Direct marketing is any advertising or marketing communication that is directed to particular individuals or companies. It is not limited to advertising goods or services for sale, as it also includes promoting an organisation’s aims and ideals. This means that the direct marketing rules in UK data protection law and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) will also apply to the promotional, campaigning and fundraising activities of organisations, businesses and charities.
In a nutshell, with regard to marketing by text or email, you generally need some form of positive consent, i.e. the recipient needs to have actively agreed to receive such marketing before receiving any. Furthermore, at every subsequent point of contact, you need to give them the option to “opt-out” – to effectively unsubscribe.
With regard to marketing done via traditional telephone calls or by post, you do not need active consent, but you do need to make sure that any recipient:
- Has not previously told you they do not want to be marketed to or,
- Is not signed up with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) or the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Both of these allow individuals and businesses to register for free as not wanting to receive unsolicited marketing. You need to check any list of potential recipients against these organisations as appropriate, because again the rules in this regard are strict, and there can be significant financial consequences including the possibility of fines and civil court action if you get things wrong.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has recently launched a direct marketing advice generator tool. This free online tool provides advice about how to conduct direct marketing, in compliance with UK law, across a variety methods including email, SMS, direct mail and social media.
The aim is to help organisations promote their products and services to new and existing customers, while avoiding complaints and fines. Users of the tool will answer a series of questions, which should take about 15 minutes to complete and will result in reliable advice that is specific to the particular direct marketing activities of the user.
In addition, the ICO also regularly highlights cases where it has issued fines and enforcement notices to businesses who have failed to comply with the law regarding direct marketing, and here are two examples which show just how serious it can be:
- Two companies were fined a total of £290,000 and issued with enforcement notices for making more than 4.5 million telephone calls to people who had opted out of receiving marketing calls. See here for more details.
- Two companies were fined a total of £150,000 for sending more than 7.5 million spam text messages. Both companies in question had purchased information from third-parties that had not obtained valid consent. See here for more details.