A lot of businesses today exist primarily online. But if you’re running an online marketing business, chances are the entirety of your operation is, in fact, digital. This is very convenient for a lot of reasons, but it also comes with risks.
An online #marketing business needs to be concerned with #cybersecurity, for instance, as well as #data protection. Share on XAdditionally, with client acquisition and business occurring entirely online, the same businesses need to make sure they’re guarded against breached or fraudulent deals.
These concerns require a lot of attention, effort, and investment to address properly. To help you with that process, though, we have some ideas as to how you can protect your online marketing business.
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Secure Your Website
More than most types of companies today, an online marketing business can be entirely dependent on its website. It’s a point of contact, a place to be discovered, a place to display examples of work or testimonials to quality, and ultimately a sort of digital hub. In some respects, it is the business. So, naturally, it should be well protected. Especially if you worked hard to get everything right and paid for Instagram bots to have your followers base increased and displayed on your site.
There are numerous ways to keep a website protected, beginning in some ways regarding its initial design process. If like so many other online business owners, you’ve built your platform (or had it built) with WordPress, the use of a firewall for your site is one of the most effective methods of protection. This can essentially assess who is trying to visit your site and block potentially devious actors.
Train Employees if You Have Them
If you have employees in your online marketing business, training them in basic cybersecurity practices is another essential way to protect that business.
For instance, according to one overview of employee cybersecurity training, only 37% of survey respondents recognized the importance of keeping data safe. This indicates that a lot of businesses are falling short in this area. But ultimately, ensuring that employees are taking proper precautions when using company programs, networks, or equipment is an essential means of protection. Additionally, if you have a cybersecurity department, consider providing Splunk training to help your team monitor and analyze security logs, detect threats in real-time, and respond to potential incidents more effectively.
Back Up & Update Regularly
This is another common recommendation for online businesses, but one that your marketing business should certainly take into account. Where backups are concerned, we’re talking primarily about data protection. Chances are your online marketing business generates a lot of data related to clients, projects, finances, and more. And by regularly backing it up, you can ensure that you don’t lose it if you’re hacked or even subjected to ransomware.
As for updates, it’s a simple matter of keeping online programs and tools fresh and effective. An online business today uses so many of these tools that there can ultimately be a lot to keep track of in this regard. But making regular updates of everything from a preferred email platform to anti-virus software is one of the best ways to keep a business digitally secure.
Consider Liability Protections
Part of protecting your own business also means protecting yourself in the event that the business, for whatever reason, falls into debt or is subjected to lawsuits. And this essentially means working out liability protection that can stop you from being held personally responsible for these kinds of business-related issues.
An LLC for a marketing business is actually a beneficial structure for a number of reasons, including potential tax breaks and an easier time pursuing external funding. But the core purpose of an LLC is to protect you as the business owner from debts or lawsuits relating to the company. By a similar token, business liability insurance can accomplish something similar, though it costs you to maintain.
Use Formal Contracts
We mentioned protection against breached contracts and fraudulent deals above, and these are important to keep in mind also. These issues don’t necessarily have to do with cybersecurity, but it is certainly possible, with an online business, to run into unreliable clients or disputed deals. Thus, we also recommend you find a way to build formal contracts into your business (as opposed to informal agreements).
Structuring marketing agreements can depend on what kind of service you’re really offering and what the client wants. But it’s still a good idea to get everything down on paper and have deals signed when taking on new business.
There are ultimately a lot of threats facing online businesses like your own digital marketing venture. But through these methods, you can protect your marketing business against most of them.