By now most marketers have heard of the upcoming changes Google is making to their Chrome browser by phasing out third-party cookies by 2022. Yes this change will have a massive impact on campaigns, attribution, metrics, and more (eek!)— but yes there are also crucial and key things brands can do now to prepare, instead of panic (deep breaths).

We’re in an era where consumers have a heightened attention to privacy, but at the same time, want brands to provide highly personalized experiences. So how do brands blend privacy and personalization in a post third-party world? By way of first-party data!

But before we talk about first-party data strategies, let’s talk about what first-party data actually means. 

First-party data is essentially a collection of events and information collected directly from customers, by your brand, based on what they’re doing and how they engage with your product, app, and website. 

It’s data that’s given with consent and is more accurate than third-party data sources. It’s the data your audience is giving directly to you. With first-party data, you can analyze how consumers interact with your brand so you can improve the experience you’re providing – both holistically and individually. 

So I bet you’re wondering what comes next – how exactly do you go about getting that first-party data? (Glad you asked!)

Again no need to panic, just pivot and prepare. 

Now that we’ve covered why first-party data is essential let’s talk about how to better collect and activate first-party data. You’ll want to leverage a robust platform that can build an end-to-end data supply chain, focused on collecting, standardizing, transforming and activating first-party data. 

When you do this you’re ensuring that your brand will truly be able to own your unique data pipeline. That means effective advertising and great experiences can continue for your customers – even after the loss of the third-party cookie. 

How so? Because by having tools and technologies that allow you to collect first-party data in multiple different ways (via tags, APIs, SDKs, etc), resolve identity, create audiences and activate them – you’ll be able to ensure you and your team can build lost insights back from third-party cookie loss, and do it in a way that respects consumer data privacy. 

But not only that – a first-party data infrastructure means you’ll have a unified data foundation that will allow you to do impactful things like: 

• Future-proof data collection strategies when third-party cookies are a thing of the past.
• Seamlessly send quality data to all of your marketing automation platforms to keep retargeting campaigns going strong.
• Connect data from mobile device data sources with online interactions to send to your analytics tools for analysis.
• Fuel any data management “look-alike” engines with granular, first-party data for more accurate audience building from third-party sources. Yes we’re serious! 
• Get a real-time view on all of your incoming data as well as the tools where that data is heading.

A first-party data foundation will give you a unified and blended data set of all of your customer data so you can continue to drive meaningful campaigns and impactful customer experiences with data you trust and can rely on!

Did I mention that translates into things like being able to actually see an increase in a return on ad spend as well as increasing your retargeting pools and lookalike modeling audiences? 

Yes this is still possible after the loss of the third-party cookie— when you use first-party data strategically. 

Think of this new infrastructure as your brand’s way of future-proofing against the always-evolving ad ecosystem. 

If you’re ready to transition to a first-party data strategy but not sure how to get started – we can help! 

Tealium helps companies build a foundational first-party data infrastructure that provides the flexibility to adapt to changing market dynamics while helping you regain any lost insights from third-party cookie loss.