The Power of First Party Data: Simplifying How It Can Be Used

First party data is now the key priority for many marketers as 2023 arrives, especially with Google announcing it would phase out third-party cookies by late 2023.

What is First Party Data and how can it help marketers can create more personalized and effective marketing campaigns tailored to the customers? An attempt to simplify (along with the co-author) on how we can use first party data to create persona-based marketing campaigns, target ads on social media, and improve the user experience on website and apps.

First party data is data that is collected by a company directly from its customers such as their name and email address and more. It could also include data that is collected through cookies or other tracking technologies when customers use the company's website or mobile app. Since it is collected directly from customers and provides insights into their preferences, behaviors, and interests.

Second party data is data that is collected by one company and then shared with another company. This data is usually collected in a similar way to first party data, but it is shared with another company for a specific purpose, such as improving the accuracy of advertising or for market research.

Third party data is data that is collected by a company that is not directly related to the company using the data. In the online world these are ?set by a website other than the one you are currently on. These data that is collected by data brokers (like Google Ads) who buy and sell information about consumers, (eg) 3rd party cookie to monitor which websites were visited by each user. This is the main technology used to show you products that you previously searched for on a completely different website.

To summarize, companies use first party data to better understand and serve their own customers, second party data to improve their services or products, and third party data to gain insights into their target markets or to improve the accuracy of their advertising. Being transparent about how they collect and use data, and to give customers the option to opt out of having their data shared with third parties.

How can Hotels use First Party Data

Hotel marketers can use first party data in a number of ways to improve their marketing efforts and better serve their customers. Below are a sampling of how it can be done.

• Create personalized email marketing campaigns targeting customers with offers and promotions that are tailored to their interests.
• Create customized landing pages on their website for offers and packages to customers who have previously stayed at the hotel.
• Targeted ads on social media or other online platforms, basis data on past bookings and preferences, showcasing services that are most likely to appeal to those customers.

Persona Based Marketing - First party data is also useful for creating accurate and detailed personas, because it is collected directly from the customers themselves. This data could include information such as the customer's age, gender, location, interests, and past purchases. By analyzing this data, marketers can create personas that accurately represent different segments of their customer base, and use these personas to create targeted marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with each segment.

Persona-based marketing is a strategy that uses data about customers to create detailed profiles, or personas, of individual customers or segments of customers. These personas can help marketers to understand the needs, interests, and behaviors of their customers, and to create personalized marketing campaigns that are tailored to each persona.

For example, a hotel marketer could use first party data to create personas of different types of travelers, such as business travelers, families, and couples. The marketer could then use these personas to create customized marketing campaigns that promote the hotel's amenities and services that are most likely to appeal to each segment. This could include offering special rates or packages for business travelers, promoting the hotel's family-friendly activities for families, or highlighting the hotel's romantic amenities for couples.

Overall, using first party data can help hotel marketers to create more effective and personalized marketing campaigns, which can in turn help to drive bookings and revenue for the hotel. Data transparency is again key with hotels stating how they collect and use first party data, and offer customers the option to opt out of having their data used for marketing purposes.

This article was coauthored by ChatGPT, a large language model trained by OpenAI.