No matter what type of business you operate, cyberattacks can be destructive to your company. Even though you think your Information Technology (IT) team should be handling any cybersecurity issues, it doesn’t have to always go that way. All the departments should take a proactive role in safeguarding the privacy of your business.  

Thus, if you need to set up an excellent cybersecurity strategy for your business, the best place to start would probably be with your marketing department. Your online marketing efforts would be potentially exposed the most against cybersecurity threats and attacks in today's digital world. 

If you want your digital marketing campaigns to be safe and secure, below are the three ways to prevent cyber security threats from the get-go. 

1. Secure Your Social Media Accounts  

Since billions of people are using social media for whatever reasons, it can be one of the best ways to promote your business online. Using social networking platforms can reach a broad audience to boost brand awareness, drive web traffic, and generate more leads.  

Unfortunately, your social media accounts aren't immune to cybersecurity threats. Cybercriminals love hijacking these platforms because doing so can cause more damage to your business. For example, hacking your social media can result in stealing your company's information and posting derogatory materials on your profile. When this happens, your business's reputation would be tarnished and stolen data could be used to extort money from your organization.   

Thus, to prevent these cyber security threats from impacting your social media marketing efforts, you need to protect your social media account in various ways. You can do it by using a reliable social media management tool to safely manage specific tasks or hiring a social media account manager to oversee your accounts from time to time.  You could also utilise a password manager to safeguard your login credentials and other confidential data.  

However, protecting your social media marketing campaigns might be best handled by expert marketers.  Thus, working with a Birmingham advertising agency and other companies can be a good idea. They know how to integrate cybersecurity practices into your marketing strategy.  

2. Protect Your Emails  

Among the different marketing strategies, email marketing has also been one of the effective ways to market a business online. When it's done correctly, it can help your company boost its website traffic and conversion rates. However, this marketing strategy can also be used to deliver malware to damage computer systems and networks.  Thus, it could take over your operations.  

For example, hackers and other cybercriminals will send emails that seem authentic but it has malicious attachments or links. These emails, when clicked, would have the effect of obtaining sensitive information from your computers and other devices. When this happens, your business will be in huge trouble.  

It's crucial to protect your emails at all costs to prevent these threats from adversely affecting your marketing efforts and overall business. One of the protection methods is to educate your marketing team on how to identify a phishing email. Generally, a phishing email can be spotted by looking at some characteristics. These can include: 

• Offers that are too good to be true; 
• Demands urgent action; 
• Has spelling issues and bad grammar; 
• Has inconsistent links and domain names; 
• Requests login credentials and other sensitive data,  

Hence, when your marketing team receives an email with the characteristics mentioned above, it can be a sign of phishing that they should be wary of. Another way to secure your emails is to make sure your password is strong and utilise two-factor authentication. Also, you may install a web application firewall that will work behind the curtains to block suspicious and malicious content. Using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt your site can be an excellent idea. 

3. Safeguard Your Website Account  

Having fresh and frequent content on your website is crucial to achieving more favourable outcomes when it comes to online marketing. Typically, a website content management tool is used to manage the different aspects of your website content without the need for programming and other technical tasks. When you have this tool in place, you can make as many updates to your content as necessary to build credibility and brand awareness.  

However, your website account isn't also exempted from cyber security threats. For example, cybercriminals can also infiltrate your site with traffic to damage your server, or insert malicious code to your site, and commit a data breach.  

So, if you want to prevent these threats from causing damage to your marketing campaigns, make sure your website is up-to-date by checking the extensions and plugins. Don't forget to update your passwords and allow two-factor authentication to safeguard your account. 

Bottom Line  

Your company's digital marketing strategy can be compromised if you have no idea of the amount of risk in cyberspace. Also, it's essential to be prepared by keeping these ways in mind. Thus, you can keep your marketing campaigns and business safe against the consequences of cyber security threats and attacks.