Once your customers share their data with you, it’s your responsibility as a marketer to keep it safe and use it ethically. If you don’t, you’re risking more than simple noncompliance with rules and regulations. In fact, you can face fines, lose customers, and suffer other significant damages, potentially leading to your brand’s shutdown.
You’d be surprised, but not all companies are diligent with customer data. That is why being up to date with privacy can be your own competitive edge. Here are the main tactics to shine as a company in your niche — all thanks to smart marketing.
Protecting Data Within Your Team
Information your customers share should always be shielded from unauthorized access outside your organization. But did you know that the same unauthorized access could also come from within your professional team? While some members need to reach that data for specific purposes, not everyone truly needs it. As a marketing expert, you should understand how to secure it so that only relevant employees receive access.
While marketers want to see right through their clients and learn everything about them, third parties, vendors, AI bots, and others don’t need to catch what they find. Regularly monitor the systems and limit public access to data to stay trustworthy and compliant. Additionally, employ reliable tools to keep it safe, including software like password managers, using a best VPN, or implementing a firewall in your system. It ensures everyone on your team can automatically input and share passwords when needed without accidentally leaking them to unauthorized users.
Keeping Your Privacy Policy Transparent and Updated
Whether you have a website or an app, your company should have a clear and up-to-date privacy policy available for its customers. Since rules and regulations on privacy often change, your team should analyze and adapt them often so it’s still compliant. Once you change it, make sure the last version is available, and leave the date of the change on the page, so users are aware of it. That’ll give them the power to opt out of new data collection activities, if needed.
Each privacy policy you curate should additionally be tailored to your marketing strategy and target audience. Avoid copying and pasting someone’s document to your website or app, as each business model has its own rules to follow, depending on its approach to data collection.
Receiving Clear Consent From Users
Many countries require clear user consent when collecting data. So, adding this privacy feature to your marketing strategy is essential for any company. When gathering personal information, you should get clear, explicit consent beforehand. In addition, your team should note down what you’ve collected and why. The purpose of the practice is to let you know when you no longer need the data and can safely dispose of it. Users will also be able to revoke their consent in the future if anything changes.
Establishing a transparent consent policy is vital. The form of consent is often the first thing users see when they visit your website and app, and they are putting their trust in your hands. So, collect, store, and delete the data according to your customers’ wishes to stay compliant and trustworthy.
Collecting Data Ethically and Accountably
Collecting data is a lot more than clear consent and good privacy practices. It’s also about how your team personally approaches data collection. Ethics and accountability are both important in marketing strategies, where you don’t just earn trust — you follow through with it and treat the data you collect fairly.
Avoid getting heaps of information with questionable consent and leaving it on the servers until your company is no more. Instead, take only what you need for a particular strategy, get transparent consent, and only keep it for the time you truly need it. Then, make sure to safely dispose of it, minimizing data leaks. Additionally, use software and services like a VPN client to secure your servers and internet connection. Keeping the data safe from intruders is another one of your responsibilities as a marketing professional.
Earn Trust, Gain Customers
Almost 70% of consumers worry about where their data is going when they are online, and marketing teams have to provide a clear response to stay trustworthy and compliant. Safeguarding user information from unauthorized access, updating privacy policies, asking for clear consent, and treating data ethically are just a couple of tactics that’ll help your marketing approach stand out and your organization get more customers.
