Striking The Right Chord: Data Security And Targeted Reach In Marketing

Ajay Gupta, Stirista Founder / CEO

When it comes to marketing, today’s consumers have told us clearly what they want—and what they don’t want.

They do want personalized messages that are based on their unique profiles. Research by McKinsey found that 71% of consumers expect brands to deliver personalized interactions. These could take the form of social media posts, texts and emails that send them the content they’re hunting for, or they might be a coupon at a local boutique where they’re a frequent shopper or an e-book from a B2B tech provider about a challenge they’re facing at work.

What consumers clearly don’t want is companies playing fast and loose with all of the sensitive and personal data they’re collecting to craft those targeted marketing campaigns, allowing it to fall into the wrong hands.

With security breaches and data leaks dominating headlines, many consumers are, for good reason, concerned about data privacy and whether companies have their best interests at heart when they gather and store information about them.

For brands, this growing concern highlights the need for a balanced approach—leveraging data’s power for targeted reach while prioritizing security to maintain consumer trust.

The Power Of Relevance: Why Targeted Marketing Matters

Targeted marketing works, and that’s why brands are increasingly relying on it. The strategy allows companies to home in on exactly what a consumer is looking for.

Personalized marketing delivers a strong return on investment as it engages customers and sparks higher conversion rates. According to McKinsey, companies that grow faster drive 40% more of their revenue from personalization efforts than competitors that aren’t growing as fast.

How Data Security Comes Into Play

Personalized messages and targeted marketing efforts are built on a mountain of data about individual consumers—from information such as where they live and how often they vote to their online behaviors, including social media activity, online shopping habits, search history and financial data.

Amid concerns over data privacy, hacks and data breaches, the data privacy landscape is constantly evolving. Increasingly, regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation and California Consumer Privacy Act are empowering consumers by giving them more control over their information.

These stricter regulations and growing consumer concerns require a shift to privacy-centric marketing. Businesses must adapt to these regulations and build trust with their audiences.

Keeping Consumers’ Data Safe

With robust data security practices in place, marketers can strike the right balance. And, luckily, technological advancements are providing new ways for brands to build targeted marketing campaigns while prioritizing their customers’ privacy. The goal should be to ensure you’re managing data responsibly across its life cycle from collection to deletion.

Best practices include any number of approaches. With anonymized data, for example, you can collect and analyze data in a way that doesn’t identify individual users. Any careful data privacy practice also includes vetting third-party tools and services, a frequent and growing source for breaches, to ensure they meet strict security standards. A 2024 survey by Prevalent uncovered a record level of third-party data breaches so far this year; they’ve increased 49% year over year.

Commonsense cybersecurity and data protection strategies also include advanced encryption, so all data is securely encrypted where it’s stored and when it’s in transit, and strict access control so only authorized individuals can access the information.

Of course, the tactics of hackers and the threats of cyberattacks are moving targets. If you’re relying on consumer data to build targeted marketing campaigns, you must also stay abreast of the latest scams and vulnerabilities to ensure you’re always safeguarding it.

Consent Is Key: Building Trust Through Transparency

In the end, however, it’s not enough to implement data privacy technologies and strategies. You have to be transparent with consumers to ensure they know how you’re protecting their sensitive information.

In fact, highlighting how you use and secure data is a smart business move. Ethical data practices are increasingly a differentiator for companies, and many consumers won’t do business with a company if they have concerns about security practices.

To spotlight your data privacy efforts, tell your customers what your company is doing with the data, how sharing that data can benefit them and how they can control it. Make sure that your privacy policies concisely spell out your data practices and that they’re easy to find. You also must give users clear options to choose whether they want their data collected.

Building trust with an audience, after all, is the cornerstone of any successful marketing effort. Trusted relationships are built when you target your marketing to ensure consumers can easily find the products and messages they’re looking for. But you also have to invest in the right tools and practices to keep all their personal data safe. Now, more than ever, making data secure is a nonnegotiable priority.

Originally published in Forbes September 2024