GDPR compliance is the adherence to the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union's law governing data privacy and security. This means any organization that processes the personal data of EU residents must meet its legal obligations for how that data is collected, handled, and protected. The regulation outlines key principles, including lawfulness, data minimization, and accountability, that must be at the core of any data processing activity.
The GDPR is founded on seven key principles for processing personal data. These mandate that data handling must be lawful, fair, and transparent. Organizations must also limit collection to specific purposes and only gather data that is strictly necessary, a concept known as data minimization.
Furthermore, data must be kept accurate and stored only as long as needed. The principles of integrity and confidentiality demand robust security measures. Finally, accountability requires organizations to prove their compliance with these regulations.
This is how you can begin your journey toward compliance.
While often discussed together, these two legal frameworks have distinct scopes and applications.
Navigating GDPR compliance presents several significant hurdles for organizations of all sizes.
Achieving GDPR compliance offers significant advantages beyond just avoiding fines. It enhances an organization's reputation and improves data management practices, fostering a culture of privacy that resonates with modern consumers.
Does GDPR apply to B2B marketing?
Yes, it does. Business contact information, such as names and email addresses, is considered personal data under GDPR. Companies must have a lawful basis, like legitimate interest, to process this data for marketing purposes.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
Penalties can be substantial, reaching up to €20 million or 4% of a company's annual global turnover, whichever is higher. The severity of the fine depends on the specific nature of the violation.
Is consent always required to process personal data?
No. While consent is one legal basis, data can also be processed if it's necessary for a contract, a legal obligation, or based on the legitimate interests of the organization, among other reasons.
A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.
Gamification applies game mechanics like points, badges, and leaderboards to non-game activities to boost engagement and motivate users.
Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.
Dynamic pricing is a strategy where businesses set flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands and other factors.
A sales dashboard is a visual tool that centralizes and displays key sales data, metrics, and KPIs to help teams track performance and goals.
A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.
Pipeline coverage is a key sales metric. It's the ratio of your total open pipeline value to your sales quota for a specific period.
Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost a business spends to gain a new customer. It includes all sales and marketing expenses.
Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret or anxiety that can arise after making a purchase, often questioning if it was the right decision.
Consultative selling is an approach where salespeople act as expert advisors, diagnosing customer needs to provide the most suitable solutions.
Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
A qualified lead is a prospect vetted as a good fit for your product. They match your ideal customer profile and show genuine interest.
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A value statement is a clear, concise declaration of the unique benefits a company provides to its customers, outlining its core purpose.
Generic keywords are broad search terms that lack specific details like brand or location. They attract a wide audience with less specific intent.
Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, from the first contact to the final sale.
Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.
Responsive design is an approach where a website's layout adapts to the user's screen size, providing an optimal experience on any device.
Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.
Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.
Workflow automation uses rule-based logic to run a sequence of tasks that would otherwise require manual human effort to complete.
A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.
Demand is the economic principle describing a consumer's desire and willingness to purchase a specific good or service at a particular price.
A canary release is a deployment strategy where new software is rolled out to a small user group first, minimizing risk before a full release.
Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.
Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.
Hadoop is an open-source framework designed for the distributed storage and processing of extremely large data sets across clusters of computers.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
Technographics is data that outlines a company’s technology stack, helping B2B teams identify prospects based on the software and hardware they use.
ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.
De-duping, or data deduplication, is the process of eliminating duplicate copies of data within a dataset to improve accuracy and save space.
Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a web security vulnerability that allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into trusted websites.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based model where affiliates earn a commission for promoting another company’s products or services.
A User Interface (UI) is the point where humans and computers interact. It encompasses all visual elements like screens, icons, and buttons.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other and exchange information.
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Competitive analysis means identifying your rivals and assessing their strategies to pinpoint your own business's strengths and weaknesses.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Direct sales involves selling products directly to consumers in a non-retail setting, such as at home, online, or person-to-person.
A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.
Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.
Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.
Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.
Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.
A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.
Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.
Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.
Customer retention refers to the strategies and activities a company uses to prevent customer churn and encourage them to continue buying.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.
Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.
A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.
A Content Management System (CMS) is software for creating, managing, and modifying website content without needing specialized technical skills.
Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.
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Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.
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SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.
Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.
A sales lead is a potential customer—an individual or organization that has shown interest in your company's products or services.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.
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Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
Copyright compliance is adhering to laws that protect creative works. It involves legally using content by obtaining permission or licenses.
A sales demo is a presentation where a sales rep shows a prospect how a product or service works and solves their specific problems.
A talk track is a script that guides sales reps during calls. It ensures they cover key points and maintain a consistent message with prospects.
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Predictive lead generation uses data and AI to find prospects most likely to buy, helping teams focus their efforts on high-value leads.
Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.
A custom API integration is a bespoke connection between software, enabling them to communicate and share data to meet unique business requirements.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.
Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.
A go-to-market (GTM) strategy is an action plan that outlines how a company will reach target customers and achieve a competitive advantage.
The awareness stage is the first step in the buyer's journey, where a potential customer realizes they have a problem or an opportunity to explore.
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.
Data enrichment is the process of enhancing raw data by adding missing information from other sources, making it more complete and actionable.
“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.
Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.
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NoSQL ("Not only SQL") databases offer a flexible alternative to relational models, excelling at managing large and unstructured data sets.
An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.