Question

Using multiple, and only academically credible sites copyright 2017 , 2018, 2019, and 2020 ONLY , research the new EU GDPR regulation. Delineate, substantively, three (3) different ways that marketing is DIRECTLY impacted by this new regulation.

Answer 1

Realistically though, there are only 3 key areas that marketers need to worry about – data permission, data access and data focus.

1. Data Permission

Data permission is about how you manage email opt-ins –people who request to receive promotional material from you. You can’t assume that they want to be contacted. In the future, they need to express consent in a ‘freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous’ way, which is reinforced by a ‘clear affirmative action’.

Well, in practice, it means that leads, customers and partners, need to physically confirm that they want to be contacted. You need to make sure you’ve actively sought (and not assumed) permission from your prospects and customers, confirming they want to be contacted. Therefore, a pre-ticked box that automatically opts them in won’t cut it anymore – opt-ins need to be a deliberate choice.

2. Data Access

The right to be forgotten has become one of the most talked-about rulings in EU Justice Court history. It gives people the right to have outdated or inaccurate personal data to be removed and has, in some instances, already been implemented by companies like Google, who were forced to remove pages from its search engine results in order to comply.

The introduction of GDPR offers individuals a method to gain more control over how their data is collected and used – including the ability to access or remove it – in line with their right to be forgotten.

As a marketer, it will be your responsibility to make sure that your users can easily access their data and remove consent for its use.

3. Data Focus

As marketers, we can all be guilty of collecting a little more data from a person than we actually need. Ask yourself, do I really need to know someone’s favorite movie before they subscribe to our newsletter?

Probably not.

With this in mind, GDPR requires you to legally justify the processing of the personal data you collect.

Don’t worry; this is not as scary as it sounds.

What this means is that you need to focus on the data you need, and stop asking for the “nice to haves”. If you really need to know a visitors shoe size and inside leg measurement, and can prove why you need it, then you can continue asking for it. Otherwise, try to avoid collecting any unnecessary data and stick with the basics.