sides of a coin and possess more extensive importance and incorporates each part of collecting, inspecting, and interpreting data and insights which can be even visualization of data. (Oracle, 2021)

BI Techniques for 2021

BI tools perform data analysis and make reports, rundowns, dashboards, guides, diagrams, and graphs to give clients definite knowledge about the idea of the business.

Data Analytics

Data Analytics is an important domain in business intelligence that every small and medium business should use in their operations in 2021, this method includes the investigation of raw data to extract significant patterns and insights.

This is a mainstream BI strategy since it allows organizations to profoundly comprehend their business data and drive extreme worth with information-driven choices, it can greatly help business managers from making wild choices in making important decisions.(IDA Ireland 2021) For example, how DigiX Media is utilizing data analytics to create customized marketing budgets, strategies, improve the client experience, and for quality affirmation purposes.

Data Mining

Data mining is an important subset of data science and an integral part of business intelligence. It is a method for finding insights in very large datasets and frequently consolidates data set frameworks, insights, and AI to discover patterns.

Data Visualization

Visualization is an important part of BI where dashboards of data visualization can be created using popular softwares' like Tableau, Power BI, etc.

SAP, as the most popular BI tool for large businesses. 

Fig. Using SAP BI tool for creating Business Objectives 

It is the most popular application used at the enterprise level for the purpose of client/server systems. SAP facilitates data visualization, data analytics, creating drill-down reports reporting, and many other integrations with Office support.

SAP is created to help all levels to managements, developers, clients, and other departments including sales. The reason for the popularity of SAP is that it provides tons of functionalities.(SAP, 2021)

Tableau, the simplest Business Intelligence software for everyone

Fig. Using Tableau to find customer segments

In simple words, won't be it great to easily find out - 

• How to increase profit
• How customers are behaving
• How competitors are growing
• Is the performance good enough
• Predicting outcomes
• Find out issues and problems

Tableau posses a simple interface for anyone with data analytics knowledge to use it for business intelligence purpose finding the hidden insights from data and using  it for managerial decision making.

The availability of enough features in data is also a critical factor in deciding the dataset is good for usage with a BI software. (Tableau.com, 2021) 

-  Spoorthi Joshi S

REFERENCES

Oracle 2021 | How business intelligence can keep your organization in the know | https://www.oracle.com/ie/what-is-business-intelligence.html (Accessed on 29 March 2021)

IDA Ireland 2021|  As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better |  https://www.idaireland.com/how-we-help/case-studies/sap (Accessed on 29 March 2021)

Tableau 2021 | Powerful analytics anyone can use | https://www.tableau.com/resource/business-intelligence  (Accessed on 29 March 2021)

Emerging Technology: Revolutionizing the Customer Experience with Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous, and it has accelerated with the digitalization of processes and activities among many organizations by increasing their capabilities. In terms of corporate language, chatbots technology is a part of human-robot interactions, which offers various opportunities and support firms to discover better insights and provides a better platform for sound decision making. (Luce, 2018) Nowadays, facing challenges and risks are pretty standard in business, both internally and externally. To compete in a new era, firms create a good relationship between customers by providing an efficient service in terms of verbal or physical depending on the affordable product. Focussing on improving customer experience, continual advancements in technology are incorporated to provide better response time and increased quality of interaction (Delamater, 2017). A chatbot can identify consumer needs quickly once when they started interacting with AI-powered bots and proactively start a conversation with them by providing relevant information throughout the entire chats. It can transfer a caller to a service agent if a human is necessary for the loop.
AI algorithms can search through each customer's buying habits, including what they purchased and when they made the purchase. AI improves the shopping experience by making product recommendations based on what the customers are interested in and most likely to buy. AI-enabled chatbots can provide the customers with consistently pleasant customer service and an immediate response instead of being put into a queue to wait for an available support representative. They were making the process of communication as easy and pleasant as possible leads to satisfy customers while at the same time freeing up organizations employees so they can focus their energy and time on other tasks. Consumers today are looking for convenience when it comes to shopping and making payments. 

