Category: Marketing

ICO's Draft Code of Practice for Direct Marketing

16/1/2020

This is relevant to all artists and arts organisations that practice direct marketing i.e. any method of communication which is directed to particular individuals.

Even if you are not going to comment on the consultation, you probably need to be aware of the contents - particularly if you keep lists of people you contact via email or newsletters.

The Information Commissioner in the UK proposes to introduce a Direct Marketing Code of Practice - as required by the Data Protection Act 2018.

This month the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has

launched a public consultation on a draft direct marketing code of practice.
published the Direct Marketing Code of Practice - Draft for consultation

Quotes in this blog post come from the draft code of practice.

What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing includes the promotion of aims and ideals as well as advertising goods or services. Any method of communication which is directed to particular individuals could constitute direct marketing. Direct marketing purposes include all processing activities that lead up to, enable or support the sending of direct marketing.
page 3 of Direct marketing code of practice - Draft code for consultation | ICO

All organisations (and individuals acting as sole traders) have an obligation to ensure their direct marketing activities comply with

the General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR) and
the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. (PESC)

Who needs to know what to do

Below I've identified the nature of individuals and organisations and activities which will be covered by the code of practice for direct marketing.

When the Code of Practice is introduced it will set the benchmark against which the behaviour of any artist or art organisation will be measured when involved with direct marketing. Cautions or fines could be the result if you flout it.

You will be caught by the direct marketing rules if you are using data with the intention to market, advertise, or promote products, services, aims or ideals.

I've adapted their examples as who "needs to know" for artists and art organisations below

EXAMPLES:

commercial businesses (eg art galleries and artists) marketing their products and services;
charities and third sector organisations (e.g. art societies) fundraising or promoting their aims and ideals;
(e.g. art societies) canvassing for votes;
public authorities (e.g. public art galleries) promoting their services or objectives; or
organisations (any artist or art organisation) involved in buying, selling, profiling or enriching personal data for direct marketing purposes.

Following the code along with other ICO guidance will help you to comply with the GDPR and PECR

Consultation: direct marketing-draft code of practice

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TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

5/6/2018

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What's the best way of an artist creating a good impression with a business card?
What size should it be and what do you need on a business card?

The Business Cards for Artists page on this website provides a summary of:

why you need a business card as an artist
what are the essential items of information for an artist's business card
what are the optional extras
why the look and feel really matters for an artist
the options around size of a business card - which vary by country!

I've also includes links to articles which make suggestions around design
Plus some options for suppliers of business cards.

As an artist, do you have any recommendations about:

content and design
a recommended supplier where you live? (Note: only recommendations by artists will be published)

Read more about Marketing for Artists

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How to report a spam email address

21/4/2017

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One of the things that happens to many artists with a new (or existing) website is that they get spammed by companies who want to "help you sort out your website".

This post is about a few things you can do to stop spam and stop scammers

how to check the whether it's spam
how to check if it comes from a scammer
how to report spam from a scammer to the official authorities

Characteristics of spam from a scammer

Most such approaches are almost universally scam operations. Such emails typically have similar characteristics

They send automated template letters out i.e. they do not approach you by name - even if your name is on your website under your "about me" section.
The letter is robotic. They have a long list of things that are wrong with your website (even if they are not)
Their assertions may contain totally incorrect information (eg the ones I get tell me they can help me set up a responsive website - for a site which already has a responsive website)
There is no website for the domain name

Most importantly, the letter is wholly unsolicited. That of itself makes it spam.

How to check if it's spam from a scammer

Things you can do are:

Check the name of the person it is sent to - if it's not your name then it's spam
Check the domain name (that's the end of the email address (e.g. the one I got this morning "weboptmizes.com") If it doesn't exist - and this one didn't then you can very reasonably conclude that it's a 100% a scam.
Check ownership details. Check whether the website - if it exists - includes the names of the people who own the site and a complete postal address - as required by law because it is trying to sell a service via the internet. I have been known when pretty certain that a plausible email is actually spam to check out that address using Google Streetview! Locations tell you a lot!

How to report spam from a scammer

Block the address
See if you can block the email address. This requires two things:

the spam email needs to have come direct from a scammer and NOT via a third party (such as my website host Weebly)
your email provider needs to have a function for blocking emails from specific addresses or domain names (eg gmail does this)

However I can't block the email addresses if they come via Weebly my website host - because all I'd be doing is blocking all email from Weebly and not making one bit of difference to the spammer!

What I want is for Weebly to implement a filter to catch the scammers - and so far Weebly has not done this (which is very irritating!) All they need to do is implement an address for reporting scammer/spam email addresses - but they've not done this to date.

If you have a website host who also does not use filters or a reporting button from spam from scammers you might want to try persistently raising this issue with them as I do!

