NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Data and privacy need to be a central concern for modern marketers - who must go above and beyond to protect their audiences’ personal information – according to a joint ebook from Microsoft, whose Dynamics 365 platform connects data, processes, and teams with intelligent business applications and Dotdigital, the leading marketing automation and customer engagement platform.
Data and privacy have solidified their place on the marketing agenda. Not only a concern for a company’s marketing database, data and privacy is of vital importance to businesses, employees, partners, and suppliers. Meanwhile, well publicized privacy and data legislation, including GDPR and CPPA, as well as changes to Apple’s iOS 14 and 15 platforms’ opt-in privacy policy, and Google’s announcement it will ban third-party tracking cookies by 2023, have also helped raise consumer consciousness on the subject.
The emphasis is on brands to protect data and guarantee privacy to all their stakeholders, and to do this companies must be thinking about how they can prepare for the future, explains Paul Bolt, Microsoft UK’s Chief Marketing Officer, in The future of marketing: data and privacy ebook.
“As marketers gather more data and intelligence on their customers – security, privacy, and using data in a compliant way should be a marketing imperative. Your customers are entrusting you with this data. It’s a Darwinian market today. Your competitors are one click away and the customer expectations are higher than ever in terms of the relationship they have with brands.”
“Not only is security an imperative for your business, but the same standards need to be upheld throughout your supplier network too, be that the MarTech you’re leveraging or the third-party agencies who augment your team. In today’s world that means a combination of people, robust processes, and secure technology. This is one of the reasons why partnering is now one of the most strategic decisions a marketeer can make.”
Original research of more than 2,000 American consumers in the Dotdigital “Rise of the responsible marketer” report reveals a quarter (25%) of consumers didn’t trust that brands would store their data safely, highlighting the need for companies to ensure their technology partners are data and privacy compliant.
Bolt commented further: “We’re the first generation to ask machines to make marketing decisions on our behalf using AI and automation. These are incredibly powerful tools with great potential, but in terms of partnering we also need to ask ourselves: do the firms behind these tools also understand the responsibility?”
Tink Taylor, Founder and President of Dotdigital Group, commented: “The world is changing and the shift to consumer-friendly marketing that respects privacy cannot be ignored. Embracing these changes and ensuring compliance naturally fosters trust, which is the key for consumers to share their data with a brand. If a consumer trusts a brand and knows that brand will market to them in a responsible manner, then they will be engaged. The value of a relationship nurtured over time will increase this engagement, yield better results, drive innovation and create stronger customer relationships in the future.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Methodology: Research of 2,000 U.S adults, split by age, gender and region, was conducted by Savanta on behalf of Dotdigital in May 2021.
About Dotdigital
Dotdigital is a leader in omnichannel marketing automation technology. Dotdigital Engagement Cloud is the platform of choice for businesses seeking to engage customers across all touchpoints. The platform’s features empower 4,000+ brands across 150 countries to acquire, convert, and retain customers. Users can connect customer data, surface powerful insights, and automate intelligent messages across email, SMS, social, and more. Dotdigital is a global company with over 350 employees, serving companies of all sizes and in all verticals for over 20 years. We are the world’s first carbon neutral, ISO14001 & ISO27001 certified marketing automation platform and we see sustainability, privacy & security as key tenets to our long-term growth.