Using smart speakers such as Echo and Alexa, consumers can make purchases and pay their bills with voice-enabled AI, interacting with any business at a time that's best for them. Sometimes customers want their questions answered after business hours, or they may want to update an order before the business opens the next day. For a small business, hiring employees to be available at all hours is unrealistic and costly. Using AI chatbots can give marketers customers the service they want regardless of what time it is. AI creates a shopping experience that's hassle-free and simple to interact with customers. Consumers are looking for fast and easy interactions when making purchases. AI makes buying smooth and easy, from deciding what product to buy to complete the transaction with fast shipping and delivery.

In the past, phone bots have been automated with limited functionality, usually providing one-word answers and simple directions to consumers. This type of simplicity in business communication can quickly lead to customer frustration. Today's AI phone bots are intelligent and helpful, solving problems and answering questions efficiently and precisely. This means that when customers call the business, they are getting accurate responses to their questions with valuable and intelligent voice interaction (Muhammadian, 2020).

The chatbot is a conversational agent that reproduces the conversation with customers, usually over the internet. They communicate with human users, especially the end-users, through messages via texts and reply accordingly. Even though the technological concept of interacting with the customers is not new, the design of chatbots was made by considering various assumptions. The artificial intelligence developed in the past tends to answer one-liner questions and could not answer any other conversation with the users. Firstly, the chatbot was designed to have limited domain knowledge as one can talk about any topic with the customers (Luce, 2018). Chatbots are designed to focus on specific issues. By the end of every conversation, the customers want to achieve a particular result. This will have an impact on the flow of the conversation. The designers of chatbots can exploit this as some behavioral patterns will arise as a result. 

By 2010, various assistants like Apple, Siri, Cortana, and Alexa came into the market that dealt with a dual conversation with a goal-oriented dialogue. The release of messenger for Facebook is another breakthrough and allowed the agents to discuss non-AI-related companies (Campione, 2021). Chatbots include working with multiple components. When chatbots are receiving a new message, the language identification module will first process the message. The new message and its language, along with any previous conversation, will be retrieved and fed into the classifier module, which will imply the message the user is trying to convey. This will then be used to decide the action sequence. For example, the chatbot reply will be in the form of whether the message is not clear. The proper execution of the situation happens with the module known as an action handler.

Damanvir Kaushal

Keywords

#Emerging Technology

#Customer Service

#Artificial Intelligence

#Conversational Service Automation

References

Campione, R., 2021. HOW DIGITALIZATION IS REVOLUTIONIZING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CUSTOMERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY: PERSONALIZATION AND GAMIFICATION. International Journal of Information, Business and Management, 13(1), pp.35-52.

Delamater, N., 2017. A brief history of artificial intelligence and how it’s revolutionizing customer service today. Available in https://images. g2crowd. com/uploads/attachment/file/73099/expirable-direct-uploads_2F469f2619-a917-446d-b2b8-14cf8f8 d2c4e_2FChatBotWhitePaper2017. pdf Disponible el, 17.

Luce, L., 2018. Artificial intelligence for fashion: How AI is revolutionizing the fashion industry. Apress.

Muhammadian, R., 2020. Artificial intelligence in marketing. How AI is Revolutionizing Digital Marketing.

How the Loss of Third-Party Cookies Will Affect the Future of Digital Marketing?

The Background: What Has Happened Recently?

As the privacy concerns and controls about the protection of personal data have been raising since few years, many tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter started to take action to improve their security systems and be clearer about how they keep and use the data of the users. Moreover, the recent legislations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) aims to protect and encourage customers to have more control on their personal data, and to ensure transparency on the usage of customer information by companies. As a result, these protective regulations have also affected the cookie policies and lead to a crumbling of third-party cookies. This trend began with disapproval of third-party cookies by well-known browsers Firefox and Safari and continued with Apple’s decision on the apps that they won’t be holding a device identity unless the related customer consent to that (Remekie, 2021). Lastly, third-party cookies which are also identified as tracking cookies, have been blocked by Chrome, Google’s leading browser. Besides, Google has declared that the company will not publish a substitute for third-party cookies, and in March 2021, it has announced the first-party data will be the new substitution for third-party cookies (Tracking Cookies are Dead: What Marketers Can Do About It, 2021).

After mentioning the terms “first-party” and “third-party”, let’s take a deep dive into the purpose of third-party cookies in general, and then go deep into the future impacts of their loss in terms of digital marketing.

