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Whenever I’m asked for a snippet of advice by anyone embarking on a career in digital marketing, my top tip is that they foster a strong working relationship with their organisation’s privacy professional.
In today’s online world, privacy and data protection have grown in importance – and rightly so. And with businesses increasingly adopting a privacy-first stance, the digital marketeer must both redefine their brand’s data collection practices and review their operating practices with relevant third parties to ensure their brand is compliant.
This shift is unfamiliar and uncharted territory for many marketing teams, and navigating it is challenging! Data protection regulations are now in operation across some 130 countries worldwide and can be complex, varied and frequently changing. Factor in the associated legislation that covers consumer privacy rights relating to electronic communications and the use of cookie technologies and it’s no wonder that marketeers struggle to identify best practice regarding what can and cannot be done with customer data.
As Securys’ latest Privacy Made Positive® research revealed, many consumers are increasingly savvy about customer data. In our last survey, conducted by Kantar with 3,000 adults across continental US in 2023, 89% of respondents believed that good privacy information is important for trusting a company. Our research underlined how much attention is paid to privacy prior to a purchase. Of the US consumers we polled, over 75% decided not to go through with a purchase because of concerns over privacy.
To my mind, therefore, marketing success in this new privacy-first era demands a strategic alignment between the marketing team and the privacy team.
Each team brings different expertise and capabilities which, when combined, have the potential to lead to better outcomes for the brand and, ultimately, the consumer. Transparency matters to today’s increasingly sophisticated consumer. Good privacy information is an essential component of brand trust. Whether it is reviewing privacy notices or advising on the precise wording for consent capture or checking another piece of privacy communication, there’s merit in passing these to the marketing team for consideration before publication.
The marketing team may well be far more familiar with the brand’s overall mission, more in touch with information on the specifics of the market and the actions of close competitors, bringing an alternate perspective not necessarily considered by the privacy office.
And marketeers, whose strengths lie in communication, can ensure that privacy information is not just presented in a way that’s consistent with the brand’s values and style, but is built into the customer journey in a frictionless, easily digestible manner.
On the other hand, marketing increasingly relies upon their privacy colleagues to chart a way through the quagmire of data protection regulation. Marketers understand the importance of privacy compliance and should be prepared to bear some of the responsibility for keeping themselves informed of relevant developments. The fact that the privacy team is on top of such regulatory changes and is able to interpret them that in a way that reduces their complexity and makes it actionable is therefore a skill of particular value.
In Ben Rapp’s earlier article, he outlines his view of marketing and privacy, written from his perspective as a privacy professional. As a marketeer, I see the collaboration between marketing and privacy as a no-brainer given that both parties have so much to contribute. Ultimately, it is the customer that stands to benefit from this partnering. So, make friends with your privacy team, and meet up with them for a coffee. You’re likely to find that a regular chat will save both of you a lot of time and energy.