How Marketing can exchange large files and confidential campaign information securely

Large PowerPoint presentation files in marketing

The presentation software PowerPoint has been established in the business world for decades. Admittedly, there are established alternatives such as Prezi, Keynote, Google Slides or Impress from LibreOffice. However, PowerPoint is firmly established in the broad desktop environment. Since the topic of "creating appealing presentations" is traditionally located in the marketing department, presentations are correspondingly frequently edited there.

When are PowerPoint presentations sent out?

The content of presentations is often still prepared in the specialist departments such as sales and development or at management level. However, the PPTX documents are then usually handed over to the marketing department to be prepared in line with corporate design or "to make them look good". Before larger events, in the "hot phase", it can also happen that several departments prepare their slides simultaneously and independently and send these individual slides to Marketing.

This happens partly via releases in the file system, but often also by email. However, PowerPoint documents very quickly exceed the file size of 25 MB. Above this data volume, however, email servers often no longer accept incoming emails. At that point, employees often get creative and look for their own ways to deliver the PowerPoint files to marketing, not infrequently using unauthorised, free cloud services they know from their private lives.

Why are PowerPoint presentations often so large?

PowerPoint presentations go far beyond mere collections of texts, tables, graphics and screenshots. They have long since evolved into genuine multimedia presentations and contain embedded video files (avi,mp4), audio files (wav,MP3) and other documents such as PDF. All too often, all kinds of media are carelessly inserted in the design phase without considering the file size of the individual media. However, before integrating them into the presentation, they should be prepared by an experienced media designer in a media-friendly way, i.e. scaled down, cut and compressed in the correct file format. In this way, the file size can be drastically reduced and you retain the best possible ratio of image/sound quality and data volume.

Why free cloud providers are often a bad choice

When you send large PowerPoint files via free cloud providers, the ownership rights often pass to the provider. The transfer size is limited, the data is not encrypted and you can no longer recall uploaded PowerPoint presentations if you have entered the wrong email address as the recipient.

It is better to send your PowerPoint file online via your own server, for example with our solutions for secure data exchange.

Large videos in Marketing

In the age of video marketing, marketing departments are involved in the production of video campaigns on a daily basis.

After the first video was uploaded to YouTube in 2005, numerous other video channels such as TikTok, Twitch and GIPHY have since been established. In LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, too, reach and interaction rates can be significantly increased through entertaining video content.

Accordingly, marketing staff produce, edit, compress and send videos of various sizes, depending on the requirements of the channel and the end devices.

Why are video files often so large?

Due to ever-improving playback devices and displays, the file size of videos is increasing analogue to the resolution from SD with 858x480 pixels to HD with 1,280x720 pixels or Full HD with 1,920x1,080 pixels up to 4K with 4,096x2,160 pixels. Thus, a high-resolution video with a high frame rate reaches several GB per minute.

The challenges of sending large videos

Sending these large video files to customers, partners and suppliers can be a challenge; during the production phase of a video, agencies and marketing departments often still use the cloud services of the video editing software to collaborate on it, for example, after previewing a rough cut. However, when the final rendering is then available in the file system and needs to be sent "once again quickly" to external recipients, free cloud providers such as WeTransfer or Dropbox are often used. Simply because there is no in-house solution that is adapted to the company's own needs.

Why free cloud providers are often a bad choice

When you send large videos via free cloud providers, the ownership rights often pass to the provider. The transfer size is limited, the data is not encrypted and you can no longer recall uploaded videos if you have entered the wrong email address as the recipient.

It is better to send your videos online via your own server, for example with our solutions for large file transfers.

What are recipient lists?

In the marketing sector, recipient lists are often created. These are usually exports from CRM, CMS or newsletter applications and are usually in CSV, XLS or JSON format. These recipient lists contain personal data that is required for delivery. In the case of emailings, first name, last name, title and email address are often sufficient. In the case of postal correspondence, street, house number, city, postcode and the recipient's country are included.

When are recipient lists sent?

It is often the case that data is aggregated in systems to which marketing or external marketing agencies do not have access. Automatic matching in the newsletter system is often not implemented. So the recipient lists must first be exported by person A and sent to person B, who performs quality assurance on the exports. After the recipient list has been checked and corrected if necessary, it is then sent to person C, who then imports it into the newsletter or mail service application. So at least 1-2 transfers take place.

Sending recipient lists in compliance with the GDPR

Since recipient lists naturally contain personal data, data protection must be considered (not only since the GDPR became effective).

In the event of data protection violations or incidents, such as sending a recipient list to an incorrect email address, severe penalties must be expected. On top of that, such data protection incidents damage the reputation of your company. We therefore advise against sending recipient lists insecurely via email, FTP or free cloud providers. Send these files securely encrypted, for example with our solution for secure data exchange.

What are lists of attendees?

Marketing departments often deal with lists of participants. Attendee lists are used to keep track of people who have been invited or registered for events. Digital attendee lists are exports from CRM, CMS or event management software and are usually available in CSV, XLS or JSON format. Analogue attendee lists in the form of printed paper should no longer be an issue in today's world.

Attendee lists contain personal data that is needed for the delivery of invitations, allocation of registrations, number of attendees as well as for admission control. For online events such as webinars or roundtables, first name, last name, company name and email address are often sufficient. For physical events such as congresses, trade fairs or dinner events with high-quality printed tickets, the street, house number, city, postcode and country of the recipient are included.

When are attendee lists sent?

Attendee lists are often compiled from a wide variety of sources. For example, a large part of the addresses collected initially come from existing customers as well as business partners. Leads from the CRM and the press distribution list are also added. Finally, special participants from the management team are added.

The creation of participant lists, from the first participant to the final list, is not a linear process, but rather a very dynamic process with a wide variety of actors. Accordingly, lists of participants or list fragments are frequently exchanged between the parties. The necessity of establishing a central channel for the secure exchange of files is obvious.

Sending participant lists in compliance with the GDPR

As a rule, lists of participants are not very large files. A few kilobytes can already hold hundreds of data records. Accordingly, it is tempting and obvious to send the list of participants via email. Not least because the email client is always within reach. However, since participant lists contain personal data, data protection must be taken into account (and not only since the GDPR came into force).

In the event of data protection violations or mishaps, such as sending a list of participants to an incorrect email address, severe penalties must be expected. On top of that, such data protection mishaps damage the reputation of your company. Therefore, we advise against sending participant lists insecurely via email, FTP or free cloud providers. Exchange this data securely, for example with our solution for secure file exchange.

Cryptshare is characterized by the following advantages:

• Cryptshare is under your control, in your data center or hosted as a private cloud service. It can be used as your company’s portal for exchanging your files with your partners. Cryptshare is not a public cloud-based file sharing solution but a business server product running under your control. This makes sure that sender and recipient have access to the Cryptshare server URL and are not blocked by their firewall or filter systems from accessing the system. Also you can be sure that no one can read your data but you. There is no backdoor for lawful interception as with many cloud services.
• Consistent encryption without having to exchange certificates or software in advance.
• No user accounts. No time-critical creation of accounts, no resetting of forgotten passwords, no deletion of unused accounts.
• No cost for external users, no matter if they send or receive files.
• No limits or costs for transfer volumes (apart from ISP cost).
• No limits or costs for bandwidth (apart from ISP cost).
• No storage cost in Cryptshare. Only the cost of physical storage you allocate applies.