What Does the Loss of Third-Party Cookie Mean?

Unlike the functional first-party cookies which help website owners to collect information; third-party cookies, -also known as marketing cookies- are formed by domains, not by the website. These cookies are used for marketing purposes, mostly for online advertising, by allowing advertisers to track the user every time they visit a website. For example, when a user visits a news website, a first-party cookie is created and held by the website. Then, when the website benefits from ads made via different websites, third-party cookies will be created and these will be held in the computer of a user rather than a website itself (1 et al., 2021). If we have a look at the pros and cons of third-party cookies, it is obvious that they can be beneficial for advertisers and practicable for users by ensuring them targeted ads in the light of “personalisation”. But, on the other hand, visitors have also struggled with privacy concerns as they can’t control which companies are gathering and using their personal data. Even being protected by GDPR’s cookie consent, users wouldn’t able to see for which organisation their data will be using after they have consented to related website (2021).

As cookie-based data is considered as an important input for digital marketing campaigns, basically, demise of third-party cookies means less data to be processed. Therefore, the new conditions lead to marketers and advertisers to find less costly solutions, and to be more creative when it’s come to design a digital marketing campaign. Agencies and brands may be dealing with offering non-targeted ads to their customers by having less clear consumer behaviours. Consumers will be affected positively in terms of privacy issues, but they might be exposed to more irrelevant ads (Juneau, 2021). Publishers will also be affected by the loss the third-party cookies as they rely on cookie-based data. The study conducted by Google among top global 500 publishers, shows that disabling access to third-party cookies decreased the average revenue of publishers by 52% (2021). According to Cookiepedia, The Daily Mail holds 19,136 third-party cookies on its site (Know your cookies: A guide to internet ad trackers - Digiday, 2021).

Source: https://digiday.com/media/know-cookies-guide-internet-ad-trackers/

What Happens Next? What Marketers Need to Do?

• Marketers will be relying on first-party data, high quality data or real-time data.

• Personalisation is still possible considering the value of first-party data.

• Contextual advertising/targeting will be replacing the cookies.

• People-based marketing/advertising will be targeting customer’s real-time behavioural data.

• Advertising might be more human engaged rather than automated systems (Tracking Cookies are Dead: What Marketers Can Do About It, 2021).

Keywords: Third-party cookies, First-party cookies, First-party data, Advertising, Privacy, GDPR

Ilgin Damla Omay

References and Sources

1, C., 2, C., Scanner, F., Function, T., Base, K., Subscription, M., Edition, F., Now, B., Subscription, M., Us, A., Us, C., Demo, R., Quote, R., Consent, C., Rights, D., Consent, M., Management, D., Support, Q., Tools, F., Scanner, W., Button, C., CMP, I., Developers, F., Publishers, F., Agencies, F., Calculator, R., Directory, P., Partners, R., Partners, M., TCF, I., DPC, I., 220, N., PDPA, T., Library, R., Base, K., Plugins, I., Hub, D., Us, A., Us, C., Demo, R., Quote, R., Plans, C. and Edition, F., 2021. What is a Third-Party Cookie? | Knowledge | CookiePro. [online] CookiePro. Available at: https://www.cookiepro.com/knowledge/what-is-a-third-party-cookie/ [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Digiday. 2021. Know your cookies: A guide to internet ad trackers - Digiday. [online] Available at: https://digiday.com/media/know-cookies-guide-internet-ad-trackers/ [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Invoca.com. 2021. Tracking Cookies are Dead: What Marketers Can Do About It. [online] Available at: https://www.invoca.com/blog/tracking-cookies-are-dead-what-marketers-can-do-about-it [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Juneau, T., 2021. Council Post: Digital Marketing In A Cookie-Less Internet. [online] Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/05/18/digital-marketing-in-a-cookie-less-internet/?sh=13d751121e2d [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Remekie, S., 2021. What Happens to Marketing When the Cookie Disappears?. [online] CMSWire.com. Available at: https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/the-demise-of-the-cookie-and-the-rise-of-first-party-data/ [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Services.google.com. 2021. [online] Available at: https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/disabling_third-party_cookies_publisher_revenue.pdf [Accessed 21 March 2021].

www2.deloitte.com. 2021. [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-cookie-less-marketing.pdf [Accessed 21 March 2021].

