By Iryna Kozirevych
Third-party cookies are fading away, while international privacy regulations like GDPR and COPPA keep getting stricter. Apart from this, modern users expect brands to respect their privacy. These three factors turned privacy-first marketing into a must-have approach. By adopting it, businesses can ensure compliance and gain trust more effectively. Besides, privacy-first advertising does not imply lower targeting accuracy or a decrease in the overall performance.
But what does privacy-first digital marketing actually mean? What are the benefits? What regulations to consider? In this guide, we are answering these and other questions. Read on to discover how to adapt to the privacy-centric ecosystem in the right way.
Key Takeaways:
Adopting a privacy-first marketing strategy is a must for brands to gain trust and ensure consistent long-term growth.
Other benefits include enhanced customer experience, higher-quality data, reduced legal and reputational risks, and competitive differentiation.
Switching to first-party data is not enough. You should also review your tools and vendors and ensure effective collaboration between different teams.
Attekmi’s ad exchange solutions are compliant with GDPR, CCPA, COPPA, and TCF 2.0. The ads.txt and sellers.json files are supported as well.
What is privacy-first marketing?
Privacy marketing is not only about being compliant – it is about putting user data protection, transparency, and consent at the core of marketing strategy. More and more companies are switching to it instead of traditional marketing methods, and there are multiple reasons for doing so.
From a business perspective, privacy-first marketing reduces long-term risks and dependency on unreliable data sources like third-party cookies. If you invest in first-party data and privacy-safe technologies, it becomes easier for your brand to build solid relationships with your customers and keep your marketing operations future-proof.
As for the legal perspective, global regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and others require explicit consent and data minimization. Implementing a privacy-first strategy enables you to stay compliant while avoiding fines and reputational damage.
Last but not least, from a consumer perspective, trust has become a competitive advantage. Users are increasingly aware of how their data is used and want brands to respect their privacy, offer clear choices, and deliver value in exchange for data. Integrating privacy-first practices allows you to align business growth with customer trust and ensure sustainable and long-term performance.
Privacy-first vs traditional digital marketing
Traditional digital marketing heavily relies on third-party data, which is often collected without clear user consent. In turn, privacy-first marketing prioritizes consented data, transparency, and privacy-safe targeting methods. Such an approach focuses on trust, compliance, and long-term growth instead of aggressive data collection and short-term scale.
Key privacy regulations shaping marketing in 2026
To ensure an effective privacy-first approach to marketing, you need to understand the main legal aspects. Here are the key regulations to consider:
GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the main law outlining how the personal information of EU citizens can be collected, processed, and used. Therefore, if you work with such data, GDPR is something you must be compliant with, even if your company is non-EU.
The main principles of GDPR are as follows:
Lawfulness, fairness, and transparency
Purpose limitation
Data minimization
Accuracy
Storage limitation
Integrity and confidentiality
Accountability
CCPA and CPRA
CCPA stands for California Consumer Privacy Act. In turn, CPRA is the California Privacy Rights Act. There are certain differences between them; however, both of these regulations aim to protect the privacy of California residents, even those who are temporarily outside the state. Just like in the case of GDPR, your business does not have to be located in California – wherever it is, you should be compliant with CCPA and CPRA if you work with the data of California residents.
COPPA
COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) protects US children under age 13. Again, the location of your business does not matter. If you work with such data, you must be compliant with COPPA.
Note that the legal landscape evolves continuously. New laws enter the stage from time to time, while the already existing ones are updated regularly. Therefore, you need to keep an eye on this evolution to avoid penalties and reputational issues.
“The shift to privacy-first marketing isn’t slowing down innovation in AdTech. Instead, it’s forcing the industry to finally move in the right direction.”
Olena Chudinovych
Attekmi’s CPO
Cookies and privacy-first marketing
Cookies have been the backbone of digital advertising for a long time, but the growing privacy concerns and legal pressure have changed the way they are used. Here are the details:
What are cookies and what do they do?
Basically, a cookie is a small data file. However, first-party cookies are created by you, for your website. They remember items a user added to the cart, recommend other products according to the preferences, save specific settings (like language preference), and so on. Basically, first-party cookies enable you to personalize and optimize the user experience while respecting privacy.
In turn, third-party cookies can be created by anyone. They are used to track users across different websites, deliver relevant ads, etc.
Why do cookies matter to marketers?
Third-party cookies played a crucial role in advertising due to their cross-site tracking, retargeting, ad serving, and other capabilities. However, the industry is increasingly adopting the privacy-first approach.
Therefore, if you still rely on third-party cookies, now is the time to switch to the first-party ones. This will help you improve user experience in a privacy-friendly manner, collect insights about user behaviour, and so on. In combination with other privacy-first advertising and marketing methods, they can help you reach much more impressive results than third-party cookies.
Are third-party cookies still used?
Yes, third-party cookies are still in use, but they are phasing out. Do not wait until they are fully eliminated. If you prioritize privacy-first marketing, it becomes easier for you to gain trust and build long-term relationships with your customers. This is a much more effective approach than focusing on quick sales and neglecting appropriate user experience.
Privacy-first data strategies for modern marketers
As a marketer, you must put privacy first. Here are the strategies that you may want to integrate into your processes:
First-party data collection and activation
You collect first-party data directly from your audience and via the channels you own (your website, app, social media, etc.). There are numerous ways to gather such information: via website and app analytics, a CRM platform, and so on. Remember, being compliant with privacy regulations and obtaining clear consent is more than a requirement. It is a must.
