With privacy laws taking your marketing data away, it’s like tying a hand behind your back in a fight. But you still have another hand.

As privacy increasingly comes into play with Apple’s iOS 14.5 update and Google’s planned removal of third-party cookies by 2024, how’s one to personalize ads and messages without all this data? You can’t …but at least everyone’s in the same boat. Successful campaigns will utilize copy and creative that’s more broadly appealing. Instead of relying on data to pinpoint messages to a micro-targeted audience, utilize high-quality, high-frequency ads with natural content. Drive more visitors to your website and retarget them with specific ads based on their post-click activity.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the name of the game. Convert website visitors at higher rates by engaging with them, identifying their needs, capturing leads, and optimizing for conversions. Adapt to this change better than your competitors and you’ll turn this threat into an opportunity to win.

SEO dominance is (should be) the holy grail in any search engine marketing strategy.

It’s a long-term commitment, often taking a year or more which is why short-sighted organizations looking exclusively at ROAS and ROI will always lose at this game. “It’s been three months, and this isn’t working”, I hear often from such organizations. And they quit, putting themselves in the wake of smarter competitors. With Google’s latest algorithm release, Core Web Vitals, load speed time is critical. Organizations that sacrifice animations, pop-ups, plug-ins, carousels, and other slow-loading bits in favor of faster load-speed times will win. Because what good are all these bells n’ whistles if you’re at the bottom of the page?

Google’s recent updates also favors natural language and a positive user experience. Don’t just “sell, sell, sell”, provide useful content that your visitors will take time to consume and enjoy. Google likes this and will reward you for it.

Not sure if SEO is worth the investment? Consider that the top organic spot on the SERP gets you 10x more clicks than the bottom spot and organic listings above the fold deliver 4x more clicks than their paid search counterparts. For the mathematically inclined, let’s say you’re running a paid search campaign and paying $10 per click for the keyword “Best Widget”. If that term drives 100 clicks per month, that’s $1,000 to Google. If you run an SEO campaign that successfully gets “Best Widget” above the fold, that organic listing should drive 400 visits per month …$4,000 worth of paid search ads. Long story short, make SEO a priority in 2022.

Are you an SMB with a limited marketing budget? Focus on what’s great and test what’s new.

With the growing number of digital channels on which to advertise, as an SMB, you need to be careful not to spread yourselves too thin. Yes, appearing across multiple advertising platforms has a multiplying effect on both building brand and increasing the perception of your leadership within your space. But if you can’t reach everyone in your market with the frequency necessary to make an impact, consolidate your efforts to the few top-performing channels. By the way, this doesn’t mean focusing exclusively on tactics that are driving leads and sales. Branding is critical for your long-term success. To measure the success of a branding effort, look for low cost per impression and high post-click engagement.

In addition to the best, test into the newest channels of marketing. So many organizations still have no presence on YouTube, the second most popular search engine in the world. Powered by Google, there is a wide range of deep targeting tactics you can use on YouTube to reach your exact audience. You can target by search history, website visits (retargeting), you can even reach people on your CRM list. Consider TikTok too, a newcomer to digital advertising. High supply and low demand of advertising space in new platforms like this makes this a must test. And let’s not forget the “cool factor” of being on TikTok.

Here at AdEdge, we love digital marketing and we’re happy to help. Request your free consultation or a free digital marketing health checkup for your organization.