Why Website Developers and Marketing Agencies Need a GDPR Consultant

For agencies providing marketing services, the GDPR can be a double-edged sword. Firstly, you have responsibilities towards your clients as the data controller of their personal data. Additionally, when working with your clients, you have responsibilities as the data processor of the personal information belonging to your client’s customers (and your client is the data controller).

 

As your client is the data controller for their customers’ personal information, you don’t have to take on responsibility for their GDPR compliance. However, it is good practice to work together with your clients to define roles and responsibilities for GDPR, to prevent unnecessary data breaches and a potential breakdown of your working relationship.

 

Playing to Your Strengths

If you run a marketing agency or website development business, we’re sure you understand why expertise and experience is essential to get the right results. You wouldn’t recommend using a graphic designer to build a website – you’d recommend a website developer. Likewise, you wouldn’t have your website developer writing copy, or your social media guru developing a new brand.

 

However, when it comes to the GDPR, we find that many agencies don’t use the experience of a specialist with working knowledge and experience of agency GDPR.

Getting GDPR Right for Your Clients

Although we are no longer part of the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation still applies to businesses operating out of the UK – see more on our blog. And for those who don’t get it right, there is the potential for massive fines as well as harm to a brand’s reputation.

 

As an agency providing services that capture the personal data of your client’s customers, it is essential that the appropriate measures are put into place. We see lots of agencies using free privacy policy templates to add to websites. On further inspection of these templates, they often do not meet the requirements of the GDPR and are not backed up with the right processes. For example, if a privacy policy template is not filled out with details specific to the business, then it renders the policy completely useless.

 

Working in this way puts your clients and your own business at risk.

Minimise Your Risks

Like we mentioned earlier, you are not the data controller when it comes to information you client holds. The ultimate responsibility doesn’t lie with you. However, as a marketing or website developer, at the least your client will look to you for advice about complying with the GDPR. At the extreme end of the scale, your client may look to pass their responsibilities onto you – which should be an absolute no-no.

 

You have enough responsibilities already!

 

A GDPR specialist can help your client:

• define the responsibilities of each party (data controller and data processor)
• safeguard the data they collect and store
• undertake data processing impact assessments (DPIAs)
• create meaningful and compliant privacy policies

 

Partnering with an Agency GDPR Consultant

 

There are more benefits to partnering with a GDPR consultant than just meeting your responsibilities and ensuring your clients do the same.

 

Many GDPR consultants offer a referral commission on clients you send their way. At Certainty Solution, we will help you with your own GDPR responsibilities and offer you a reward for recommending us to your clients. With a fantastic referral scheme, passing regular clients our way could earn your business up to £3k per month in passive income.

 

“I hate my team wasting time chasing clients for legal bits for websites or Facebook ads. I'm too savvy to use a template that could come back on us if we provided it to the client. Now my team just copy Certainty Solution into a quick email and they sort the rest and send us a fee for the referral. It made it so much simpler.” — Daniella, DP Marketing Communications Ltd

 

Want to Know More?

 

If you’d like to learn more about partnering with Certainty Solution and getting rid of your GDPR headache, visit our agency  Affilate Partners page.

 

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