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.
Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.
“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.
Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.
A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
A qualified lead is a prospect vetted as a good fit for your product. They match your ideal customer profile and show genuine interest.
Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.
"Smile and dial" is a high-volume sales tactic where reps make numerous cold calls from a list, often with little to no prior research.
A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown interest based on marketing efforts but isn't yet ready for a sales conversation.
Sales coaching is a process where managers help reps improve their skills and performance through personalized feedback, training, and guidance.
Docker is a tool that packages applications and their dependencies into isolated environments called containers for easy deployment and scaling.
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
Content Rights Management involves controlling the use and distribution of copyrighted digital media to protect intellectual property.
A custom API integration is a bespoke connection between software, enabling them to communicate and share data to meet unique business requirements.
A buying committee is a group of stakeholders within an organization who are jointly responsible for making major purchasing decisions.
A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.
A System of Record (SoR) is the authoritative data source for a specific type of data. It acts as the single source of truth for an organization.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.
A headless CMS is a back-end content repository that delivers content via API to any front-end, decoupling the content from its presentation layer.
Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.
Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that look and feel like native mobile apps, offering features like offline access and push notifications.
A Sales Development Representative (SDR) is a sales specialist who finds and qualifies new leads, building a pipeline for the sales team.
Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.
Competitive analysis means identifying your rivals and assessing their strategies to pinpoint your own business's strengths and weaknesses.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a focused B2B strategy where marketing and sales collaborate to target and convert high-value accounts.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is the predictable income a company expects to receive from its customers over a one-year period.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.
Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.
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.
A use case is a detailed description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a specific goal, outlining the steps from start to finish.
Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.
Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.
Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.
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 attribution model is a framework for assigning credit to the marketing touchpoints that lead a customer to convert.
A product champion is an internal evangelist who drives a product's adoption and success by ensuring it solves real problems for their team.
No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.
Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.
Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.
Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.
A Call for Proposal (CFP) is a document that solicits proposals, often through a bidding process, for a specific project or service.
Cross-selling is a sales tactic of encouraging customers to purchase products or services that are related to what they're already buying.
A Request for Information (RFI) is a formal process for gathering information from potential suppliers before issuing a more detailed proposal.
Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.
Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.
Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.
Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.
Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.
Mid-market companies are businesses larger than small businesses but smaller than large enterprises, often defined by revenue or employee size.
Learn about B2B data platform, including key benefits of B2B data platforms, choosing the right B2B data platform, challenges in implementing B2B data platforms.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
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.
HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.
A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.
Learn about big data, including understanding big data characteristics, benefits of leveraging big data, & challenges in managing big data.
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) is the portion of the market your business can realistically serve with its current products and sales channels.
A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.
Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.
Buying intent is the collection of online cues and behaviors that signal a prospect is actively researching and moving toward a purchase decision.
A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.
Account mapping is comparing your customer list with a partner's to find common prospects and unlock new sales opportunities.
Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams structure and manage their work through a set of values, principles, and practices.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is a web service that uses a simple, stateless architecture for systems to communicate online.
Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.
Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.
A sales coach is a mentor who trains and guides sales reps to enhance their skills, boost performance, and ultimately close more deals effectively.
Retargeting marketing is a digital advertising strategy that targets users who have previously interacted with your website or brand online.
User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.
Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.
A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.
A Content Management System (CMS) is software for creating, managing, and modifying website content without needing specialized technical skills.
A landing page is a standalone web page created for a marketing campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking an ad or email link.
Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.
Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.
Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.
Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.
Sales enablement technology refers to software and tools that equip sales teams with the resources they need to close more deals efficiently.
A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.
Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.
CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.
Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
Gamification applies game mechanics like points, badges, and leaderboards to non-game activities to boost engagement and motivate users.
Psychographics categorizes people by their attitudes, interests, and lifestyles, revealing the 'why' behind their purchasing decisions.
Learn about B2B marketing attribution, including challenges in B2B marketing attribution, & key metrics for effective attribution.
Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.
Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.
Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.