A Privacy First-World Won't Hurt Your Customer Relationships, It Will Transform Them: Insights from HubSpot's CMO

As marketers, we thrive on data.

Data can help us identify when content is underperforming, and pivot to provide the highest value to our prospects and customers. It can also enable us to explore new, underutilized channels, and discover the best platforms to connect with our audiences.

All of this is to say: Any changes to the existing data collection ecosystem will create uncertainty around the future of marketing, and make some marketers fearful about how their current strategies will perform in a privacy-first world.

But a privacy-first world doesn’t inhibit a company’s ability to know and better serve their customers — it improves it. A privacy-first world is a world in which creating and maintaining relationships directly with your customers is the only way to truly understand them.

Here, we’ll explore how the future of privacy will impact your business. Plus, how you can prepare for it.

What is a privacy-first world?

A privacy-first world means that a company’s strategies, technologies, and solutions will need to adhere to a consumer’s right to data privacy and security, first and foremost.

This shift has been a long time coming. Consumers no longer trust corporations with their data — in fact, only about one-third of customers believe companies are currently using their data responsibly.

Additionally, in the past year alone, 76% of consumers feel they don’t know what companies are doing with their data.

To combat consumers’ concerns, regulations such as the EU ePrivacy Directive CCPA, and LGPD are increasingly requiring transparency around data collection, making a privacy-first marketing strategy necessary to reach global audiences.

Certain industries have always taken a first-party data approach when it comes to building relationships with their audiences . Nonprofit and advocacy organizations, for instance, have always leveraged data collected directly from their supporters and donors for marketing materials. So while a privacy-first world might be new for some businesses, it’s not new for all.

Why Privacy-First Matters

As consumers raise their standards in regards to data privacy and security, it’s vital that the advertising industry adapt to meet these needs.

A privacy-first approach ultimately encourages marketers worldwide to develop stronger and more transparent relationships with prospects and customers.

First-party data allows you to better understand your customer based on information they have consented to share with you, which in turn allows ads to be more relevant.

Plus, caring about your customers’ data is simply good business practice. A privacy-first strategy will become a competitive advantage in the years to come.

So the real question here should be: how can you prepare for a privacy-first world? Let’s dive into that, now.

How can you prepare for a privacy-first world?

We need to reimagine our marketing and advertising strategies to ensure company growth doesn’t come at the expense of consumers’ trust.

As Google’s Director of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Trust, David Temkin, puts it, “Developing strong relationships with customers has always been critical for brands to …read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog