Countless digital marketing myths circulate the Web, but you can’t be 100% sure what information is fake and what is truly reliable.
Thousands of skilled experts post articles about do’s and don’ts on information that they consider stable (as stable as change, to be exact). So if you read this blog post, remember, quot capita tot sensus (“There are as many opinions as there are heads” – Terence). This means, when looking for digital marketing tips or hacks, filter information and choose only unique, reliable approaches.
We wanted to start our last article in the series “Five Persistent Myths of Digital Marketing..” philosophically for a reason. We’ve scrupulously analyzed this “myths niche” and selected the most up-to date knowledge. So now, we present our last one (but maybe not the least). We hope you have liked them and have perhaps even already practiced some of these methods.
Myth No.5: Cookies play a major role in digital marketing
If collecting and analyzing data is familiar to you, than you’ve heard of cookies (or even used them). Target audience analysis and social network analytics are both based on cookies. Cookies give you data about your users. Cookies are vital, they say. But have you ever thought, maybe “they” could be wrong?
Then, what’s wrong with cookies? The thing is, cookies aren’t as good at actions-tracking as previously believed. If a user works from one device using one browser, results could still be far from ideal. But let’s face it, users surf the Web via desktops, smartphones, and tablets and sometimes prefer different browsers on different devices. Because of this, cookies are almost useless.
If it is impossible to track or trace user data on several devices, than you can’t understand a user’s intentions, goals or purposes. And how can you develop your digital marketing strategy and promote your business online, if you aren’t aware of your target audience’s interests?
This problem grows from day to day and influences data fragmentation, which is not convenient for learning about your target audience. Moreover, when relying on only cookies, your decisions about services, products and marketing should be made with caution because the insights gained might not reflect the real situation.
But don’t panic. Maintaining a user-first approach has never failed.
And you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All it takes is assigning an individual ID to every user on Google Universal Analytics (or any other platform).
There is only one problem in this plan, more likely a challenge for your marketing/business abilities. Can you convince your users to share their personal info? It’s not easy. You need to gain authority or offer a fair barter (valuable content, discounts, ebooks, podcasts, services, etc.).
Having achieved all of this, you’ll have all of the ingredients to prepare a delicious digital marketing dish.
Conclusions
Cookies aren’t the be all end all of understanding user behavior. You need to expand your digital marketing purview and accept new approaches in order to reach high-end results. Nothing overwhelmingly complicated; just well-structured business and marketing strategies.
If you’ve missed any myths, please visit these pages and learn more about how to better your online presence:
- Programmatic advertising works like magic
- All you need to do is collect and analyze data – the rest will follow
- Focus solely on social networking – websites don’t matter anymore
- The Web is dead and Apps are the future
Don’t let myths harm your business. We wish you the best of digital marketing luck!
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