Personal and behavioral information is invaluable to companies looking for better ways to capture consumer data leads. Based on users’ search history, the places they visit, and other factors, companies can place their ads right within reach.

However, some companies' misusage of data and black-hat tricks created a ground of misinformation and distrust. These unethical practices led to government and company regulations that now help protect the user’s data, such as the Personal Data Protection Act, General Data Protection Regulation, and Apple’s privacy controls, among others.

While these regulations aren’t a bad thing, it does make it more challenging to obtain the personalized information marketing efforts utilize when targeting their audience. Not only that, but market research teams also depend on this type of data to create a better buyer persona and understand how their audience prefers to interact with brands.

With all these changes, how best can companies determine the information they need to continue to get high-quality consumer data leads? And is there a way to legally protect yourself from accidentally breaking, or appearing to break, these regulations and rules?

What Data Privacy Means for Marketing Efforts

Now more than ever, consumers know how their data is being found and used. Because of this, they are less likely to give brands extra information, such as websites they frequent, purchases they make, and the location of where they are.

However, this information limit doesn’t mean companies still can’t create targeted and high-converting ads.

How can companies bring in leads when enough user data isn't available?

By collecting user data from various marketing channels, including SEO, PPC, affiliates, content marketing, and others. If speed is of the essence, I recommend starting with PPC channels like social and search. —Olga Mozaiska, Performance Marketing Specialist

By collecting information from various sources and compiling it into one buyer data bank, you will be able to find information such as their active online times, their job title and income, and even keywords they frequently use. While this method takes a little more time, your demographic information is now rounded out by multiple sources of information, giving your brand the ability to hone in on your target audience.

Two Major Ways This Affects Lead Generation

As mentioned above, audiences are now acutely aware of how websites obtain their information. To create a better sense of trust, our Wizly Experts recommend including easily accessible privacy laws and terms and conditions pop-ups on your site. This will allow customers to easily opt out of shared data and feel more secure while interacting with your brand.

According to Tech Republic, 75% of consumers won’t buy your product if they don’t trust you to protect their data. If your marketing efforts are focused on obtaining consumer data leads, having easily accessible and understandable policies is vital.

Our Wizly Experts also recommend making your client feel like they are in charge. This can be done through a few different tactics, but the best way is by focusing your efforts on inbound marketing strategies.

Inbound marketing is a strategy of drawing your customers in rather than outwardly pushing a brand. How inbound marketing works is by attracting the right kind of audience at the right time. Knowing your customer's buyer personas and journey is key to a successful inbound marketing strategy.

By using this method, your leads now believe they are the ones reaching out to be a part of your brand, rather than you advertising and trying to “buy” their sales. This is why inbound practices produce 54% more consumer data leads than traditional outbound practices.

Conclusion

Modern businesses need a marketing analytics solution they can use whenever data isn’t available, so they don’t lose access to relevant insights, current buying trends, and personalized content opportunities.

Nevertheless, each of these changes serves to make us better and more customer-focused companies. When certain strategies, such as inbound marketing, are used, high-quality leads are still able to be obtained even with new data privacy regulations in place.

When determining ways to obtain user information safely, Mozaiska has one primary recommendation:

“The key and most common mistake is overlooking this topic, especially if a company is based in more regulated markets like Europe or the US. [They] should investigate with a local lawyer [about] data privacy requirements and associated risks for the local market and implement those accordingly.“

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