solviNg iNdustry ProBleMs
By JaMisoN stoike
How gdPr Will affect
your Marketing
if you’ve BeeN oN tHe
iNterNet anytime since late May, it’s
safe to assume that you’ve seen a flurry
of websites prompting you to opt-in to
emails, consent to cookies or verify that
you’ve read their data or privacy policy.
This isn’t because of the recent
Facebook data issues, although they are
somewhat related. Instead, this is an
effect of the General Data Protection
Regulation, otherwise known as GDPR.
GDPR was enacted by the European
Union on May 25, 2018; it’s a legislation
that governs what kinds of data
companies can collect on users and
customers; for what reasons they collect
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that data; and ultimately, how they use,
store and access that data. In a nutshell, it
forces companies to be stricter and more
careful with user data than they’ve ever
been.
Needless to say, this means that your
company’s marketing efforts, from email
newsletters to digital ads, may need to
change.
Thankfully, making those changes
may be easier than you think, and GDPR
should actually help your marketing
efforts instead of hurting them. But
before we cover that, let’s dive a bit
deeper: first into who it affects, then
how it relates to your marketing.
euroPeaN regulatioN,
gloBal iMPaCt
Although the General Data Protection
Regulation was passed in the EU, it does
not affect only European companies.
GDPR protects “data subjects” in the
European Union, and therefore impacts
any company who does business or
interacts with European customers. If you
have a European presence or supply
products to European spas, you’ll be
impacted by GDPR.
Even if none of the above describes
your business, GDPR may still affect you.
If a European customer books a spa
service or is on your mailing list, they’re