To activate the data, you should first unify the data from various resources – this will enable you to create comprehensive customer profiles. Then, identify your goals, segment the audience, and personalize both on-site and advertising experiences.
Zero-party data and explicit user consent
Zero-party data is the information that users share intentionally and proactively. It is highly accurate and helps you build trust. This type of data is completely privacy-friendly since it is based on explicit consent – users share it willingly. It can be collected via registration forms, preference centers, interactive quizzes, etc.
Note that zero-party and first-party data are not the same thing, but both of them are crucial to collect. Zero-party data is shared intentionally. For instance, this can be customer feedback. In turn, first-party data is gathered via interactions – for example, this can be order history.
Data minimization and purpose limitation
Obviously, you may want to gather as much data as you can. However, here is the practice that you should follow if you want to build an effective privacy-first marketing strategy. Collect only the information that is required to achieve a clearly defined objective. This way, you will make sure that your personalized experiences will not look intrusive. Besides, you will reduce compliance risks.
Benefits of adopting privacy-first marketing
Now, let’s summarize the key benefits of building and following a privacy-first marketing strategy.
Increased trust and brand loyalty
If you are transparent about how you collect and use the data and obtain clear consent, customers are more willing to share information and engage over time. They understand that you respect their privacy, so they are more likely to trust you. This trust results in higher engagement, stronger relationships, and long-term loyalty. Besides, this can help you attract new customers – your happy and loyal clients may recommend your brand to their family and friends.
Improved customer experience
Respecting user privacy often leads to better and less intrusive customer experiences. Users see fewer but personalized and more relevant ads, understand the value clearly, and are more likely to take the desired action. Besides, that is not only about advertising. The privacy-first approach can help you enhance experiences across all the touchpoints: your website, app, advertisements, emails, and so on.
Higher-quality data
Privacy-first marketing is all about consented and intentional data, which is much more accurate and reliable than second- or third-party data. You clearly understand the interests and preferences of your audience, and use this information for advertising and other activities. Every insight contributes to data-driven decision-making.
Reduced legal and reputational risks
Apart from this, privacy-first practices help you stay compliant with international laws and minimize risks related to penalties and legal disputes. Besides, responsible data collection and usage is a way to establish your brand as a trusted company. It is much more effective and cheaper to act proactively in terms of privacy than to react to reputational damage that has already happened.
Future-proof marketing strategies
Third-party cookies are fading away, and regulations keep tightening. This will not change in the future. Therefore, by prioritizing privacy-first marketing, you access sustainable business growth. Such a strategy allows you to get ready for the coming changes in advance and ensure long-term scalability.
Competitive differentiation
Last but not least, by focusing on responsible data collection, usage, and protection, you gain a competitive advantage. It becomes easier for you to stand out in the market and attract new customers. Such an approach can be especially effective in privacy-sensitive industries, for instance, finance or healthcare.
How to build a privacy-first marketing strategy in 2026?
You are already familiar with some effective practices. However, there are more things to consider, so let’s summarize the key steps you should take in order to build a privacy-first strategy:
Audit data, tools, and vendors
Start by outlining what data you collect, where it comes from, how it is stored, and who has access to it. Make sure to miss nothing – pay attention to marketing platforms, analytics tools, AdTech vendors, and data partners. Then, define data collection methods, vendors, and data flows that you do not need. Finally, eliminate or replace them with privacy-safe alternatives.
Align marketing, legal, and product teams
Privacy-first marketing only works when teams collaborate clearly and continuously. Legal teams help interpret regulatory requirements, product teams embed privacy into user experiences, and marketing teams ensure data is activated responsibly. Shared frameworks, clear ownership, and agreed privacy principles reduce friction and speed up strategy execution.
Choose privacy-first technology partners
It is also essential to select privacy-first marketing solutions and vendors. They should support consent management, first-party data activation, and privacy-safe measurement. Evaluate partners based on transparency, data usage policies, compliance readiness, and adaptability to future regulatory or platform changes.
When choosing a tool or platform, check how often it is upgraded with new functionalities. Regular updates indicate the vendor’s readiness to maintain the competitiveness of the solution. In terms of privacy and compliance, this is a good sign as well. If something changes, such a provider will be more likely to react promptly.
Redesign data collection
One of the most important steps is to make sure that users clearly understand what data is collected and why, and how you are going to use it. Therefore, you may need to make some changes. For instance, these may be updates to your privacy policy, offering incentives in exchange for data (for example, access to premium content), and so on. Preference centers can be a great help as well. Besides, remember that it should be easy for customers to withdraw their consent.
Conclusion
So, privacy and marketing. In the modern digital advertising world, these terms work hand in hand. If you want your brand to succeed and evolve (and you definitely want it to), you should start adjusting your strategy right now. Respecting your audience's privacy and being compliant with regulations is a benefit that will never become worthless.
The recommendations provided above will help you do everything in the right way. Besides, make sure to keep an eye on the evolving privacy standards – this will enable you to adapt quickly.
Searching for an ad exchange solution fully compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations? Just get in touch with us.
FAQ
Yes. Privacy-first marketing relies on first-party and zero-party data, contextual signals, and privacy-safe technologies rather than third-party cookies. This approach enables targeting, personalization, and measurement while respecting user consent and regulatory requirements.
Personalization becomes more intentional and relevant, driven by consented data and contextual insights. Data quality and trust improve, which often results in more sustainable performance and stronger customer relationships over time.
You can use aggregated and modeled measurements, first-party analytics, contextual reporting, and incrementality testing. These methods provide actionable insights without relying on individual-level tracking or intrusive data collection.
