Category: Digital Marleting

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How to protect the privacy of your small business

Much like an entrepreneur would incorporate a business to ensure it receives limited liability protection, it is critical that owners of small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) emphasize protecting the privacy of a small business.

Data breaches and cybersecurity threats can threaten the security and privacy of a small business. A cyber attack, for instance, can result in stolen personal data from customers. Some of this data might later be used for identity or credit card theft purposes.

Customers that are the victims of cyber attacks might not feel comfortable shopping with the company again. As a result of a security breach, the business might lose valuable clients and their trust. The more severe a security breach, the higher risk a business has of losing even more private information pertaining to the company.

Tips for protecting the privacy of your business online

Never say that a data breach or cybersecurity threat cannot happen to a small business. The good news is that protecting data is not as expensive or intensive as one might imagine. Follow these best practices to protect your data and decrease the risk of cybersecurity threats.

  1. Establish a privacy policy.
  2. Train and educate employees.
  3. Invest in security software.
  4. Implement multi-factor authentication.
  5. Use a secure WiFi network.
  6. Regularly backup data.
  7. Invest in cyber liability insurance.

Let’s explore best practices for privacy protection a little more in-depth.

1. Establish a privacy policy

One of the best cybersecurity practices to protect the privacy of a small business, its employees, and its customers is to create a privacy policy. Explain in a privacy policy how the business will work to keep personal information safe.

Some businesses collect customer data, such as names, phone numbers, and email addresses. The privacy policy should be able to detail what kind of data the business is collecting, what the company plans to do with it, and security measures that will help protect this data. Avoid collecting sensitive data, like social security numbers (SSNs) or other confidential information from customers.

2. Train and educate employees

Did you know human error is the cause of 90% of data breaches? Small businesses must take the time to train and educate employees to protect this information. This training will allow employees to better understand the important role they play in helping protect customer data and other valuable business information.

Employee training for how to protect the privacy of a small business should prioritize the following areas:

  • Tips for creating strong passwords and resetting these passwords every 60 to 90 days.
  • Learning about the latest news and trends in fraud schemes.
  • Security best practices, such as knowing how to spot unsolicited or unknown emails and avoiding opening email attachments and clicking on suspicious links.
  • Advice on safeguarding sensitive data. For example, employees can be taught to store data in spaces approved by the business, like an authenticated company cloud service.

Once training is complete, small businesses can have employees sign documents or print off paperwork stating they have been properly trained and educated on the company’s security policies.

3. Invest in security software

Small businesses are often advised to run a “clean machine.” This means downloading up-to-date software, web browsers, and operating systems to keep viruses and malware from internally impacting the privacy of the small business.

What kinds of software should entrepreneurs install to protect the privacy of small businesses? Here are a few options to consider for data security purposes:

  • Anti-malware software to help combat phishing attacks.
  • Network security software to scan and identify vulnerabilities prior to a data breach.
  • Antivirus software which scans for viruses and malware after each computer update.
  • Firewall software to keep cyber-attackers from entering a private network and accessing its data.
  • Computer security software for real-time protection against any incoming threats. This software also scans computers for existing threats and identifies, blocks, and deletes suspicious codes and software.

Remember to audit your website regularly and turn on automatic updates on software programs.

4. Implement multi-factor authentication

Part of employee security training includes learning how to create strong passwords and regularly changing these passwords every 60 to 90 days. Another best practice for protecting passwords and ensuring safe logins is implementing multi-factor authentication.

Multi-factor authentication helps verify the identity of the person logging in and adds an extra layer of security protection by asking for additional information along with their username and password.

What is multi-factor authentication? Let’s say an employee is logging into their work portal. They type in their username and password but must provide additional information before they may complete the login process.

Some examples of multi-factor authentication include receiving a call on an employee’s cell phone or texting a passcode. Multi-factor authentication helps verify the identity of the person logging in and adds an extra layer of security protection.

5. Use a secure Wi-Fi network

Wifi router on a yellow background

Most small businesses have a Wi-Fi network in place for employees and staff members. This network should be secure, encrypted and hidden.

Employees working from home or working remotely should utilize a virtual private network (VPN) to protect business data and other confidential information.

6. Protect the privacy of your small business by regularly backing up data

Remember to backup essential data regularly on computers! Some of this data might include Word processing documents, spreadsheets, financial files, accounts receivable and payable files, human resources files, and databases.

Turn on automatic settings to backup these files. Data stored in the cloud should also be backed up regularly, too.

Do you have print copies of important documents? Keep them stored in a safe, separate location from the business in the event of a natural disaster or any other issue that can potentially impact the business.

7. Invest in cyber liability insurance

There are insurance options available for data breach and cyber liability purposes.

