With the GDPR approaching, marketers will need to adapt their strategies and prepare for all the changes that await them. The biggest change the GDPR will bring is preventing companies from using an individual’s data unless they have explicit permission to do so. Companies who don’t comply with the regulations will risk paying hefty fines (which could be up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover – whichever is higher). Even with such serious ramifications, nearly half of businesses won’t be ready by May 2018 – according to the Data & Marketing Association’s study. If you want to know how you can prepare as a marketer, here are a few things you need to pay attention to:
Consent
Before the GDPR, people would often ‘opt-in’ without even knowing. Now, there needs to be a clear, unambiguous action where individuals can willingly opt-in if they want. It can’t be hidden in terms and conditions, or have a pre-ticked box, it basically needs to be clear as day. If you’re using personal data for different reasons, that needs to be made clear and consent needs to be given for each purpose.
The right to be forgotten
The right to be forgotten (also known as the right to erasure) enables an individual to request for the deletion of irrelevant and outdated personal data. Putting processes in place to find, manage, and delete this data can be tricky, so it’s better to have a strategy before GDPR is in effect. There are cases where the right to erasure does not apply, so it’s important for marketers to read and understand this regulation.
Personal data
The current definition for personal data is: Any information relating to a living, identified or identifiable natural person. Thanks to the GDPR, personal data now includes identifiers such as IP addresses, mobile IPs, cookies. Since cookies are not generally collected with a person’s consent, this might be an issue for digital marketers. If you’re not sure whether the information you have is personal data or not, then make sure your data is secure.
Accuracy and security
Your marketingdatabases must be kept up to date and accurate. It also needs to be reviewed regularly to ensure you can identify if consent has been granted. Marketers need to keep an audit trail of their collection and use of data for compliance purposes. A robust data management policy is essential, and it might also help to appoint a data protection officer.
Marketers will need to focus their efforts on compliance in order to protect and use customer data. You’ll have to change your strategy when it comes to data, including the way you build it, manage it, and collect it. GCL can help you ensure GDPR compliance by supplying you with new, fully compliant, opted-in data. If you want to know more about GDPR and how effectively managing data can keep you compliant, download our guide.
