Compliance with all rules and regulations has become a big step for digital marketing content these days. With the change in privacy laws and conditions and the end of third-party cookies, Digital Marketing professionals have to be careful now more than ever about abiding by all rules and regulations. Internal and external bodies have set up many rules and regulations and sometimes it is an uphill battle for companies for not transgressing any of them. But educating yourself in this area is very important as you would not want to be pressed with a legal charge for something you don’t even know you did wrong. If your customer somehow feels deceived in terms of privacy conditions by you and their concern is legitimate, it puts a big question mark on your brand transparency as well as your brand image on social media.

Some big cases in compliance

In May 2018 the EU based General Data Protection Regulation came into being. This was the cause of a lot of disruption in the marketing methods across many industries. The very nature of Ad Tech and the ways in which data collection/ management functioned was completely transformed. But anyone, without any reservation, was given a legal notice if they were found non- compliant with the new rules and regulations.

Cases of Intellectual Property

Google, the Digital Giant known to everyone, also could not avoid such charges. They had to pay the biggest ever recorded Non-Compliance fine of 57 million Dollars because they had supposedly not made it clear enough to their Android users as to how their personal information was being used by the company. Looking at this case it becomes clear enough that no business on no scale is safe from non-Compliance rules and regulations.

If not every country, then at least every region in the world has their own set of compliance rules and regulations. It is integral to the functioning of the marketing team that they know all these rules and they abide by it. Otherwise, a heavy non-compliance fine might not be very far away. The most common example of such a case is that if you are asking for the email id of a user for them to sign up for your newsletter, you must display a consent box, which the customer will tick.

Remember that business of any kind is always competitive and cut-throat. Your rival companies are waiting for that opportunity where you slip up and they jump in to hijack your customer base. Hence, educating yourself in compliance laws according to where your business is set up, is mandatory.

Cases of Product Specifications

Another kind of compliance issue is what you are marketing and whether you are delivering the same. Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. which sells household products, depicted no use of harsh chemicals in their house cleaning products in their advertisements. So, when a harsh chemical was discovered in their products, it implied that they had used a product in their items which they had promised not to use. In the end the company had to pay a whopping 1.5 million in fines.

Cases of Product Risks

If you have the kind of product that comes with a risk or a potential side-effect then you need to disclose it. Your consumers have the right to take an informed decision. Otherwise, you are hiding information and deceiving them.

Purdue Pharma, the pharmaceutical giants to manufacture Oxycontin, have recently faced a lawsuit of a similar nature. Because of not disclosing certain addictive natures and side effects of their medicines, they are now facing a charge of misusing the trust of their customers and playing a key role in creating the US Opioid Crisis. As a result of this, they will have to pay more than 8 billion dollars in fine and eventually shut down operations. Once this case closes, it will pass the fine record that as of yet belongs to Google.

Brand Consistency

If you start off strong and gain a lot of brand loyalty; but then your standards start to drop, there will be a problem. Nike has recently scored the highest points among top brand for brand consistency and loyalty. But if your standards drop, then your brand loyalty drops as well. The core values that you set out with must be consistent throughout. If your advertisements are still promising features that you are not delivering, then you may face charges regarding deceiving your consumers.

Terms of Service

Terms of service and the privacy policy of a company are also required to be disclosed these days. Every site must state their privacy policy and terms and conditions so that their consumers may make an informed decision.

Brandmirchi works in all fields of digital marketing, whether it is developing a website or providing you with a unique business strategy. Feel free to contact us to avail our services.