Data security and brand marketing correlation: Trends for 2023

Data security is and definitely will be a hot topic in following years. Every day, there are new stories about data breaches and online attacks. Consumers are understandably concerned about protecting their personal information.

Fortunately, there are ways for brands to strengthen their data security and protect the integrity of their customer data.

This article will discuss the importance of data security for brands and how to protect customer privacy. We'll also explore trends in data security for 2023.

Data security is a major factor in marketing. When customers trust a brand, they're more likely to share their data. This increases the potential for growth and profitability.

However, many brands struggle to create a strong data privacy strategy. They underestimate the importance of data security and fail to protect the integrity of their customer data.

This can have serious implications. A data breach can tarnish a brand's reputation and cause significant financial damage. This article will show you some historical examples of such cases.

Here are four ways data breaches can affect marketing:

If customers don't trust a brand, they won't share their data. This limits the marketing opportunities available to them. 

Here’s an obvious example: if customers don't trust a brand with their credit card information, they won't make online purchases. This limits the potential for revenue.

According to research conducted by Varonis, 65% of customers whose data was compromised felt betrayed by the company. The research shows that 85% of victims of a data breach will spread negative word of mouth and tell others about their experience, which means you risk losing potential clients in addition to those harmed by the breach.

Keeping a positive image for your company means earning the respect of not just your clientele, but also suppliers, financiers, and the whole general public.

Businesses that fail to take enough precautions to protect their customers' personal information are in danger of seeing a decline in trust, sales, and earnings as a result of data breaches.

If customers find out a brand has been breached, they'll lose trust. This can cause significant damage to a brand's reputation. 

A company's reputation may take a major hit if it fails to comply with regulations, has data breaches, or handles situations poorly.

Let's examine the fallout from a few of the most high-profile data breaches in history.

While this isn't the most recent incident, the way Uber handled a data breach in 2016 is an excellent illustration of how not to manage such a situation. They detected a breach but chose not to be upfront about it or take responsibility for their actions. They instead paid the hackers to destroy the evidence and keep quiet. Unfortunately, the compromise was exposed the next year.

Result? Substantial monetary fines and a drop in credibility within the target audience. Even though the data breach was discovered late in 2017, it caused such serious harm to their reputation that their customer impression decreased by 141.3% in the same year.

It might take a long time to repair such harm to one's reputation. However, if you act swiftly and effectively once a breach occurs, the blow can be mitigated.

The Data Protection Commission in Ireland issued a punishment of $275 million to Facebook owner Meta for violating data protection standards after it was discovered that Facebook user data had been made available on a hacker forum. Full names, phone numbers, birthdates, and geographical areas of 2018 and 2019 Facebook members were included.

Meta confirmed the data was scraped using lawful methods meant to assist users to discover friends through phone numbers. The penalty may have been avoided with a more secure design of this feature.

Damage to your reputation means fewer people will trust you, which in turn means fewer people will buy from you, which means less money in your pocket.

Also, following a breach, not only may you lose consumers, but your stock price would probably go down as well.

According to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report, the national average cost of a data breach in the United States was $9.44M in 2022. When you include in the expenses of limiting a data breach, you run the possibility of experiencing financial damages from which you could never fully recover.

Even if this seems like a lot, we haven't even included the costs associated with non-compliance.

Thus, while the upfront costs of compliance may appear expensive, they will ultimately be less than the cost of penalties and fees, as well as the additional financial losses caused by a lost brand reputation.

More than 108.9 million data breaches occurred in the third quarter of 2022, a 70% rise from the previous quarter. Unfortunately, in 2023, we can expect this number to grow even more.

This increase in data breaches is due to two major factors:

• The increased use of digital technologies
• The increased collection of personal data

Digital technologies allow companies to collect and analyze more data. This data can be used to personalize marketing campaigns, improve customer service, and make better decisions.

However, this data can also be stolen by hackers.

Therefore, marketing professionals need to take precautions to protect personal data.

Here are some measures you can implement to prevent data breaches:

• Use encryption
• Limit access to the data
• Monitor the system for vulnerabilities
• Train employees on data security
• Implement a secure cloud archiving solution
• Maintain an updated antivirus program
• Use secure messaging systems

There has been an increase in consumer awareness of data privacy issues. In 2023, this trend will continue, and consumers will expect more transparency from brands. 

They want to know how their data is being used, and they want to protect this data. 

Therefore, in 2023, marketers will be more transparent about the way they collect and use customer data. 

They will share this information on their websites and during their customer interactions. 

This will help build customer trust.

Traditionally, brands have sent one-way messages to customers. 

They have sent emails, text messages, and push notifications to communicate with customers. 

However, in 2023, brands will communicate with customers in a more interactive way. 

They will engage customers by asking them to participate in discussions -- this will help brands better understand their customers' needs.

Consumers are more cautious about sharing personal data, and they want more control over how their data is used. 

In 2023, customers will continue to demand more control over their personal data. 

They want to know how their data is being used, and they want the option to opt out of certain marketing campaigns.

Rapid development in the realm of cybersecurity has opened up exciting opportunities for the application of artificial intelligence (AI). As the number of cyber threats continues to rise, it is understandable that businesses would be concerned.

A single malware assault may severely harm a company financially, legally, and publicly. However, with cutting-edge AI-driven cloud security, organizations have a brighter future than hackers.

Machine learning and AI will soon be indispensable in the field of cyber defense. Cybersecurity today still relies heavily on the efforts of professionals, but AI is increasingly taking the lead in resolving some challenges.

Artificial intelligence is useful for detecting intrusions as soon as they occur. This is achieved by doing an instantaneous search of a vast database containing the digital traces left by previous hackers attempting to get into a protected system.

Only artificial intelligence has the speed to finish this job in such a short amount of time.

Privacy regulations are increasingly important, and will only increase in 2023. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which governs how companies handle the personal data of EU citizens, has already been in effect since May 2018.

It's likely that more countries will pass similar regulations in 2023, which will impact how companies handle and store data.

As data security becomes more important, marketers need to strengthen their data security strategies. 

They need to take proactive measures to protect customer data, and they need to be transparent about how they use customer data. 

Following trends and predictions can help you stay ahead of the game and protect your brand reputation.