How Does GDPR and Digital Marketing Affect Your Business?
Saturday, July 7, 2018, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect last month, but many digital marketers are still struggling to understand how this will affect business going forward.
If you’re responsible for digital marketing at your company, or you’re looking for GDPR Services in Guernsey, here’s everything you need to know about how this legislation will affect your business and what you can do right now if your business doesn’t comply.
-
What is GDPR and reason behind its creation?
The GDPR was enacted to address growing issues concerning personal data. The goal of the legislation was to empower citizens to access and modify information held by businesses and organisations – which has become an issue as businesses profit off sensitive customer information. As a result, the GDPR protects personal data for all individuals in the EU.
-
Personal Privacy and GDPR – What you need to know?
Personal privacy relates to personal data, which has been defined as photographs, names, banking information, health information, and information regarding your computer or mobile device, such as an IP address. If you want to access or use this information, you must obtain the client’s consent – through a pop up or a standard email signup agreement.
Many businesses misunderstood the new guidelines and simply emailed their updated information to their current client base. Unfortunately, this is not enough. If your business has done this, you have not met the criteria under the GDPR and run the risk of being penalised with large fines.
-
Do businesses from other countries need to be GDPR compliant?
Unfortunately for companies residing outside of the EU, they must comply if they are marketing directly to customers within the area. This still applies even if you aren’t selling a specific product or service. So, if your website is accessed by people residing in the area, it’s a good sign you need to get your practises up to date.
-
How to get GDPR compliant?
The GDPR sets out a long list of tasks for a business to become fully-compliant. In addition to collecting consent, nearly all businesses are required to update their privacy notice with more specific details about the information the business collects and how they will use it.
Also, businesses are required to make customers or browsers actively opt in to confirm they wish to receive communications on an ongoing basis.If you’re struggling to get up to speed, and you’re looking for GDPR Training in Malta, it’s good to know there are now courses designed to help.
-
Consequences of non-compliance with GDPR
If your business fails to comply with the new standards defined by the GDPR, the consequences are severe. Non-compliance results in a wide range of penalties, ranging from warnings, bans on data processing, data restriction, and a block on data transfers – which means your website won’t work as efficiently.
The financial penalties equate to around 4% of turnover or up to €20 million. This is crippling for any business to pay, which is why it is essential for you to be proactive and solve any potential problems you have right now – as the legislation has already come into effect. Last year, InMobi was forced to pay $1m after failing to obtain consent to gather customer location data. While this occurred before the GDPR was enacted, similar cases are predicted to appear soon.
-
GDPR: Empowering the consumer
The GDPR provides citizens of the European Union powerful data protection. The law holds companies responsible for managing consumer personal data. The consumer has more privacy, more protection, and more access and control over their own personal data.
Conclusion
While the GDPR is an important piece of legislation that really sets the standard for good business behaviour, it can be a struggle to make sure your business fully complies. The good news is that help is at hand if you really need it, so if you’re struggling to get your business up to standard, it’s worth pursuing professional help. With your business fully compliant, you can rest easy knowing you won’t have the ICO knocking at your door any time soon.
Throw us a like at Facebook.com/doable.finance
