Have you studied the details of General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR? If not, then it is high time to do it if you are a digital marketer.
The regulation has become effective from May 25th in the EU.
Who needs to pay attention to the details of GDPR?
- Those who live in the EU
- Those who do business with clients live in the EU
Remember, you need to know about it even if you have people in the mailing list who live in the EU.
The regulation ensures the interests of the individuals about their personal data and privacy.
When someone collects the personal data of people who belong to the EU, then it is mandatory to be compliant with the regulations.
Failing it will attract heavy penalties.
The Impact of GDPR on Content Marketing
How will all this impact the content marketing? If you belong to a country other than the EU, then why should you bother?
Well, you can ignore it if you guarantee that you will not do business with anybody who belongs to the EU.
Is it possible to be so sure about it? In the era of globalization, it is just impossible.
Willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly; people will visit your website and do business. Or they will subscribe for the mailing list.
If it happens, then it becomes your duty to protect the data proactively. As said earlier, the responsibility lies on your shoulders.
How is content marketing going to be affected by it?
No Freebies, Please!
Since you will be required to take a consent before adding someone to the mailing list, the freebies market is going to get a big hit.
Several methods are there to offer freebies as of now. Some people add a tick box in the form, some give a link on the exit page, and some do both.
Now onwards, you will have to tell that if the visitor is sharing Email address to download a Freebie, he will be added to the mailing list and receive marketing message then onward.
Even if looks obvious, now it must be specifically mentioned. More transparency is sought about the intentions of marketers.
Some people think that the issue can be arrested by telling the visitor upfront to get added to the mailing list to receive the freebie.
Experts say that a visitor may flounder when they are reminded that they are joining the mailing list. Yes, there is a risk.
Therefore, it is sure that the leads that you get from the opt-in will drop. By how much; nobody can tell it today.
Will there be New Obstacles Between Target Audience and Content?
In the new regime, there will be no campaigns that are designed purely to build traffic and display ads.
Other things such as cookie collection require consent today also. Hence, it will not be impacted. However, the consent collection mechanism needs to be strengthened to make it GDPR compliant.
Further problems will be in other things such as native content promotion campaign. Especially if you have been using it for serving sponsored content in between contextual content.
Now more efforts will require to take the content to the right viewers at the right time.
The path is not going to be smooth after GDPR, it is clear. Once it gets settled completely, every digital marketer needs to revisit the content marketing strategy.
What will Happen to the Existing Mailing List?
By this time, you must have understood the possible hurdles in the business to get prospective leads. Surely one question must have popped up in your mind;” what will happen to the people who are already on my mailing list?”
It is a valid question. There must be many people in your mailing list who are EU residents. Ideally, you should have their consent and they should again opt-in. It means the earlier opt-in will be null and void.
If you have already segmented the mailing list based on the IP address, then your workload reduces up to some extent. In such case, you need to seek permission from only those who belong to the EU region.
However, Web Experts point out that nowadays several software programs are available that can be used for masking the IP Address. Hence, safer side, you must scrap the whole mailing list and ask everyone to opt-in.
What will happen if very few people turn up? Well, you should always remember that your customers add to the top lines, not subscribers.
Hence, those who are not interested in subscribing to your email shouldn’t be a matter of concern for you. They are not going to buy the products or services offered by you.
Hence, there is no harm if they go away. Rather, it is good from the perspective of limiting your operating expenses.
The worth of a business is measured based on the customer list and not the mailing list.
Is There a Reason to Worry?
In a sense yes, there is a reason to rethink your marketing strategy. There is no need to panic or feel worried about it.
When one tactic stops working, you must devise something new.
Since freebies are existing for quite some time, people are familiar with it. Even if it is like offering bribe ethically, marketing managers find it effective.
Now, everyone who signs the newsletter should give the consent to avoid problems later.
To overcome the problem, your marketing managers use their fertile minds to derive innovative methods to give more meaningful, valuable and pleasurable experience to the customers.
One thing every digital marketer should understand. The regulation is pressing hard against data collection. It means, the path is open for relevant and legitimate content
Hence, digital marketers should seek the ways of engaging the viewers by content.
Once they understand what is there in the law and quickly adapt to it, there should not be an issue. Rather it gives a chance to explore new and unconventional ways of reaching potential customers effectively and efficiently.
By
