How to Balance Transparency and Privacy When Promoting Your Business

Regardless of the industry in question, it’s critical to the success of any business to strike the appropriate balance between transparency and privacy.

You want to build a loyal customer base that will trust you and keep coming back; additionally, the more positive your reputation, the easier it will be to attract new customers. The benefits of being transparent about how you protect consumer privacy are undeniable.

When promoting your business, you need to have clear guidelines that explain to customers in specific detail how their personal or proprietary information will be used. Reputation Defender notes that businesses can consider the following factors when deciding how to balance these two parallel interests.

What Is Transparency?

Public transparency entails being as open as possible about your company’s operations. Clients want to know how their personal, sensitive, or proprietary information will be treated when in your company’s care. They want assurances that the best possible decisions are being made with the least possible sensitive information necessary. Customers also need to be informed when the news isn’t good, such as when a hacking incident has put their sensitive information at risk, and be told as quickly as is reasonably possible what your plans are to rectify the situation.

Organizational transparency also affects how your business is perceived by others. You must be honest when it counts with your employees, so they are enthusiastic and engaged participants in the company, associating its success with their own. Having a transparent hiring and promotion process, communicating regularly with employees about how the company is doing financially, and actively seeking feedback from team members are all practices that will encourage a culture of transparency. Similarly, delivering bad news in a timely, honest manner when necessary is a crucial skill.

What Is Privacy?

Privacy involves keeping specific information confidential and secure, including certain legally protected, identifying information about clients and employees as well as any content that is proprietary in nature. A transparent policy regarding the treatment of sensitive information must be implemented in conjunction with a robust program for safeguarding individual privacy, adhering to all applicable laws, and demonstrating trustworthiness to customers.

According to Reputation Defender, it is important to create a strategic balance between privacy and transparency. The following strategies will help you work toward that goal so you can promote your business in good faith.

Consider Your Core Values

Remember what your company stands for and take the time to develop or refine your company’s core value statements. These will guide your entire team about what is expected of them and will also demonstrate to your customers how your business is committed to operating in the marketplace.

Trust Your Team

Delegate decision-making power as far down the judgement chain as possible. Notice where the expertise is in your company and where individuals could benefit from opportunities to grow professionally. Building a good reputation with your customer base is much easier when people see that their issues can be resolved with their first contact, rather than needing to escalate. Additionally, your team members will feel empowered and inspired by your confidence.

Clarify Responsibility

Closely related to the point above, be sure that your customers know who is responsible for each aspect of the services you provide. It’s crucial for your employees to have a clear understanding of what they are responsible for, so issues can be identified and resolved quickly. Of course, as far as the customer is concerned, ultimate responsibility for everything lies with the executive team. Just as decision-making should be delegated as far down the hierarchy as possible, responsibility for errors should be taken at the highest level reasonably possible. This will inspire trust from both employees and customers.

Communicate Openly, but Judiciously

Team members need to be informed about the company’s goals and objectives and how the company is doing financially. They should be told in a timely fashion about new projects that are planned and organizational changes that are coming down the pike. Customers should be kept similarly informed as soon as is reasonably possible, particularly when prices, products, or services they rely on are going to be impacted. This means balancing early notification with the certainty that your information is final and correct, as well as the need to protect business strategy and other sensitive information.

Actively Seek Feedback

Customers also need to be given an opportunity to share what they think about the product or services your business is delivering. This is not the same as reacting promptly to complaints, though this is important as well. Actively seek feedback about whether you’re meeting customer needs and what you can do to improve

The more ways you solicit this feedback, the better; one client may prefer to complete an anonymous survey, while another is more comfortable being approached for a personal conversation. No one who provides feedback should ever be made to feel uncomfortable for doing so, and if the suggestion results in change, they should be informed.

A Delicate Balance

Transparency and privacy represent two important business values that may appear at odds, at least at first glance. However, it’s possible—and necessary—to find a balance between the two. What that exact balance looks like will differ for each business, depending on their industry, the regulations that apply to them, their goals, and their organizational culture.