Always Look on the Bright Side of GDPR!
We’ve been talking about it for a while now, but if you’ve been on an extended trip to Outer Mongolia, you might have missed the news that on 25th May 2018, the UK’s current Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), will be replaced by the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
“What?” we hear you saying, “We thought we were leaving the EU.” Well, regardless of what happens with Brexit, the GDPR will be taken on in this country as part of the overall data protection framework — a new Data Protection Bill. It will become law.
Whatever your company situation, now is the time to review your data protection processes. Quite honestly, it would be madness not to.
GDPR rules OK
Whenever there’s new legislation decreed from above by the faceless minions of Her Majesty’s Government, or, indeed, European bureaucrats, it’s all too easy to fall into grouching and griping about your increased workload and all those documents that must be read, marked, learnt and inwardly digested. But consider this…what if GDPR is the best idea since sliced bread? And there’s us, spending all our time looking for the problems and worrying about piggy-bank-busting fines instead of thinking about the opportunities for B2B and B2C direct mail marketing.
Don’t worry, be data happy
The GDPR is not a hindrance to your business, it’s a help. It has been created to make it easier for you to cater for the needs of your customers and to minimise possible data loss and data breach incidents. Working together, we can build universal best practice protocols to enhance the way we manage information — and that benefits everyone — except, perhaps, cyber criminals and who wants them to benefit?
The big spring clean
Individuals will need to opt in to receive marketing communications, so for you as a business, this may mean a drastic culling of your database. Surely this is not such a bad thing? What a waste of time and money sending stuff to people who don’t want to receive it. If they’ve opted in, they’ll be engaged and your click-through rate will be higher, without a shadow of a doubt.
Building trust
With the level of transparency that GDPR will surely bring, customers will be less fearful that their personal information will be misused. Not to mention the fact that data breaches are less likely and, therefore, so is the bad PR for your company, which would inevitably be part of the fallout.
Your brand will benefit from that feeling of trust, and, what’s more, customers will then feel confident that they could share more personal data — which will help you to be accurate in your marketing strategy.
Embrace GDPR
That’s what we’re doing at Mailing Expert, and we’re happy to support you in doing exactly the same thing for your business. In the well-chosen words of Frank Sinatra, which you could sing out loud if you wish: “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.”
For more information, don’t hesitate to call us on 01825 983033 or send us an email at info@mailingexpert.co.uk.