pURLs OF WISDOM. This week Bob discusses direct marketing security issues.

I'm not the wise man of direct marketing, but I know some pretty smart people at Shamrock who can offer some sound advice. For example, I've learned that while new marketing techniques such as social media, QR codes and mobile may be new and exciting, direct marketing is the granddaddy that still draws a huge percentage of cold cash for marketers. Direct marketing continues to be a smart strategy for targeting a specific audience and learning more about those interested in your product/service. I've also learned that it's the marketer's responsibility to guard the security of the recipients’ personally identifiable information and to provide secure transactions. So, I guess the operative word is "smart".

Several good people at Shamrock sent me to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) website. I'd say it's a smart move to take advantage of DMA's advice. The DMA site explains how marketers can be vigilant about protecting consumers' security online and they offer clear guidelines. Here are just some of the sound direct marketing practices offered by DMA. Check their website for more (Security Guidelines):

• Establish information security policies and practices to assure uninterrupted security of information systems.
• Create and implement staff policies, procedures, training and responsiveness measures to protect personally identifiable information handled in the everyday performance of duties.
• Employ/Reassess protective physical safeguards and technological measures to support information security policies.
• Inform all associates and providers that handle personal information of their responsibility to ensure that their practices maintain security consistent with your information security policies.

Direct marketing is so powerful because it provides the ability to make a campaign personal, relevant and timely. And Personalized URLs (pURLs) enhance this power of direct marketing. A pURL is a personalized web address (such as www.mysite.com/johnsmith) that directs the recipient to a landing page. PURLs can neatly merge an email or printed communication with a fully personalized online customer experience.

While pURLs are a great direct marketing resource, as marketers we have make sure they're safe – from hackers and other online intruders. Online safety becomes an important issue when pURLs are included in offline formats like postcards or other types of mail. On one hand, the pURL address must be easy for the recipient to type correctly, but it’s important to prevent others from easily working out the recipient's pURL address and accessing personal data. There are steps marketers can follow to reduce the risk of a customer's data falling into the wrong hands. (At Shamrock, we follow a whole list of to-do's when we set up direct marketing security for customers.) The first and most important step is to get a security certificate. Secondly, keep customer-updated details in a separate database that can be checked and cleaned before being overwritten to your main database. A third obvious, but critical step, is to make sure each customer's pURL is unique to that customer. I've been told that accidents happen, so it's always best to double-check.

ONE LAST THING...  It's safe to say that, as direct marketing has become more accessible online, the number of hackers and phishing expeditions has grown too. Think about the measures you're taking to protect the identity of your online direct marketing customers. Are they as safe as possible? If you're wondering, call us and speak with one of our pros.