Data Privacy Ranks Second for Top Marketing Challenge in 2019

A survey of nearly 200 chief marking officers and corporate executives has identified privacy, trust and security as marketing’s second biggest data challenge in 2019. The report from Singular with the results from the marketing leaders noted that “a strong brand untainted by consumer privacy breaches is … essential for growth.”

The report comes at the same time that Apple has made a splash at CES 2019 in Las Vegas with its massive billboard on the side of a Marriott hotel that say “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” The privacy-focused advertising appears to be part of the company’s campaign to distinguish itself from other top technology companies, even though it does not have an official presence at the popular annual consumer electronics conference. It is a play on the popular travel and tourism slogan: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

More and more organizations are starting to talk about privacy as more than a compliance issue and instead an issue of data ethics and ROI. For example:

Promontory Financial Group (an IBM Company): “As organizations continue their digital transformations and expand product and service offerings, those that have robust privacy programs and emphasize ethical data use will achieve greater returns on investments in new technologies, products, and services.”

WARC: “The data privacy and ethics agenda is very much on the rise …. … we have identified data privacy as one of the key drivers of change in 2019.”

These comments are part of an expanding view that the minimum required by organizations to comply with the law is not sufficient to satisfy consumers about their privacy practices. A broader view of the appropriateness of data collection, usage and sharing needs to be put in place in order to establish a competitive advantage and drive business growth.

It is this change that Apple is attempting to utilize in its marketing and, as 9to5Mac indicates, “Apple’s privacy focus is starting to become a major selling point of its devices ….”

We have been talking about data privacy as a key competitive advantage for some businesses for years now, but it is interesting how this conversation is starting to evolve into one of data ethics and appropriateness rather than just compliance.

GDPR compliance was frequently cited as one of the top concerns of marketing professionals in 2018, and the passage of the May 2018 deadline for compliance with the EU privacy law has yet to lower the importance of privacy protections. As much as laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and GDPR are driving investments in this area, consumer demands are still proving a massive driver. An IBM online survey in April 2018 of 10,000 US consumers found that 75% of consumers will not buy a product from a company if they don’t trust the company to protect their data.

In the survey by Singular, nearly 20% of marketing pros identified privacy, trust and security as their biggest challenge, behind only gathering actionable insights which garnered the top spot from just over 30% of respondents. As the report further highlighted: The security of consumer data that brands possess and regaining the trust of their customers following the privacy scandals have become marketing’s second biggest concern.

For additional information about why your organization should be making additional investments in privacy to increase the return on investment of your marketing campaigns, call Clarip at 1-888-252-5653.

More Blog Posts from Clarip:

The Time to Enhance Data Privacy Practices is Now
Privacy & Security – A Review of 2018 and Some Predictions for 2019
Data Privacy Named Top 5 Risk for Business in 2019

Contact Clarip for Help with Your Privacy Program

The Clarip privacy software and team are available to help improve privacy practices at your organization. Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo or speak to a member of the Clarip team.

If you are working towards GDPR compliance, we can help through our modular GDPR software. Whether you are starting the process with GDPR data mapping automation, need privacy impact assessment software, or looking to meet ePrivacy requirements with cookie management software, Clarip can help strengthen your privacy program.

If CCPA compliance in 2020 is on your radar, ask us about our California Consumer Privacy Act software. Improve efficiency of responses to data subject access requests with our DSAR software, or provide the right to opt out of the sale of personal information with our consent management platform.

Click here to contact us (return messages within 24 hours) or call 1-888-252-5653 to schedule a demo and speak to a member of the Clarip team.