BLOG: Worried about the future? 5 tips for building a post-cookie targeting strategy -

If you’re worried about how to target ads without using cookies, you’re not alone – a recent survey by Digiday showed that 71% of agencies and brands are concerned about the future, and three-quarters believe they stand to lose in the post-cookie world.

But with the right planning, cookieless ad targeting needn’t fill you with dread – in fact it may even improve the relevance and results of your campaigns.

Here are 5 things to consider as you plan your cookieless strategy.

1/ Contextual: You’re likely to be looking at contextual solutions, so make sure you’re up to speed on the latest developments. Contextual is no longer limited to static, up-front keywords which narrow campaigns into themed corners. Expect to be looking at more nuanced metrics such as intent, sentiment, and weight of phrases and images.

2/ Reactive: Check there is a fluid element to your plan, which can react to live trends and engagement patterns as they happen. Keywords and cookies are useful, but both make assumptions about where a brand’s customers will be online. Take the opportunity to solve for this by choosing a solution which can adjust your targeting during live campaigns.

3/ Scale and mobility: Identity-based campaigns will eventually run out of road. So as you pivot away from cookies, ask whether your new solution can be scaled, without losing relevance. Also, is it future proof? Can it transcend into newer areas such as CTV and audio? If you’re not sure, then carry on looking.

4/ First-party strategy: Customer data is gold dust for brands moving forward, so please, make the most of it. Lookalike modelling is getting an upgrade for the post-cookie world. Modern tools take contextual-behavioural information about your most valuable audiences and expand to find similar users, in similar contexts, at scale.

5/ Insights: You’re likely panicking about targeting blind, but the good news is, it’s still possible to understand behaviour in campaign audiences, without using cookies. Illuma targeting is guided by live user interest, across contexts. So the content someone is consuming when the campaign is live tells us a lot about a brand’s unique audiences.