How brands can find and keep customers without third-party data

If you come back in the next world as a kind of data, try to avoid coming back as third-party data.

That’s because third-party data — collected in almost every way except a direct contact between a brand and its customers — is rapidly falling out of favor. It’s battling the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), restrictions from Apple’s and Google’s browsers, and a general sense among brands that third-party data isn’t the highest quality.

As we head into what is apparently a new era for customer data, in fact, a common refrain among some data providers, particularly Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), is that first-party data — directly collected by a brand about its customers or visitors — is the kind that brands should focus on.

But can brands live on first-party data alone?

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.