GDPR Means Marketing Only to Those Who Want to Hear From You
2018 is going to be a hell of a new year for digital marketers. For the past two decades, digital advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing have grown increasingly reliant on data. Consumer data and customer data have been tracked, sold, and resold on the promise that personally identifiable data will introduce a brand to the right customer in the right place at the right time. Or, to give a particularly brutal example, targeting the consumer walking up and down a grocery aisle with a product ad or a coupon, or following her around the web with a pair of Adidas she already bought.
Consumers, by and large, hate this. They’d much prefer brand advertising, which can be bought and sold by publication without their data being used to microtarget them. And now, through a confluence of events, they are going to get their wish. In May, a new set of data privacy rules, collectively known as the Global Data Privacy Regulation, take effect.
The GDPR removes the option marketers have now of saying, “well, she didn’t opt out, so we presume she opts in.” Every single use of consumer data will require individual opt in. No presumptions.You can imagine what this will be like at scale: a hassle and a traffic jam the likes of which you have never seen.
Not only that, but the regulations will carry the force of law and significant fines for violations. You will not want to mess with the European Commission on these.
Savvy marketers are already aware of this and are making changes to their policies and their email lists. This year saw a huge growth in influencer marketing, in which audiences are acquired through affinities with market influencers.
We’re not talking about the Kardashians here, unless you have the budget for them and their followers are who you want to reach. In general we mean micro-influencers in their respective fields, like doctors who have published many papers in a specific field of medicine, or outdoors enthusiasts like Grand Canyon hikers. The diabetes support group on Facebook has over 17,000 members, while the Grand Canyon Hikers Facebook group has over 25,000.
Influencers in these affinity groups are ordinary people who are micro-influencers. They will become more and more important for reaching the right audiences without violating the GDPR.
In the enterprise especially certain technologists have earned a great deal of influence. John Gruber influences Apple fans. Nathan Benaich runs the London AI Meetup Group and and can tell you what to watch closely in machine learning.
In 2018, partnerships with these micro-influencers will become extremely important as a way of reaching target audiences without the use of PII (personally identifiable information).
The best marketers are already trying to locate those communities and partner with them. If you’re in doubt about how to go about this new form of affinity and influencer marketing, I’m sure John and Kat Troyer would be happy to take you under their communal wing.
Happy New Year!
Photo credit: Very Quiet with CC BY-SA 2.0 license
