The credit card breach at Target will be a multi-billion dollar debacle for Target. So many people don't even realize that it wasn't just target; Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and other stores also were hit. Lesson 1: consumers are usually misinformed.

In our text based society, people have no attention span. They aren't reading the privacy policies or terms of service or password guidelines or the long letter that Target sent to each person affected by the breach. Don't feel bad. They didn't read the credit card statement either to notice that they were breached.

Trust is Huge in sales. In a USA Today article, an analyst suggests that 5-10% of customers will never shop there again. In every sale, the buyer has to trust the seller. It's why brands are so valuable. People build up trust to brands over time. It's why unknown or smaller companies have such a hard time getting traction - lack of trust.

Lesson 3: the media will shape your message. Unless you get out in front of it, the media will spin it the way they see fit. This will likely be to dumb it down, create headlines, sell papers (or page views).

Keep in mind lesson 1 (misinformed consumers). Who do you think keeps them misinformed?

A marketing campaign to your customers is just as important as to your prospects. Maybe moreso since customers already trust you and buy from you. Maintaining trust - or in this case, re-building trust will take more than hands off measures (or just following the legal guidelines to a Tee).

Everyone will get hacked. It's what you do afterward that counts. Do you have a plan for it?