Why You Should Advertise Your Business's Security

These days, customers and business partners alike are highly critical. Many only want to work with organizations with reliable privacy and security standards, protecting them in an era of distrust and security vulnerabilities. Your business may take privacy and security very seriously, but unless you have a good marketing and advertising strategy in place, your customers won't know it.

The benefits of better security and visibility

Higher standards for security and privacy protect your customers, securing their data and helping them feel safer as they navigate whatever problems your business helps them solve. Data security posture management, or DSPM, helps you continuously monitor your data security policies so you can proactively detect and act on risks.

These strategies combine to make your business more trustworthy, more reliable, and, therefore, more valuable to your customers. In theory, this should help you retain your customers, attract new customers, fend off competitors, and even increase profitability in the form of justifiably higher prices.

However, your adherence to better security practices isn't going to make much of a difference unless your customers and partners can see it. After all, the inherent trustworthiness of a party doesn't matter if their apparent trustworthiness is low or uncertain.

The goal is to improve your data security and DSPM strategies and make those strategies visible and apparent to your audience. This affects different cohorts in different ways.

• For people who take security seriously and treat it as a high priority, this is your opportunity to sell them and assuage their concerns.
• For people who are vaguely aware that security is important, this is your opportunity to teach them how your company keeps them safe.
• For people who don't understand or value security, this is your opportunity to convince them of how much value your privacy and security standards add.

How to advertise your security and privacy standards.

When it comes to advertising your security and privacy commitments, you have three goals:

• Increase visibility: First, you need to increase the visibility of your policies and practices. If no one knows you're doing it, it's not going to make much of an impact.
• Increase trust: Measure the increased trust among your customers and prospects. It's not enough to tell them you have high-security standards; you need to convince them they can trust what you're saying and doing.
• Distinguish your brand: You need to find and showcase a distinct competitive advantage. All the security marketing in the world isn't going to make a difference if your brand is playing second fiddle to a brand with even bigger commitments.

These tactics can help you achieve them:

• Reach prospective and current customers: This type of marketing and advertising is important for prospective and current customers. This is a strategy for both customer acquisition and customer retention. Don't neglect either cohort.
• Go omnichannel: Omnichannel is practically a prerequisite for modern marketing success, as today's customers use many channels for communication. Make sure you're transmitting information effectively across different channels your customers use.
• Be specific: Simply stating that you're committed to customer privacy and security isn't enough. Be specific about the measures you put into place. The more precise you are, the more your customers will trust your expertise.
• Keep things accessible: It is possible to get bogged down in technical details. Some of your customers may appreciate more complex technical aspects of your work, but most of your customers are lay people in the realm of data security and privacy. Keep your explanations and advertisements simple and accessible.
• Showcase your record: Show off objective data demonstrating that your security standards are in place and effective. Have you prevented major data breaches? Have you won awards for your work?
• Brag about your distinctive competitive advantages: Study your competitors closely and show off your competitive advantages. What makes you uniquely dominant in this space?
• Use surveys to gauge customer sentiments: Use surveys to determine whether your messaging is working. Is the average customer aware of your policies and commitments? How do they feel about your latest ads?

Improving your security and privacy standards is good for business, but it's only half of the equation. If you want to improve your brand reputation and trustworthiness, you need to be able to skillfully present and advertise those higher security and privacy standards.

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This article was written by Larry Alton from Inc. and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.