As a marketer, you may have to overcome various online challenges. Because technology is becoming so intrinsically linked to marketing campaigns, the need for sufficient cybersecurity measures has never been higher.
Many marketers invest huge amounts of money, effort, and creativity into their strategies. As a result, the thought of being the victim of a cyberattack can be incredibly intimidating. Cybercrime will cost companies an estimated $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion in 2015. This shows how vital it is to act now and improve the measures you have in place.
In this guide, we’ll explain why cybersecurity is necessary for a marketer in the digital age.
Operating online has meant making a full-time adjustment to digital marketing. Doing so means reaching a larger audience and refining your targeting strategies. However, this rapid change also allows hackers to infiltrate your systems if they aren’t suitably protected.
Protecting Sensitive Data
Data breaches can mean a loss of trust from your clients, but there may also be legal ramifications.
Ensuring the measures you have in place are secure enough to protect the data you possess can mean that your clients’ valuable information remains untapped.
Why is this important?
- As a marketer, you’ll be responsible for handling a lot of customer data, such as their financial information and past purchases.
- You may have unique marketing strategies you want to avoid competitors seeing, and your data being compromised could lose you an advantage in your field.
- Your reputation could be irreparably harmed if you are responsible for losing your clients’ data, causing future business loss.
Safeguarding Reputation
As mentioned briefly above, trust is a must in marketing. A breach in cyber security can destroy the trust you’ve built with clients over many years. Marketers invest substantial effort in building and maintaining a positive brand image, so use that work wisely.
A cyberattack can tarnish your image and cause customer trust and confidence loss. Implementing a Virtual Private Network (VPN), like Surfshark, adds a layer of protection, encrypting online communications and safeguarding sensitive data. Using a VPN will further fortify your cybersecurity strategy.
Ensuring Business Continuity
Marketing campaigns often operate on tight schedules. As such, disruptions or delays can significantly affect your productivity and output. Cyberattacks, such as ransomware or denial-of-service attacks, can cripple operations and lead to substantial financial losses. Ransomware will cost its victims around $265 billion USD annually by 2031, which is up from $42 billion in 2024 and $20 billion in 2021.
Adding additional cybersecurity measures can fortify your campaigns, ensure uninterrupted business, and maintain momentum. Financial setbacks can easily spiral out of control due to a combination of lost revenue and loss of customer trust.
Adapting to Regulatory Compliance
You’ll need to align the practices of your marketing enterprise with worldwide governments tightening data protection and privacy regulations. You must do so to avoid being financially penalized and damage your brand’s reputation.
Cyber security measures protect against data breaches and ensure that marketers adhere to evolving regulatory standards, keeping their operations legal and trustworthy.
Conclusion
Having solid cybersecurity measures in place is not a matter of preference. Having sufficient protection for your and your clients’ data has become necessary. A data breach caused by your lack of vigilance could have severe financial and legal implications.
In the future, a cybersecurity issue may also make your existing customer base rethink their relationship with you. New business partnerships can also be less likely to be possible moving forward. So, take every step to bolster your digital defenses, and take them before a data breach incident rather than in its wake.
