Remarketing is the act of marketing to potential customers that have already had some type of interaction with your brand. While remarketing may take many forms, the most common is targeted ad serving. When a consumer visits your website, a cookie is embedded. This allows you to serve ads directly to them afterward, generally through the Facebook or Google platforms. The biggest benefits of re-marketing include:
- Increased visibility and encourages of top-of-mind awareness
- Increased conversion rates
An Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) is the main tool used in remarketing at the Google and Facebook levels. On the consumer side, this tool is the reason their favorite website suddenly has an ad for the product they looked at yesterday (remarketing). It’s also why their news feed is filled with products that may actually be relevant to them, as opposed to the more random splatter seen during a commercial segment. It’s a marker that identifies who you are as a user, but without disclosing personal information.
What is the Apple iOS14 Update/ATT and How Will It Effect Remarketing?
Apple has long held high privacy standards. Its latest operating system, iOS14, will further increase the visibility of privacy options. New privacy labels will be applied to all apps in its store. This will allow users greater visibility of when and how their information is being used. This has been named their App Tracker Transparency Policy (ATT).
This ATT means users can more easily opt-out of allowing applications to use their IDFA. This will impair the efficiency of the top players in the remarketing game, Facebook and Google. In fact, an estimate recently published in Forbes estimates that the 2 could lose $25 Billion in advertising costs over the next year.
Responses Regarding Remarketing Efforts
Both Google and Facebook have launched responses to these updates. There’s an overall sentiment of complying, but also responses targeted to developers and marketers. They are both pushing the concept of contextual targeting, which selects ads based on the content and focus of the app you or website a client is currently viewing.
In a recent blog post, Christopher Combette, Group Product Manager for Google Ads, reviewed steps that should be taken to best support the transition and maximize returns. “We encourage app advertisers to upgrade to the latest version of Google Analytics for Firebase for new features like SKAdNetwork support,” he wrote. “We also encourage advertisers to monitor the performance and delivery of all iOS App campaigns closely and, if necessary, make adjustments to budgets and bids to achieve their goals.”
Facebook launched a similar response, posting the article Preparing Our Partners for iOS 14. In the article, they state “First, we will release an updated version of the Facebook SDK to support iOS 14. The new version of the Facebook SDK will provide support for Apple’s SKAdNetwork API, which limits the data available to businesses for running and measuring campaigns.’ To ensure compliance, they also ask that “businesses create a new ad account dedicated to running app install ad campaigns for iOS 14 users.”
Granular Level
Marketing companies and small businesses performing their own advertising will have to adjust to the new environment. Aside from following the guidelines set forth by Google and Apple, marketers will have to closely monitor their spending and returns. Adjustments will need to be made on various levels of the remarketing game.
Having a marketing team that understands your business, your consumers, and your target audience is more important than ever. Creating visibility for your product can longer rely on IDFA. Consider contextual targeting, social media consistency, regular content updates, and creating advertising that is of value to your customers. If that seems to be a bit more than you can handle or you worry about your current marketing situation, give us a call today. We engage in all these practices on a daily basis. We’ll go through your current setup, potential options, and can help your business succeed, no matter what happens with privacy protocols.