Using Cookies to assess digital marketing performance

 What is a cookie?

Before we start it is important to know what exactly the cookies are and how it helps in the field of digital marketing. So, cookies are a piece of code that lives on your web browser and stores information in the user’s web browser to identify and enhance your experience online. This technology is utilized to work with different capacities which include keeping track of stateful data such as items added into the shopping cart, keeping data from applications that have already been filled out (for autocomplete function), Account- protected servers receive the user’s account information and log-in status through authentication cookies. (Kaspersky 2021)

With an increasing understanding of privacy concerns and laws like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and e-privacy, there is a greater need to educate consumers about what cookie files are, what information they should hold, and what types of cookies are available. (Clearcode 2021)

Now we will see the types of cookies. Essentially cookies are divided into first-party cookies and third-party cookies from a technological standpoint. However, all store the same data and can execute the same task. But what makes them unique is how websites build and use them.

 First party cookies

They are specifically stored by the domain (website) you are visiting. They enable website owners to collect analytics data, remember language preferences, and perform other valuable functions that aid in the delivery of a positive user experience.

Third-party cookies 

As mentioned even they perform the same function as cookies do but third-party cookies offer information that lets advertisers identify their audiences' taste and expectations beyond their interactions with the brand.  Exposing trends and other user data can be used to help influence potential marketing strategies. To view related advertisements, they store information across web domains and across interactions, hopping from browsers to social media applications and beyond. They are created and saved in a user’s web browser to monitor their online activity through various websites. (Adroll 2021)

Cookies in Digital marketing 

Now let's see how cookies are used in facilitating your digital marketing function. Considering Targeted digital marketing, web cookies are used in delivering many forms of personalized digital ads. They save user data and behavior records, allowing advertisement providers to reach a specific customer audience based on factors such as gender, age, interests, location, actions on websites, and actions on search engines or social media.

Cookies may be a tiny aspect but it plays a crucial role in promoting targeted ads on social media platforms. Without cookies, accounts could not be generated, downloaded, or maintained; without the user profile, consumer data would be unavailable; and without the data, targeted ads would be impossible. To begin thinking about social media accounts in this way – as freely surrendered caches of user data – is to obtain an understanding of how Facebook has created one of the world's most powerful targeting empires. It's even a little unsettling.(Targetinternet 2021)

 Using third-party cookies to assess marketing performance.

 Well, you have already seen third-party cookies in motion if you've spent some time on the internet. It is quite often that you have been to an online retailer and looked at a few items only to find advertisements for the same items on entirely different websites? Third-party cookies operate exactly in the same way. they observe your actions outside of the brand's ecosystem and then use it to provide personalized marketing to help you move from surfing to a paying client. In the long run, the information gathered from third-party cookies is used to create accurate consumer profiles.

Consumers are becoming more aware of how advertisers use their personal information as they do more of their business online. As a result, there is a growing trend for an online marketing future that is more privacy-friendly. Google's decision this year isn't the first time browser creators have restricted the use of third-party cookies; Safari did so in 2014, and Mozilla's Firefox in 2019.( Targetinternet 2021)

 

 Viewing the web cookies can be an interesting experience. Each one is intended to support a specific purpose while also adding a subtle layer of color to your online experience. We get the feeling that, while cookies aren't great, we can't imagine life without them.

- Spoorthi Joshi S

 References

 AdRoll. 2021 |MEGAN PRATT |Third- party cookies and digital marketing: what’s next? https://www.adroll.com/blog/marketing/third-party-cookies-and-digital-marketing-whats-next ( Accessed on 21^st march 2021)

2.      Targetinternet 2021 | The digital marketing guide to web cookies | target market| https://www.targetinternet.com/digital-marketing-guide-to-cookies (accessed on 21st march 2021)

3.      Clearcode 2021| Michal Wlosik, Michael Sweeney| First party and third- party cookies: what’s the difference? https://clearcode.cc/blog/difference-between-first-party-third-party-cookies/#cookie-types ( Accessed on 20^th march 2021)

4.      Kaspersky 2021| what are cookies? https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/cookies ( Accessed on 20^th march 2021)