Have you heard about the new GPDR legislation that everyone is busy coming to terms with, coming into place on 25th May 2018? I thought I’d tell you a bit about how the new rules fit into the marketing and communication world and the practical things you can be implementing 
I was quite taken aback by all the new rules and regulations that are coming into place, but actually looking at it now and after reading loads of guides and blogs about it, there are only 3 main areas of concern:
1. Data permission
2. Data access
3. Data focus
Data permission - is about how you handle opt ins. You cannot assume that just because someone has requested to receive information about one thing, that they would be happy to receive information from you about something else. According to the ICO, ‘consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous’
In practice, this means that any clients, partners, supporters, organisations etc have to positively confirm that they would like to be contacted by you - it cannot be assumed that consent has been given because 6 months ago they were happy for you to send them that one email. So a pre ticked box that automatically opts someone in, is no longer sufficient.
Data access - it is our duty to make sure that the data we hold can be easily accessed by the owner and changed/removed by them.
In practice, you could have an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your marketing email or an option to log in somewhere and change any details that are displayed.
Data focus - you must be able to justify the data you hold. Do you really need to know someone’s date of birth before they subscribe to a newsletter? If so, make sure you can evidence why.
3 practical tips!
1. Review the way you currently send out mailing lists, have you got consent from everyone you are sending mailings to?
2. Create a content marketing strategy- can you start to create downloadable whitepapers, eBooks, guides, factsheets- this avoids them having to send you their personal details
3. Make separate mailing lists for each item- you cannot assume that just because someone has given you consent to send them a specific item that they have consented to receive something else, even if it is related!
Keep an eye on our website for our new GDPR part of the website for more information and tips and look out for regular GDPR top tip Tweets at @McrCommCentral
You can find more info on GDPR and marketing on the ICO’s website too https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/marketing/
All the best,
Aneeqa