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.
Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) is the predictable, recurring income a business expects to receive each month from all active subscriptions.
Triggers are predefined conditions that, when met, automatically launch a workflow or action, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
An Account Development Representative (ADR) identifies and qualifies new business opportunities, creating a pipeline for account executives.
Learn about buyer, including identifying your ideal buyer, understanding buyer's journey, & evaluating buyer decision processes.
Lead scraping is the process of automatically extracting contact information and other relevant data about potential customers from online sources.
Sales objections are reasons or concerns raised by a potential customer as to why they are hesitant or unwilling to make a purchase.
Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.
Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.
Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.
Cold calling is a sales tactic where reps contact potential customers by phone who haven't previously expressed interest in their product or service.
Gamification applies game mechanics like points, badges, and leaderboards to non-game activities to boost engagement and motivate users.
Programmatic display campaigns use automation to buy and sell digital ad space in real-time, targeting specific audiences across the web.
Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.
Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.
Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.
Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.
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.
Integration testing is a software testing phase where individual modules are combined and tested together to verify their interaction.
Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.
Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.
Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a business function that aligns a company's sales, marketing, and customer service teams to drive predictable revenue.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.
A Single Page Application (SPA) is a web app that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page rather than loading new pages.
An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.
Sales Engineers blend deep technical knowledge with sales acumen, demonstrating a product's value and solving customer problems to drive revenue.
"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.
Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.
Intent leads are prospects who show buying signals through their online actions, indicating they're actively looking to make a purchase.
Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.
Closed Won is a CRM status for a sales deal that has been successfully concluded, resulting in a signed contract and a new customer.
Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.
A cold email is an initial outreach sent to a potential customer with whom you've had no prior contact, aiming to introduce your business.
A Point of Contact (POC) is the designated individual or department that serves as the main hub for information and communication on a matter.
A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.
Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.
A buying committee is a group of stakeholders within an organization who are jointly responsible for making major purchasing decisions.
Sales workflows are a set of automated actions that streamline the sales process, helping teams engage leads consistently and close deals faster.
A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.
A Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) API is a web service that uses XML to exchange structured information between different applications.
Customer retention refers to the strategies and activities a company uses to prevent customer churn and encourage them to continue buying.
Sales enablement content refers to the materials and tools that empower your sales team to engage prospects and close deals more efficiently.
Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.
A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.
Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.
Site retargeting is a marketing strategy that shows ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without converting.
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.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.
A knowledge base is a self-serve online library of information about a product, service, department, or topic.
Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.
Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.
No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.
A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.
Mobile compatibility ensures your site or app works flawlessly on mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, for a seamless user experience.
Sales development is the process of identifying and qualifying potential customers to create a pipeline of sales-ready leads for closers.
ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.
Video selling uses personalized video messages to engage prospects, build rapport, and guide them through the sales funnel to close more deals.
Shipping solutions are services or software that streamline the logistics of getting products to customers, from label printing to final delivery.
Network monitoring is the continuous process of tracking a computer network's performance and health to detect and resolve issues proactively.
Enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to get a more complete picture of your leads.
Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.
Learn about B2B sales, including key strategies for B2B success, types of B2B sales models, & B2B vs. B2C sales: understanding the differences.
Consumer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategy for managing all of a company's relationships and interactions with its customers.
Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.
Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.
Closed opportunities are potential deals that have concluded. They are categorized as either 'closed-won' (a sale was made) or 'closed-lost'.
Firmographic data is information used to classify firms. It includes attributes like industry, employee count, location, and annual revenue.
A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.
Learn about B2B, including what is it, its key elements, the benefits of B2B partnerships, the differences between B2B and B2C, and strategies for effective marketing.
Learn about B2B data erosion, including causes of B2B data decay, strategies to combat data erosion, & measuring the impact of data erosion.
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.
A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.
A Salesforce Administrator is a certified professional who manages and customizes the Salesforce platform to meet a company's specific business needs.
Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) centralizes customer data from all sources to create a complete, unified profile for each individual customer.
Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.
An Operational CRM is a system that automates and improves customer-facing business processes like sales, marketing, and customer service.
Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
Predictive lead generation uses data and AI to find prospects most likely to buy, helping teams focus their efforts on high-value leads.
Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.
Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.
Lookalike audiences are groups of potential customers who share similar characteristics and behaviors with your existing, high-value customers.
Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.
User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a business strategy where the product itself drives user acquisition, conversion, and expansion.
Firmographics are descriptive attributes of organizations, used to segment companies by characteristics like industry, size, and location.
Webhooks are automated messages sent by an app when a specific event occurs. They push real-time data to another app's unique URL.
Personalization in sales means tailoring outreach to a prospect's specific needs, interests, and context to make communication more relevant.
Docker is a tool that packages applications and their dependencies into isolated environments called containers for easy deployment and scaling.
The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.
Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.
Sales prospecting software automates the process of finding, contacting, and tracking potential customers to help sales teams build their pipeline.
Learn about B2B intent data providers, including evaluating intent data quality, leveraging intent data for growth, & B2B intent data: key providers comparison.
CRM enrichment is the process of adding third-party data to your existing customer profiles to make them more complete and accurate.
Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.
Outbound lead generation means proactively reaching out to potential customers who haven't yet expressed interest to introduce them to your brand.