How to Build a Digital Marketing Strategy with First-Party Data
The one constant in the digital marketing landscape is its propensity to change on a dime. Advertisers must always be in hot pursuit of the best way to nurture and engage their target audience, and the pathway to success will likely look different tomorrow than it does today.
So what’s the best way for marketers to identify these key targets? In today’s environment, prioritizing solid first-party data is proving to be the primary path forward. No one’s closer to your product than these crucial user segments.
Third-party cookies long reigned supreme as the preferred method for tracking large, wide-reaching audiences and their consumer behavior online. Reports of their demise appear to be overstated, as Google recently committed to the long-term usage of third-party cookies after several years of indicating deprecation was near.
However, shifts in today’s digital marketing landscape have underscored the need for first-party data to be leveraged on a more prominent basis. From increased desire for user privacy to prioritizing personalization, first-party data strategies allow advertisers to truly get closer to their core audience. This creates considerable value proposition for businesses as they navigate the challenge of moving prospects along the user journey.
Understanding first-party data
So, what is first-party data really? Simply put, first-party data is any information that a company obtains from its audience through actual interactions on its owned channels. These channels include, but are not limited to:
- Website interactions: Any type of user engagement on a company’s website, ranging from clicks to form-fills
- Customer purchases: A purchase that a user actually completes on site, typically by way of completing a form
- Email engagement: A user’s direct engagement with an email sent via the company, like email opens, clicks, and replies
- Social media interactions: A user’s engagement with a company’s social media channels, such as likes, comments, shares, etc.
- Customer feedback: A user’s feedback that they submit to a company online
Differences between first-, second-, and third-party data
First-party data certainly provides the most visibility into a prospect, and with good reason – they’ve tangibly shown the most interest in your offering. When users complete any of the aforementioned first-party interactions, they’ve provided the company with all kinds of valuable information like their name or email.
Second-party data is another option. This refers to data from another company that is accessible to your company through an agreement to work with them as a data partner.
Finally, third-party data comes through exactly that – a third-party partner that exists entirely separate from your company to pull in additional segments of users that may have amplified interest in your offering down the road as they become more engaged.
All of these data access levels serve an important purpose, but first-party segments are showing increasing viability through their ability to carry users from consideration to conversion.
The strategic value of first-party data
You don’t have to look far to identify the clear strategic value of first-party data in digital marketing. The greatest benefit might be gaining enhanced customer insights. When a user performs an action qualifying them as a first-party contact, they’re providing you with much more than just vested interest in your offering. They’re letting you know more about who they are. This could be as simple as dropping a name and email, both of which hold great value on their own, but can also be expanded upon to include traits such as where they work or why they’re reaching out. Whatever you’re able to obtain will go a long way towards developing first-party prospects.
Expanding personalization capabilities is also a crucial benefit of first-party data for digital marketers. With more user information at their fingertips, marketers are able to mold a lead nurture process that is tailored to the leads themselves.
Finally, digital marketers are always concerned about integral issues such as privacy, cost-effectiveness, and data accuracy. First-party data helps to curb security issues because the information comes straight from the customers, with no stops in between. This reality is what has made life difficult for third-party providers, who must contend with growing user privacy concerns. It’s also less expensive – partnering with third-party providers can be an expensive task.
Understanding data collection infrastructure
We’ve been talking about the value of incorporating first-party data strategic elements into your digital marketing portfolio, but how do you actually set it up? The infrastructure associated with first-party data can be difficult to break down, but here are some key components that should be utilized by all digital marketers looking to dip into first-party targeting:
It’s best to start with a Customer Data Platform (CDP). Imagine a CDP as a one-stop shop for your first-party data sources to understand all of the various ways in which they’ve become engaged in your brand. Remember, users might not have become first-party through just one channel. Perhaps they opened an email and completed a form submission on site. CDPs take all these user data streams and bring them together into one streamlined user profile. It’s about taking all these data points and bringing them together. Some well-known CDP platforms include Salesforce, Adobe Experience, and Segment.
Once you’ve developed your CDP capabilities, it’s time to prioritize standing up a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The CRM acts as the communication hub for your CDP. It’s the place to go if you are looking to take your CDP contacts and engage them further, from 1:1 email outreach to re-engaging these targets in a new paid marketing campaign. Examples of prominent CRM platforms include Hubspot, Zoho, and Nextiva.
It’s also key to leverage some data analytics platforms. You’ll need a way of quantifying the potential of your first-party segments, and leaning into analytics is the path towards accomplishing this.
Implementation strategies
When it comes to implementation of your first-party data approach, it’s important to initiate a strategic approach. This framework ideally consists of a few core tenets. To start off, you must identify a way to create tangible value for your first-party contacts in exchange for collecting their data. What’s in it for them? Providing incentives like a discount or access to exclusive content are some ways to create both value and trust for your audience. You’ll also need to develop clear, transparent data policies that help to initiate customer trust by knowing that their data is being collected not just securely, but responsibly as well.
To build even further off your first-party data targeting, consider what a multi-channel, integrated digital marketing effort might look like. Perhaps your list of first-party contacts could be further engaged by being placed in a paid ad campaign. This kind of integrated approach across multiple touchpoints is what promotes real engagement and brand familiarity, turning prospects into converters.
Finally, it’s always important to prioritize testing and optimizations. You’ll never know if a new approach might drive better results if you don’t attempt it. Think about testing new email or landing page copy as a potential strategy to identify unknown strongpoints and see how contacts react to certain types of messaging. These are the kinds of optimizations that allow digital marketers to take their first-party data strategy to the next level.
Activating first-party data
Once you’ve had a chance to lay down the framework for your first-party data strategy through crafting a foundation and sharpening your implementation strategies, it’s time to move on to the exciting part: activation. There are a few important components to keep in mind at this stage. You must identify the best ways to personalize your strategy. Ask yourself how you’ll mold your message to specific contacts based on the data you’ve received.
Next, think about how you’ll approach campaign optimization once you begin leveraging these audiences. What does success look like from a KPI standpoint? And don’t pigeon-hole your strategy to one platform – envision your digital marketing triumphs from a cross-channel perspective.
Finally – and we’ve said it before – remember to make sure you have a viable way of measuring performance. Without this crucial component of implementation, how are you really going to know what works and what doesn’t with your first-party data?
Future-proofing your digital strategy
While first-party data continues to grow in popularity as a preferred digital marketing tactic, it’s never too early to think about how this dynamic could change in the days, months, and even years to come. Setting yourself up for future success should be a parallel goal to establishing momentum in the present. This can be done by making your first-party data strategy easily adaptable to ever-changing data privacy rules and regulations. And on the subject of change, we know technological advancements are around every corner – be sure to develop a forward-thinking, anticipatory approach to how your first-party data will weather the storm of new and evolving technological capabilities.
In turn with changing technology, think about innovation from your own perspective. What new innovations exist that apply to your brand and your first-party data? How might you create a tailor-made approach for your brand that allows you to utilize them effectively? All of these components are paramount to “future-proofing” your digital strategy.
What’s next?
Utilizing first-party data as a primary targeting tactic is becoming the new wave for digital marketers worldwide for its innumerable benefits and contributions towards strong digital campaign performance. But it doesn’t just happen overnight. Businesses need to craft a strategic framework that aligns with their unique goals. They need to construct their first-party foundation and adopt implementation and activation processes to ensure smooth sailing up front. Finally, they need to prepare themselves for changes that may occur in the way of privacy, technology, and other areas of innovation. The companies who are able to best navigate this process are the ones who are going to get the most out of first-party data and all its benefits, both in the short and long term.
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