Apple iOS and Google Cookiepocolpyse Must-Knows: Webinar Recap

For those of you who may have missed the headlines, over the past few months, the two big-named tech companies, Apple and Google made huge announcements that represented a significant change for the ad business and a step towards privacy. In short, and end toward “target marketing!” 

Embracing these big advertising changes happening and looking into a digital strategy that leans into this new wave, our Founder, Chris Nault had the opportunity to partner with Full Sail’s Digital Marketing Masters Program, presenting a webinar titled: The Last Bite of Cookie: How Apple is changing digital marketing for good. Moderated by Vidal Fonseca, Chris breaks down the history of cookies and what you must know about the new updates to ensure you stay on track.

If you missed our webinar or you'd like to relive it with us, continue reading to learn more about the key takeaways and watch the full recording to explore Chris’s in-depth insights.

How Apple and Google are changing for good

During this webinar, Chris talks through the changes in third parties cookies, which are the pieces of data websites and apps save to your computer and mobile devices to track your off-website usage. Often we give permission for this transaction through the “click to confirm” agreements to use an app like Facebook. 

If you are running ads through popular apps including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok, your ability to target users is based on the data provided by these apps. 

Apple has championed the fight for user privacy and soon (Spring 2021) advertising to their device users will be limited to targeting groups rather than individuals. 

For Account-Based Marketers and Digital Advertisers, this is a huge blow in “quick win” ad campaigns.

Apple iOS Update Big Takeaways

Marketers get ready, this Apple update is the first major change to the target marketing landscape. 

1. After the install of the latest iOS, Apple device users will be prompted to give permission to apps to have their off app activities be tracked; currently, 70% of Apple devices give this permission (mostly unknowingly). It is expected that less than 10% of users give permission, making targeting nearly obsolete
2. Apple users will be able to be marketed to on apps using the newly formed SKADnetwork. This is a new marketing protocol that all agencies and marketing teams need to be approved to participate in. 

Curious if this affects your marketing? If you are running display or retargeting ads, the answer is an absolute yes. If you do not conform to these changes, your ads will simply not run to Apple device users.

Google Cookiepocolypse is coming

Google recently made it clear that they are ending the life of third-party cookie applications (as of March 3, 2021) and by early 2022, third-party cookie tracking will no longer be available. Google will also be introducing a new ad network, called FLOC. This is designed to allow advertisers to continue marketing to website traffic using generalized group targeting rather than to the individual device. 

This is a huge blow of quick-win outbound marketing campaigns based on website traffic remarketing and display ad marketing. Rather than eliminate the opportunity for retargeting campaigns entirely, Google will launch its own new retargeting network, dubbed, Turtle Dove. There has not been too much public information about this offering to date, however, we will keep content up to date as more information becomes available. 

1st party cookies (the information stored when someone visits your website when you use CRM software like HubSpot) will be very much functional. While creating a better website experience for users has always been a top priority, leveraging high-quality content, fast load times, and all the other methods to convert traffic are more important now than ever.

Running Ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Other Apps

The biggest blow is coming to non-platform partner advertisers that currently take advantage of advertising portals on third-party apps. These apps have made spending low to mid-size ad budgets easier than ever to keep you spending dollars. 

While these platforms are not going to say the reality outright, those results are going to receive a huge blow. Cost per click is going to go up dramatically and the ability to capture new website traffic and leads will decline. The lure of low-cost high performing ads will quickly dissolve and the reality is going to hit hard. 

Advertising online is going to become more difficult for small companies to participate in without an experienced platform partner.

How to Prepare - Start Now

To be successful in the new “golden age” of digital advertising here are our tips for companies and marketing professionals.

1. Communicate and manage expectations - these changes will have dramatic effects on ad spend and ROI. Decision-makers need to be informed. 
2. Set up SKADnetwork Approval - If advertising to Apple users is a priority (it is) work to have your ads running on SKADnetworks. Each platform has its own system that requires sifting through to find. 
3. Build a Better Website Experience  - acquiring new website traffic is going to get more expensive and difficult through this process. The best way to take advantage of this work is to lean on 1st party cookies and provide more value to your website traffic to generate leads. Use tools like HubSpot to centralize your data and manage your marketing, sales, and service. 

Ultimately, when looking to navigate through these changes, there is no one path to follow. Now is the time to stay informed and formulate a digital strategy to keep your marketing campaigns running. With the help of your HubSpot solutions partner, check out our inbound marketing toolkit designed to help you get started. And if you’re still interested in learning more about the cookie apocalypse, book a meeting with us today.