Building a Walled Garden

Introduction

In our last article, we talked about Evolving Consumer Expectations and how consumer evolution is reshaping the marketing landscape. In this article, we’d like to zero in on what we believe to be the primary driving force - privacy.

We’ve all been there, a quick Google search for an insulated mug leaves your instagram feed riddled with camping gear and outdoorsy influencers. Whether marketers thought this would fly with consumers or not (and some say it does), nobody likes it… How is it even possible?

With cookies, marketers can follow consumers around the web, observing their activity and collecting first-party data. It's like sharing your iPhone location with your friends so they can spy on you while you grab lunch and pick up dog food on the way home.

This might be the one time consumers shouldn’t be thankful for cookies. Think of these kinds of cookies like little tracking devices. With cookies, marketers can follow consumers around the web, observing their activity and collecting first-party data. It’s like sharing your iPhone location with your friends so they can spy on you while you grab lunch and pick up dog food on the way home.

For the past two decades, marketers have been cookie monsters, chomping up consumer activity and drowning them in endless emails and ads. Thankfully, with the evolution of consumers and documentaries like The Social Dilemma, cookies are going away and marketers are going to have to earn data on consumer shopping behavior. Without cookies to observe activity that takes place off of the brand's website or marketplace, marketers need to learn as much as possible about shoppers during their visits.

"Digital advertising is at a crossroads. Cookies have long been the foundation of the online ecosystem, but they are no longer viable due to privacy concerns and browser changes. Businesses that want to stay relevant in the digital world need to make the shift to zero-party data."

This is where zero-party data surfaces and building a walled garden as the only winning strategy. By developing a superior customer experience that triggers shoppers to share their buying preferences, brands can gather the characteristic and behavioral data they need to build strong and trusting relationships with their shoppers.

Trust is what relationships are built on.

Today, marketing blogs and consultants are all clamoring about the importance of consumer relationships. But to actually foster and nurture those connections into moments that add value to people's lives, marketers must respect the shopper’s journey and their choice to engage with the brand. Empowering consumers with that choice is the foundation for trust.

Sounds obvious and easy right? Well, building a walled garden is hard work. Fear not! We’re here to help. GardenIQ was built from-the-ground-up to support this approach. One of many features that help make this possible for marketers is Harvest—our best-in-class data gathering tool—which helps capture shopping activity in a cookie-less world. Our tools and features keep that data inside a brand's walled garden. Spreading their personal interests and activity around the internet isn't a reflection of trust.

GardenIQ is the tool to support brands that want to build a walled garden, to reinforce the moral obligation we have to consumers, and to activate deeper consumer relationships.