Entrepreneurs can reach out to these insurance companies for a quote and make a purchase based on the needs of the business to further ensure the security and privacy of the small business.

Privacy is an important asset for small businesses and will continue to be important in the future. Hopefully, these guidelines on how to protect the privacy of your small business can help move your business in a more secure direction.

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5 Ways to Start Digital Marketing in the Next 24 Hours

5 Ways to Start Digital Marketing in the Next 24 Hours

At some point you need to stop thinking and start doing. When it comes to digital marketing, that sentiment is doubly true because literally doing anything could instantly impact your business. Here’s how to start marketing online within the next 24 hours.

You’ve already realized that you’ll need to do something with social media, and probably incorporate an email promotion or two. But, you just don’t know where to start. What’s the right way to post on social media and the absolute wrong way to send a promotional email? Luckily, digital marketing isn’t nearly as permanent as sending a plane into the sky to promote your company, only to realize they misspelled your website name.

With digital marketing, you get free access to a huge audience of prospects.

Not only can you create top-quality content that makes them fall in love with your brand, but you can get data and analytics that aren’t available from the people who might have seen your plane flying around the city.

Digital marketing is the next step in your marketing strategy, and here’s exactly how you can get started in the next 24 hours.

#1: Create a Digital Marketing Channel

The best thing you can do to start digital marketing is to set up your social media channels.

The first step to starting a digital marketing strategy is creating a channel for it. This is where most entrepreneurs start to get overwhelmed, asking themselves, “But, WHICH channel should I choose?”

The answer is based on your customer avatar. Your first digital marketing efforts should be on the channel that customer avatar spends most of their time on.

For example, an ecommerce fashion boutique can look into Instagram and TikTok. A media company will want to create an email newsletter and a Twitter. And a SaaS tool can use Quora and Reddit. If you don’t know which channel to start with, don’t guess. Ask your current customers where they spend the majority of their time—and then build a strategy around those channels.

#2: Send an Onboarding Email to Your Customers

If you have customers, you have an email list. Whether that email list has been utilized or not is another story. Since you already have this digital marketing channel, let’s use it strategically to get your customers to refer their friends, family, and online audience and ascend the Customer Value Journey ladder to your high-tier offers.

Email marketing starts with an indoctrination email. This is the first email someone gets from your business that tells them who you are and what to expect in the next emails you send.

For example, you can let your customers know you’re doing a giveaway and the winner will be chosen from those that share their referral link. Or, you can tell your audience that you have a special offer coming up soon and that you’ll email them to tell them when it’s live. Email is the best digital marketing channel for conversions—so make sure to use it.

#3: Post Content to Your Social Media Channels

Just because you’re on social media doesn’t mean you have a strategy. You might have an intern randomly posting content on behalf of your brand, but the reality is that social media is a full-time job (if you want to do it right). It requires a strategy for cold, warm, and hot leads and you’ll need to create highly engaging and converting content to get an ROI.

You don’t need to do all of that in the next 24 hours, though. To start digital marketing today, all you need to do is post something to your social media feeds. It could be an Instagram story showing the behind-the-scenes of working at your company, a feed post of a testimonial, or a tweet about a relatable thought your brand has on their industry. Just hitting publish starts your digital marketing strategy—which makes the barrier to entry absolutely tiny.

#4: Ask Your Audience for Their Opinion on Upcoming Offers

To start digital marketing fast, talk to your audience about your upcoming offers.

Marketing is all about asking your customer avatar questions and having them tell you what they want. If you’re doing it any other way, we confidently predict you’re not getting the results you want from your strategy.

To start digital marketing in the next 24 hours, ask your audience what content they’d like to see from you. This is market research—a foundational step of creating a marketing strategy.

You can ask your current customers, subscribers, or any social media audience you’ve happened to build. Here’s something you can copy and paste for them, “We’re building out our content calendar for the next few months and wanted to ask—out of these 5 topics, which are the most interesting to you?”. Based on their feedback, you can start to create the content that you’ll build your digital marketing strategy around.

#5: Use Your Personal Social Media Profiles to Talk About Your Expertise

What happens if you don’t have an email list or a social media audience for your brand…whatsoever? Well, it’s time to look at your personal social media profiles. Personal branding brings in dividends because it’s not a business talking about how great it is.

It’s a CEO, founder, or employee showing how much they know about their customer avatar’s problem—and why they’re perfectly positioned to solve it for them.

Personal branding is a form of digital marketing. You’ll use your personal social media profiles (like Instagram or Twitter) to give trainings, show the behind-the-scenes of your business, talk about your products, and ask your audience questions that will help you create more content (see #4). It never hurts to build out your personal brand, especially now that consumers are more interested in employee-generated content than brand-created content.

