Compliance,Rules,Law,Regulation,Policy,Business,Technology,Concept.

Data Compliance: How to be a Smart Marketer in 2021

While the U.S. does not have one federal law that regulates the protection of personally identifiable information (PII), PII is protected by several sector-specific laws. The major players are the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These are just some examples of laws that apply to customer protection, financial institutions, telemarketing, commercial emails, and European markets.

While there is much to consider, businesses in the U.S. can be data compliant by fulfilling the requirements of the GDPR, understanding state-specific regulations, creating a comprehensive and detailed privacy policy, and employing data encryption and security. Please find more detail on how to be a “smart marketer” below (including bonus tips!).

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Five Reasons to Keep Data Privacy at the Forefront of Your Omnichannel Strategy

According to a recent survey, 40% of marketing executives conveyed that a lack of legal clarity is a barrier to implementing stricter privacy practices at their organizations. While we understand the ambiguity of today’s data policies – especially with COVID-19 causing delays and distractions – marketers must be as proactive as possible about data privacy. Here’s why:

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The Pandemic Effect:
Five Search Optimizations to Help Your SEM Efforts This Year

There’s ample evidence that the pandemic had a huge impact on search behavior in 2020. These changed search behaviors coupled with our new current realities can help bring a renewed focus on your search marketing optimization efforts right now. Below we outline five simple optimization tips that can assist your SEM programs and yield immediate results today.

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Looking Ahead – Hot Retail Segments for 2021

2020 taught us that anything can happen. As marketers, we are always looking to take our clients to the next level with a strategic approach to their omnichannel solution. Proven to be most successful, a multi-touch marketing strategy using both digital and print amplifies a brand’s reach.

Most notable for 2020? The accelerated shift to eCommerce due to the pandemic. As the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported: “consumers have embraced online shopping with vigor and retailers have responded with the speedy rollout of new technologies.”

But digital adaptation was always on its way, wasn’t it? We believe there is greater meaning to this changed consumer behavior, which is category expansion. There is a huge opportunity and right now is the time to capitalize on it. Here is our list of hot retail segments for 2021:

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The Media Horizons Take: Five Top Opportunities for Marketers in 2021

While 2020 may have shown us that you never know what to expect, it also demonstrated the power of a retail connection, the importance of brand loyalty and overall, the necessity of both offline and online marketing to combat the high volumes of competition today.

Scrolling through the news over the last few weeks, we have heard from Wall Street Journal, Forbes, National Retail Federation (NRF), CNBC, and others about what’s to come. While they’ve each given us a lot to think about, we want to offer the Media Horizons take now that we are a few weeks into the New Year. Here are five trends to keep top-of-mind in 2021.

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Putting a wrap on a year we will never forget

I remember flying home from a trip in February of 2020. We had heard about this new very contagious virus primarily seen in Asia and Europe, but it had not yet affected us here in the U.S., specifically on the east coast. Little by little it made its way to us and impacted our lives. We started washing our hands more, watching the news even more, and eventually on March 13, closing our physical office doors. Initially for a two-week period we thought, and then for what we could not have imagined, the rest of the year.

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Voice Searches Via Smart Devices Are Increasing During the Pandemic

Here Are Some Low Cost, Quick Tips That Can Help Your Brand’s Visibility Increase on Those Voice Search Queries
It’s 7am on a rainy Saturday morning up in Fairfield County, CT. I normally would start my day with a cup of coffee in hand and ask my Amazon Alexa about today’s weather forecast but on this day, the forecast was pretty obvious. So, I then posed another question to Alexa, one that has become commonplace in my household since the shelter-in-place order was given. “Alexa, what is the latest Coronavirus news?” This question has become part of my new daily routine as of late and as it turns out, I’m not alone.