The current relationship status between marketing and security and risk (S&R) pros is best described as “it’s complicated.” This may seem cheeky and slightly exaggerated, until you learn that a whopping 78% of B2C marketing leaders say that they don’t know anyone on their security, risk, and compliance team. Apart from a martech vendor assessment or an urgent response to inappropriately sharing consumer data with a third party, marketing and S&R tend to operate in isolation.
Why does any of this matter? Last August, we first blogged about 33 hospitals whose websites were sending patients’ protected health information (PHI) to Meta. Since then, major tax prep companies, telehealth startups, and even the US Department of Education have been caught in brand-damaging headlines, including a class action lawsuit focused on HIPAA violations. It’s easy to rationalize these incidents as “tracking pixels are bad, but marketing didn’t know” and carry on with the status quo, but it also doesn’t encourage marketers and S&R pros from partnering to prevent future catastrophes.
And it’s not just snippets of advertising that jeopardize customers and the brand. Today’s data-driven marketing involves a complex web of marketing technologies, many of which fly under S&R’s radar. The risks are compounded when marketers fail to engage with S&R counterparts during third-party risk assessments or deprovisioning vendors after a free trial. Additionally, marketing engages with countless marketing partners from creative and PR agencies to a plethora of consultants that access, store, and process not only customer data but also financial data and intellectual property.
Given the backdrop of marketing technology breaches such as Constant Contact, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, and Twilio, plus SEC charges against PR executives for engaging in insider trading on nonpublic information learned from a client, a meaningful connection between marketing and S&R can ensure help ensure marketing campaigns and tactics don’t reverse the hard work done to elevate the brand and engender trust in the market.
Call us matchmakers but we want to consciously couple marketing and S&R to avoid these painful missteps. The title of our recently published report is a bit of a giveaway: “Rally Marketing And S&R Around Shared Values of Customers And The Brand.” Read the full report for pointers on the risks of marketing and S&R isolation, how to identify the opportunities collaboration can unlock, and five strategies on how to start building a mutually beneficial, long-term relationship. For a deeper dive, feel free to set up an inquiry or guidance session.
