There are hundreds of reasons why Data Protection must be a priority for your business. Here’s one of the reasons, explained in the following guest post by Waypost Marketing, a Hubspot certified inbound marketing company based in Greenville, South Carolina.

Thanks to the endless possibilities that the web provides today, there are no longer any borders and limits for your business. Even if your company operates locally, you have the chance to be present in everyone’s pocket in your town (most of us have smartphones, don’t we?).

Needless to say, keeping in close contact with your prospects and customers is a marketing luxury that drives businesses across the country. It is the base of “lovable marketing,” a digital relationship so rewarding that your fans just can’t get enough of your awesome services and campaigns. Moreover, a lot of the companies base their customer acquisition processes entirely on online lead generation, which can be more cost-saving and efficient.

But a pleasure like that comes with a serious cost; taking your business or marketing online requires a secure Data Protection Policy.

What is Permission Marketing?

Do you get annoyed when you receive emails from sources you never contacted or subscribed to? Do you get even more annoyed when you cannot unsubscribe from the load of spam that comes your way?

In the global digital marketplace, you can find everything on sale, and if you can’t buy it, you can hack it. This is the exact opposite of permission marketing, which is the future of ethical communications between brands and their customers.

Permission marketing means:

• No spam. The CAN-SPAM Act of the United States regulates and defines the mailing requirements all businesses must comply with.
• A promise to protect the data your visitors provide when visiting your website or signing up for your offers.
• The right/ability of your visitors to opt-out of your database.

When your users hand their information to you, especially if you’re an ecommerce business or require sensitive data on your website, your number one priority should be data protection.

It’s Not Just About Marketing

Data is not just about marketing. If your business has a client base, you definitely have data you dearly protect from competitors and other parties that might exploit it. Unless you execute your mailing strategy with the help of owls, your information is most probably on a computer-based database that can be easily leaked if it’s not properly protected.

Why Do You Need Data Protection?

Data breaches are becoming more and more common; these are digital disasters that can happen with local businesses, online marketplaces, and even powerful corporations.

Take the biggest data leak of all times, the Panama papers, add a spoonful of Wikileaks, a slice of regular contact leaks from Gmail and Ebay, and you have the perfect recipe for a disaster that can ruin your brand reputation in a heartbeat.

Here are 4 reasons why data protection works in your advantage.

1. Competition: Sure, it all depends on the industry, but the number one party interested in your data is always your competitors. Whether your company operates ethically or not, any company, in or outside of the United States, can technically hijack your customers or damage your brand reputation if they have free access to your internal data.
2. Loss of Data: Data leaks are only one side of the coin. All PC users and companies lose data in a certain time period, but a loss of sensitive or crucial data can be so harmful that it can put you out of business within a year. It’s not surprising that 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the incident.
3. Avoid Penalties and Fines: Businesses that have discovered data leaks must begin relevant investigations, as well as pay fines and penalties that can range from $500k to 2 million dollars (or more), depending on the types of “willful neglect” that the company has demonstrated. The sad truth is your hackers might get off scot free, and your company will be the one who pays.
4. Save on Emergency Marketing: There is no other way of saving the remnants of your reputation and rebuilding trust than emergency operations. These activities are usually very costly and there is never a guarantee for success.

Now You Know …

The best way of practicing permission marketing, providing excellent customer care, and gaining the trust of your customers is to guarantee that the data you collect from your visitors will be under secure protection. A data leak emergency doesn’t call in advance before dropping in, check your systems and make sure -your IT protection is at the highest level.

Is all of this marking chat making you think? Give Waypost Marketing a call at (864) 288-6162 or contact them online today! If you aren’t ready to chat but still want to learn more, click the banner below to download their free E-Book How to Win the Zero Moment of Truth!