The New Apple Privacy Rule:

What Are Marketers Supposed to Do Now?

Who should listen: Entrepreneurs looking for ways to use content marketing effectively and efficiently as a direct-to-consumer strategy.

Key idea: The writing is on the wall—privacy laws will continue to hamper the effectiveness of push marketing. The best alternative is to attract clients with high-quality content marketing that addresses their pain points and solves their problems.

Action items: Identify your marketing inputs, and use the 3-question framework to put form and purpose to your content.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Apple’s iPhone was the world’s best-selling smartphone with consumers having purchased just under 80 million phones. Additionally, consumers bought 45.5 million iPads.

Also in 2020, many of the nearly 2.8 billion active monthly users routinely pulled out their iPhones and iPads and used them to access Facebook, where they posted and shared the minutia of their lives for the world to see.

But that’s not all they did.

Many consumers would click on the plethora of consumer ads that would pop up in their Facebook News Feed. Other users, however, would scroll through these same ads without a glance, but that was okay because marketers had a plan B.

Digital marketing then and now

Plan B was to collect data on users of Facebook and other social media platforms, including users’ activity across apps and websites that the marketers didn’t even own, and then use this data to track users online.

And most of the time, users had no idea they were being watched.

Marketers would then use the data they had collected to retarget their ads wherever and whenever users were online. That’s why, after shopping online for a set of sheets, consumers would see ads for bedroom-related goods for weeks thereafter. They were tracked and targeted by companies whose algorithms thought “Hey, they’re shopping for sheets. Maybe they could use a mattress, or pillows, or a bed, or something equally relevant to the bedroom.”

It was a marketer’s paradise . . . that is, until April 26, 2021, when Apple released its latest software update iOS 14.5.

This most recent update means that once an iPhone or iPad user downloads the update and then opens, downloads, or updates an app for the first time, they will see a pop-up message that allows them to choose whether to they want their activity to be tracked and their data shared.

As of July 26, 87% of users in the US have said, “I don’t think so” and have opted out.

The age of digital privacy has arrived and, with it, the collective gnashing of teeth among marketers who are wondering what to do next.

Creating marketing content and a direct-to-consumer strategy

For this week’s Stay Paid guest, Jimmy Mackin, the CEO of Curaytor, the answer to the question is clear—if businesses are to survive now and in the future, they’ll need to attract rather than chase clients and customers who would otherwise block companies from snooping around their online activity and collecting their data.

His recommendation for attracting business is to provide high-quality content that solves your clients’ problems and removes their frustrations.

This is especially true for real estate agents, according to Mackin. He notes that in today’s sellers’ market there are so many people who are frustrated, confused, and overwhelmed that if someone could step into the void of helpful information and provide answers to the tough questions in the right way, “magic could happen.”

How to begin creating marketing content

Mackin offers a ton of valuable advice about how to get started with content marketing. One terrific idea is something we hadn’t heard of before . . .

To create high-quality content, he says, you need to identify and regularly consult several “sources of inspiration.” After you find something that interests you, then figure out how to make it interesting to your audience. To do that, he suggests you consider your information and ask these three questions:

• Can I . . . ?
• Should I . . . ?
• How do I . . . ?

He provides a great example of how this framework can generate super useful content that you’ll want to hear (and maybe use for your content marketing)!

Of course, there’s more about content that he shares, including the kind of content you should write, how you can use it to produce additional content you can share on social media (he calls it micro-content), and a way you can boost and retarget your content without needing to track users.

Why a direct-to-consumer strategy makes sense

For Mackin, if a business wants to ramp up its lead generation and build a brand, it needs to use the content they it creates and engage in direct-to-consumer marketing.

Content that is directly accessible to an audience allows you to create your own audience rather than having to rely on, and pay the ever-increasing costs for, a third party (like Zillow and others) to find and advertise your services.

But if you’re going to generate that audience, then you’ll need unique, compelling, and original content that answers the questions and solves the problems of your ideal client. Figure out what that is, use it to get people to your website, and have some incredible offers, and people will want to do business with you.

In the end, Mackin’s advice about content creation and direct-to-consumer marketing aligns with what he believes is a compelling vision of the future of advertising—which he describes in detail and you can hear in this week’s episode.

Connect | Resources

Connect with Jimmy on Instagram: @jimmymackin

Book: Exactly What to Say: For Real Estate Agents

Podcast: #WaterCooler

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for ReminderMedia to earn a small fee by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.