IS YOUR MARKETING LEGAL?

When we think about marketing our products and services we rightly focus on whether our messages, delivered through the internet, by post or over the telephone, will entice our target audience to visit our website, come to our store or take up our offer. We also consider whether our costly marketing materials will travel seemlessly from the letter box into the bin. What we seldom consider is whether the way we communicate is legal.

Laws that bite

Data protection laws exist to strike a balance between the rights of individuals to privacy and the ability of organisations to use data for the purposes of their businesses. If you collect, process and market using personal data, the Data Protection Act (1998) legally requires you to comply with a range of obligations.

This short article is not a legal guide and by no means an exhaustative list. It's intended to help you start thinking and acting on keeping your marketing ethical, lawful and effective.

• You can only carry out unsolicited marketing if the person you're targeting has given you their permission. That is, they have 'opted-in' to receive marketing communications from you
• You can obtain a person's opt-in when you collect their details in the course of a sale or negotiation, maybe through a simple tick box
  Your contacts should be given the opportunity to refuse marketing when their details are collected, and if they don't opt-out at this point, give them a simple way to do so in future messages
  
• There is a particular sensitivity to spam, so you must ensure your email database is fully opted-in - you could find yourself blacklisted from various email servers
  
• The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Fax Preference Service (FPS) allows people to register their numbers to opt-out of receiving unsolicited calls or faxes - you will need to check your database against theirs
  
• The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) provides a list of people who have opted-out of receiving any unsolicited mail - you will need to 'clean' your list against the MPS files
  
• You can purchase a list of contacts already opted-in to receive information on products or services similar to yours, through magazine subscription lists or list brokers
  
• Despite these requirements, and there are many more, there are clear benefits. Over time, you will develop a more focused contact base, who wish to receive marketing messages from you.

By ensuring that each time you make contact with a new prospect, you obtain their consent for future marketing, you will build a valuable database. For more information, please visit the following websites, or contact Ismail on 0845 094 2867 or email

info@launchstorm.com.

www.ico.gov.uk.
The Information Commissioner's Office is the UK's independent authority set up to promote access to official information and to protect personal information

www.dma.org.uk
the Direct Marketing Association has useful guides and links

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