Data Privacy and the Future of Digital Marketing

The digital marketing industry has witnessed a shift in paradigms over the last 10 years. Targeted advertising has blossomed, and businesses have seen massive impacts on annual revenue as a result. These innovations have even bred new disciplines, like Demand Generation. Tracking and personalization technology has become a staple tool in a digital marketer’s arsenal. If technology is so effective in leading to a sale, one might think that means it is helping consumers better engage with an organization and understand the products they offer, and, more importantly, that they have a solution to a problem. So, why are we now seeing so many data privacy regulations directly impacting marketing?

In simplest terms, digital marketing has become an unregulated wild west, especially in the US.

While the majority of marketing tactics are ethical in their approach, there are bad actors who have not respected consumer privacy rights, which has since led to backlash. Consumers are more aware than ever of the amount of data MarTech stacks collect. And they are concerned. After all, if there is no recourse for negligent or malevolent handling of personally identifiable data, purchase trends, browsing history, etc., how can one be confident that bad actors are not deterred?

The Road to Data Privacy Regulation

The EU has long been aware of digital privacy concerns. In April of 2016, the first modern data protection act, GDPR, was passed by the EU, with enforcement scheduled for 2018. Being that the majority of US marketers run campaigns domestically, most of us had heard of it at one point or another but did not pay much mind to what it entails for our practices. California, being one of the more progressive states, was the first to follow suit. CCPA was voted into law in 2018 and went into effect in January of 2020.

And then the pandemic came. Consumers were online more than they ever have been, and digital ad spends hit an all-time high. With so much work being done online, and a near captive target audience, more and more businesses had to adapt to digital marketing to remain competitive. It became increasingly common for the average consumer to understand the technology behind retargeting campaigns. And then, election season came.

Remember all the robo-calls and spam texts? It became a regular nuisance. A now-historic election uncovered a new problem – how do you effectively market a political campaign when folks are not going about their days normally in the places they’d normally frequent? The solution? Again, digital advertising, only this time, far more aggressively. And sometimes, unethically. Many organizations purchased lists of personal contact information of the masses. Unlike a campaign developed for a B2B list buy, these campaigns were targeted directly at personal belief systems, which really hit home for the general public.

This led to an important question that was top of everyone’s mind – how did these companies get my information? This sort of advertising transitioned from political messaging to fraudulent calls about extended vehicle warranties, student loan refinancing, and other spammy, likely scam services. This is, in my opinion, when the social paradigm began shifting again. Bad actors leveraging personal data they purchased to exploit high volume outbound campaigns uncovered the flip side to providing our personal data online. That outlook was mis-extended to all of digital marketing. And consumer awareness of the digital privacy issues reached an all-time high.

It’s Time to Adapt Your Demand Gen Strategy

With consumer sentiment catching up to emerging privacy laws, more states, and even the federal government are working through legislation. In 2023, Colorado, Connecticut, California (again, in the form of CPRA), Utah, and Virginia have privacy laws going into effect. We should expect the trend to continue until a federal data privacy law is passed.

So, what does this mean for you as a marketer? Well, that means there are multiple different data privacy guidelines to adhere to depending on where a consumer is located. In other words, a massive headache. With consumer trends pointing toward personalized marketing experiences being nearly mandatory for optimal engagement, how can we maintain effective marketing while adhering to disparate compliance guidelines?

That’s where technology comes in. Look at it as the liaison between the brand and the customer. Marketing needs to retain consent records to validate marketing efforts and adhere to data privacy laws. Messaging needs to be personalized for customers to engage. Implementing a consumer consent solution gives customers control, improves engagement rate, and meets privacy regulation requirements. After all, a cookie banner is a marketing touch-point. Why not utilize it to better serve your prospects’ needs – and therefore, your brand?

Queue Preference and Consent Management

At Clarip, we believe that power in marketing comes from transparency. So much so that we named the company Clarip – for Clarity in Privacy. We offer a comprehensive consumer consent experience. Since website visitors need to provide consent under regulations, we decided to take it a step further and offer them an opportunity to provide granular consent preferences too. Consumers let you know where and how they prefer engagement takes place. Some prefer to receive offers on their phone. Some prefer email. And some prefer none of the above. Ask them their channel preference and stop misallotting their time and yours.

Considering consumers can now opt-out altogether, doesn’t it make sense to first ask if they have more granular preferences beyond “yes or no?” Humans are complex creatures, and oftentimes answers are not so black and white. Rather than losing quality marketing contacts, first establish their preferred means of contact and marketing.

The business case? Profit. From an engagement perspective, your ad spend will go further. From a brand perspective, your prospective customers will value your transparency, growing their trust in your brand. From a strategic perspective, you can optimize various channels rather than playing the guessing game. The long-term ROI of trust in marketing far outweighs the short-term gains in exploitative practices. And all the while, you can be on the right side of history.

Digital privacy doesn’t have to be the marketing armageddon folks are so concerned about. It can be an opportunity to bridge a gap in your relationship with your customers. We can provide real value as marketers, and now is the time to shift your own perspective to that of relationship building and trust. Compliance costs do not need to be a budget-burner. It’s time to grow your brand towards the new digital age of trust and transparency, and Clarip is the road you want to be on.

Click here to learn more about our Preference and Consent Management Platform! Clarip takes enterprise privacy governance to the next level and helps organizations reduce risks, engage better, and gain customers’ trust! Contact us at www.clarip.com or call Clarip at 1-888-252-5653 for a demo.

Email Now:
Mike Mango, VP of Sales
mmango@clarip.com