Ensuring GDPR for Digital Marketing: In today’s connected world, personal data is being collected incredibly. The websites they use, the calls they make, the places they visit and even the photos one takes are all recorded, measured and leave a digital footprint – a fast becoming a precious resource.
In fact, digital footprints have become so valuable that The Economist called personal data “the world’s most valuable resource’ ahead of oil because of how much it now informs the way companies communicate with their customers and how it positively impacts the customer experience.
For the same, there was the drafting of the GDPR. However, as personal data is so beneficial, it’s vulnerable to theft or misuse, which has led to consumers demanding to know how companies use and store their personal data. Essentially, consumers do not have an assurance that companies are doing enough to protect them.
What is GDPR?
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. The European Union’s GDPR was enforced to safeguard the personal data and privacy of the EU residents. Furthermore, the rule implements strict controls over the collecting and usage of an individual’s private information over the web. The personal data can be a user’s name, email, gender, age, IP address, location data, etc.
GDPR has been in place since May 25 2018, with the ultimate goal of minimizing the risk of online data breaches. And the penalties for not complying with the GDPR can cost up to €20 million or 4% of an organization’s global annual turnover of the previous fiscal year – whichever is higher.
Also Read: How to Ensure GDPR Compliance for Email Lists
Effects of GDPR on Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is all about using search engines, emails, social media, websites, or other digital channels. This is used to engage with existing and prospective customers.
GDPR brought about a massive transition in online entrepreneurs’ and digital marketers’ operations. The legislation enforces several data security and privacy rules. Additionally, this is to ensure a regulatory environment for the flow of personal data within the EU. Under GDPR, marketers must obtain explicit consent from individuals to collect or process their data.
GDPR has impacted the digital marketing in the following sense:
- Enhanced cybersecurity — The GDPR has promoted online businesses to enhance their data privacy and security practices, decreasing the risks of possible data breaches.
- Increased customer trust — The increased security regulations may help digital marketers to build customer trust and loyalty naturally.
- Competitive advantage — Marketers could add massive value to their business and set themselves apart from the competition by making their marketing and sales processes GDPR-compliant.
- Higher confidence in marketing — Being obliging with the GDPR, marketers deeply believe that they engage in the digital channels responsibly and securely. Therefore, they could focus more on building new marketing strategies without worrying much about the data security challenges.
- Personalized marketing campaigns — With advanced privacy protection and control, GDPR allows personalized marketing that will enable marketers to improve customer concentration and drive conversions quickly.
- Effective email communication — As the GDPR standards require marketers to possess opt-in and opt-out options and clarify their consent terms. Furthermore, they’d be able to create an email marketing strategy that sets out real value to the recipient.
- Efficient data management — The GDPR norms urge marketers to keep their customer database accurate and up-to-date.
Ensuring GDPR Compliance for Digital Marketing
Digital Marketers can ensure GDPR compliances in the following ways:
- Make sure you revise your privacy policy with all the appropriate details for your audience. You must notify them why you collect their personal data. Along with that, how it is used, whom you share it with, how long it will be stored with you, etc.
- If you collect customer data for more than multiple purposes, you must obtain consent for each drive individually.
- You might use third-party cookies for your remarketing or retargeting campaigns. Furthermore, to connect with people via ads, personally or through third-party networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.
- When engaging your audience on your websites or social media, get their consent before letting them post comments. Inform them whether your site will store their remarks or personal details like name and IP address. Also, let them know if their word will be visible to the general public.
- If you use plugins or other tools to simplify your marketing activities, ensure they comply with the GDPR policies. Also, remember to mention that you use these tools in your privacy policy document.
Suppose your marketing involves collecting and processing a massive volume of customer data. You might have to assign a Data Protection Officer to monitor the data flows and comply with the GDPR.
Also Explore: Difference between GDPR and CCPA
