In 2021, Google announced it was going to stop using third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. That statement frightened digital marketers everywhere, who worried they couldn’t obtain the amount of consumer data necessary to run effective marketing campaigns.
However, it’s now 2023, and Google has pushed this plan back twice, saying third-party cookies will remain until 2024. Other browsers, including Bing and Firefox, don’t allow third-party cookies on their platforms and haven’t for years. However, neither one gets near the traffic that Google commands.
While third-party cookies may go away soon, marketers have other alternatives. Here’s what to know about the future of digital marketing.
Third-party cookies benefit marketers by providing information about consumers’ browsing habits outside their websites. Through a third-party cookie, it was possible to learn what customers shopped for, what websites they frequented, and demographic details.
Marketers won’t be able to access a consumer’s browsing activity without third-party cookies. However, they’ll still be privy to all the first-party data a customer provides.
First-party data includes information about how a customer interacts with your website, such as:
All this information will still be available. However, you won’t have access to any activities they perform on domains that you don’t own.
In 2019, the EU ruled that all website administrators must provide an opt-in for residents to accept or deny before tracking them through third-party cookies. Known as the GDPR, the legislation prevents advertisers from tracking website visitors across different domains without their consent.
In the past, visiting a website was considered implicit consent to track customers, but that no longer applies. California implemented a similar ruling for its residents, requiring companies to obtain their full consent before monitoring them through third-party cookies.
Other governments may follow suit. That’s why it is critical to stay abreast of changes in digital marketing that impact cookies.
Massive data aggregators like Facebook and Google hold lots of information about consumers. They may make that data available to marketers who want to cultivate robust marketing campaigns.
Both companies already have some information available for businesses.
For instance, Facebook’s lookalike audiences can show ads to people who fit a similar profile to those who previously purchased from your website or fit a customized audience you select. Similarly, Google’s pay-per-click ads allow you to target customers based on keywords they search for and other factors, like their geographic location.
The third-party cookie could soon be completely gone. If this happens, marketers may look to these solutions as the future of digital marketing.
While third-party cookies are going away, that doesn’t mean you won’t have other options to consider for your marketing strategies. Building up a robust database of first-party data can help. You might also turn to aggregated data solutions from Google and Facebook.
Are you interested in the current trends in digital marketing? Contact Hero Marketing Agency to learn how trends in digital marketing can impact your business and what you can do to prepare.
As veteran of the NYC & Dallas Advertising Agencies, Kurt has managed paid media for many of the top brands within the country including DIRECTV, Charles Schwab, Ralph Lauren, and the NBA.
His focus involves designing a fully integrated paid media strategy tailored to each business’s goals and objectives. After moving on from the larger Ad Agencies, Kurt shifted his focus on aiding small and mid-sized brands craft their integrated paid media strategy. Outside of his paid media interests, Kurt spends his time rooting for his beloved NY Mets as well as traveling with his wife Lauren and two daughters Chloe & Camille.
Our clients at Hero Marketing Agency consistently praise Kurt for his high-touch communication style, thoroughness, integrated media knowledge, and his strategic approach.
Throughout my 25-year career as a multifaceted and data-driven entrepreneur and senior marketing executive, I have amassed a wealth of business knowledge by starting up five companies, three of which were successfully acquired. In addition, I have consulted in over 70 industries, giving me a unique and multidimensional perspective on business growth and development.
In my current role as Founder and CEO of Hero Marketing Agency, I understand the importance of strong relationships—our agency exists to help companies achieve transformational long-term success. I have a deep passion for working directly with organizations to realize real marketing returns and provide the best and most strategic services available.
I carry a DoD Top Secret Clearance, effective 17 April 2020, received a nomination for the Colorado Springs Advertising ICON award, recipient of multiple ADDY awards, and was honored to be nominated for Businessman of the Year by the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce.
Joanna is a creative director, an art director, and a designer with 20+ years of experience delivering world-class creative content. Her career has taken her from London (UK) to New York City, then down to the heart of Texas with her family.
She is a creative leader with proven strategic thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and management knowledge who forges meaningful connections with internal and client teams. In her role with Hero Marketing Agency, Joanna collaborates with brands, content makers, and storytellers to formulate and bring to life the creative vision through compelling human-centered, results-driven user experiences.
Joanna has worked with various startups to global giants, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Google, Unilever, and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Imagine it’s 2001, and you have a new, yet heavy, phone in your hand with the latest technology— get ready to be in awe — it has a single-color display! Instead of black text on a gray background, you get to look at black text on a blue background.
Yes, it sounds underwhelming, but that’s what level of tech we were excited about. It’s the same year wireless phone providers began to connect networks for text messaging. And it’s the same year Heather entered the marketing workforce.
She has had the benefit of experiencing first-hand the evolution and digitization of marketing tactics. From oil & gas to technology transfer, no industry has been left untouched from the vast increase in data now available at our business fingertips. As a data-driven marketer, Heather has not only an appreciation for, but also a solid understanding of tracking and analyzing data to devise strategies and evaluate performance.
At Hero Marketing Agency Heather collaborates with clients to help them achieve a sound strategy for marketing. First to define and distill their goals. Then to develop strategies for goal achievement, articulating objectives, tactics, and success metrics. Great strategists are dynamic storytellers who have the ability to make the incredibly complex feel simple.
A native Texan, Heather has recently moved back to Texas after 14 years in Northern Indiana. She graduated with a double major in marketing and advertising from Indiana University South Bend with scholarship awards. Her collegiate career began at the University of Texas at Austin, but life and her husband took their adventure north.
She is happy to be back in central Texas where they are close to family and do not need a snow blower in the garage. She enjoys emerging technologies and new consumer electronics. An avid runner, some of her best creative ideas have happened mid-run.
Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.
Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.
As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.
In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.
Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.
Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.
Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.
As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.
In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.
Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.