Time To Hit Publish

This is the moment you’ve been procrastinating. It’s time to hit publish on your first piece of content—starting your digital marketing strategy. We know this can feel scary and like you’re going to mess it up, but that’s the beauty of *digital* marketing. You’re not printing 1,000 flyers and hoping you didn’t make a typo. You’re publishing a social media post or hitting send on an email. There’s a lot less risk than in physical marketing!

You can start your digital marketing strategy in the next 24 hours with one or more of these strategies:

#1: Create a digital marketing channel

#2: Send an onboarding email to your customers

#3: Post content to your social media channels

#4: Ask your audience for their opinion on upcoming offers

#5: Use your personal social media profiles to talk about your expertise

Inside of DigitalMarketer Lab, you can learn the foundations of digital marketing, like creating an SEO strategy or starting marketing on social media. Sign up for Lab to get access to Insider Trainings, Workshops, and Playbooks designed for new marketers just like you.

Source: digitalmarketer.com ~ Image: Canva Pro

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What Skills Are Needed for Digital Marketing?

What Skills Are Needed for Digital Marketing?

The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, so it’s important for digital marketers to have a wide range of skills. Some of the most essential skills for digital marketers include:

  • Data analysis: Digital marketers need to be able to collect and analyze data to track the performance of their campaigns and make informed decisions about how to improve them.
  • Content creation: Digital marketers need to be able to create engaging content that will attract and retain customers. This content can take many forms, including blog posts, articles, social media posts, videos, and infographics.
  • Search engine optimization (SEO): SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs). Digital marketers need to understand the basics of SEO and how to implement SEO best practices.
  • Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: PPC advertising is a form of online advertising where businesses pay each time someone clicks on their ad. Digital marketers need to understand how to create effective PPC campaigns that will generate leads and sales.
  • Social media marketing: Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with customers and promote products or services. Digital marketers need to be familiar with the different social media platforms and how to use them effectively.
  • Email marketing: Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that involves sending emails to a list of subscribers. Digital marketers need to know how to create effective email campaigns that will generate opens, clicks, and conversions.
  • Web analytics: Web analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data about website visitors. Digital marketers use web analytics data to track the performance of their website and make improvements to increase traffic and conversions.
  • Creativity: Digital marketers need to be creative in order to come up with new and innovative ways to reach their target audience.
  • Problem-solving: Digital marketers need to be able to identify and solve problems quickly and effectively.
  • Communication: Digital marketers need to be able to communicate effectively with a variety of stakeholders, including clients, colleagues, and customers.

In addition to these essential skills, digital marketers may also need to have specific skills in areas such as graphic design, video editing, or web development. The specific skills required for a digital marketing role will vary depending on the size and industry of the company, as well as the specific responsibilities of the role.

If you’re interested in a career in digital marketing, it’s important to develop the skills and knowledge that employers are looking for. There are a number of ways to do this, including taking online courses, attending workshops, and reading industry publications. You can also gain experience by working on personal projects or volunteering for a nonprofit organization.

With the right skills and experience, you can build a successful career in digital marketing.

Image: Canva Pro
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5 Rules of Social Media Engagement

5 Rules of Social Media Engagement

Social media is the place to talk with clients about your brand, neighborhood expertise, and insights into the current and future real estate market. With more than 5 billion social media users worldwide ( 63.9% of the global population), according to the Global Social Media Users Statistics 2025, published in partnership with Hootsuite, it’s important to know the rules of engagement for growing your following—and thus, your business.

  1. Respond quickly to all direct messages you receive on all social media platforms. Think of them as live chats. Clients and prospects expect a same-day response, or else they’ll move on to the next agent or broker.
  2. When advertising on social media, make sure to set specific, timely goals. Measuring these goals can help you justify or recalibrate your ad budget. Track your ad growth using each platform’s specific analytics tools, such as clicks, shares, likely sales, etc.
  3. Use a social media calendar to plan your posts. If you have a team member who’s responsible for social media management, make him or her accountable to the calendar. Alternatively, you could automate your posts, which can save you time and help you target optimal user browsing times. But be careful: Automation can be a drag on authenticity.
  4. Make sure your content, voice, and tone are distinctive. While this can include slang when appropriate, limit the usage of such words so as not to undermine your professionalism. To be a standout on social media, know what your competitors are sharing on their channels and fill a void their content doesn’t. Also, consider using social media channels your competitors aren’t. You can own a platform they’re not using.
  5. Make sure your social profiles are consistent and your user names, images, copy, links, photos, and videos match across all platforms. Plus, every one of your profiles should link back to your website.

Source: magazine.realtor ~ By: Tim and Julie Harris ~ Image: Canva Pro