GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) went into effect on May 28. Even if you haven’t heard all the buzz around this law, you’ve probably seen your email inbox fill up with Privacy Policy updates and enewsletter re-sign up invitations. Everyone is taking notice – and taking steps they feel necessary moving forward.
But GDPR doesn’t have to be a bad Four Letter Word. In fact, the way we see it, GDPR can be your opportunity to start fresh, to take a closer look at your marketing, and to really connect with your target market.
Let’s remember what GDPR is about. We took a deep dive into all the logistics a few months ago, so you can go read about it. We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice, but basically this European law encompasses greater privacy protection and data rights for those in the EU, with an emphasis on explicit consent. Moving forward, those websites and businesses serving those in the EU will need consent for every bit of data they collect. No longer can content be assumed by virtue of doing, visiting, or buying something. (Need more information? Check out our article outlining it all.)
Making it About Your Customers
Even though we are located in the US and most (if not all) of our business is in the US, we decided to use this as an opportunity! We believe that this new way of thinking about data privacy will become more universal in the future – and we want to stay ahead of the game. It’s a great way to show your customers that you are aware of changing laws and trends – and that you respect their privacy and rights. And it’s good way to ensure that you are really targeting those who want to hear from you.
For instance, if you update your enewsletter list, requiring an explicit optin, you are likely to lose some recipients on your list – but those who optin are those eager to hear what you have to say! Now’s the time to really think about creating content they care about.
Some Tips
Here are a couple things we did here at McNary Marketing to be in compliance. While we can’t offer specific legal advice, it may be helpful to know what we found useful.
- Because we use data trackers, we set up a cookie notification. (You may have seen it if you’ve been to our website. If not, go check it out.)
- We updated our Privacy Policy, including language about how to disable cookie tracking. There are a number of Privacy Policy Generators online (like this one or this one) you can use to update yours.
- Evaluate your lists, including newsletters, thinking about how the data was collected. You may want to do repermission.
Considering how comprehensive GDPR is, and that every business is going to have a unique situation, there may be a variety of other or different things you need to do to be compliant. However, since we aren’t lawyers, we can’t offer specifics. This is just some practical advice to get you started.
We know these things can be overwhelming, but we also believe they offer a chance to engage better and more transparently with your audience. If you want to chat with us about making some updates, or just want to learn more about why we think this is so important, contact us anytime!