IN THE USA: Report the email address to the Federal Trade Commission
The next best thing is to report the email address to the body which is set up to protect consumers from scammers of this sort.

This is the Consumer Information page about Spam on the Federal Trade Commission website and it tells you how to report spam.

Report Spam
Forward unwanted or deceptive messages to:
- the Federal Trade Commission at spam@uce.gov. Be sure to include the complete spam email.
- your email provider. At the top of the message, state that you're complaining about being spammed. Some email services have buttons that allow you to mark messages as junk mail or report them spam.
- the sender's email provider, if you can tell who it is. Most web mail providers and ISPs want to cut off spammers who abuse their system. Again, make sure to include the entire spam email and say that you're complaining about spam.
If you try to unsubscribe from an email list and your request is not honored, file a complaint with the FTC.

In the UK: Report the email address to the Information Commissioner

The Information Commissioner's Office is responsible for

the regulation of the conduct of those using your personal information to contact you and
marketing on the internet.

This is the ICO Information Page for the Public about spam emails. It provides very useful information about why they arise and what you can do about them - and what they can do about organisations based in the UK.

They also indicate who can send you marketing letters and who cannot.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 cover the sending of email marketing. This legislation says that organisations must only send marketing emails to individuals if you have agreed to receive them, except where there is a clearly defined customer relationship.

Clearly if you've not signed up for communications from third parties via your web host then you should not be receiving these emails. You should certainly investigate whether your web host sells your email address to third parties or whether they have your consent on record relating to communication from third parties.

If you've made sure that this has not happened, then you can assume such emails to be spam from scammers (i.e. they are not observing the regulations relating to internet marketing and selling services via the internet).

It has a section on What can I do if I’m getting unwanted marketing emails? which contains two reporting buttons. I suggest you bookmark the page if you live in the UK and want to help stop spam from scammers.

Interestingly they also say on the same page that they operate arrangements with international agencies to exchange information. So although they can only operate in respect of organisations which are based in the UK that doesn't stop them sending on information to other countries.

What this website is less helpful about is recognising that much of such spam emanates from websites which don't exist!

Did you find this helpful?

I hope you found this helpful.

If you'd like to receive blog posts from this website in future you can sign up for Subscribe to Art Business Info. for Artists - NEWS by Email and receive every post via email.

Please note

your subscription is only activated and you will only receive an email AFTER you verify the link in the email you will receive. This is the protection for you which means people can't insert your email into subscriptions without your consent.
if you do NOT activate it then I periodically delete such subscriptions.
In addition there is always an UNSUBSCRIBE button in every email if you don't want to receive emails any more - and you should always use the unsubscribe button if you've changed your mind about a subscription and NOT the spam button!

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Don't be conned by SEO companies!

3/2/2017

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I regularly get approaches from people representing SEO companies who promise that they can help improve the performance of my website.

I normally send them straight to the spam folder. However they're sneaky and use forms on your website.

This is one such - which came in via a form response on Art Business Info for Artists this morning

Name
Alan Sehwag
Email
alan@ngrwebteam.com

Comment
Hi there,

I recently spent some time doing a site review of www.artbusinessinfo.com. (Yes, I do random site reviews for a living.)

Based on what I saw,there are a few things you could implement pretty quickly that would help boost your Google rankings, traffic, social media & conversion. I noticed, few technical errors that are effecting your website’s performance too.

We'll start counting & will keep fixing all bugs, provide you a clean safe website.We are also into website design, development and can redesign your website.

Not sure what your initiatives are in this area, but is this something that’s on your radar?

Alan.
(323) 617-3981

This is the reply I've just sent to Alan.

Dear Alan

I'm assuming this is for free and that your pricing page http://www.ngrwebteam.com/seo-pricing didn't just slip your mind - or the Federal Regulations relating to spamming people who have not given their consent to be approached? You sure you don't want me to remind you?

I also do reviews of those that say they help artists. I'll be sure to remember the name of your company.

Regards
Katherine

Katherine Tyrrell
Making A Mark on Art

Making A Mark is a top art blog - #3 in the UK and #7 in the world
c. 3.8 million+ visitors and 10.5 million+ pageviews and counting.....
Follow Making A Mark on Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Amazon
My Book on Facebook: Katherine Tyrrell: 365 Tips for Drawing and Sketching
Website: Art Business - for Artists + Blog + Facebook Page
Website: Botanical Art & Artists + Blog + Facebook Page

If you get approaches like this:

You shouldn't be. This is spam. It also breaches the rules of marketing online.
They typically all say the same generic things irrespective of what the issues are with your website. That's because they are selling their services to make money for themselves.
They typically haven't got a clue about the target market for your website. They are selling cookie cutter solutions - not something specific to marketing art by artists.
Check the website to find the pricing page. Alan forgot to mention that help from his company STARTS at $400 per month! The more difficult it is to find the pricing the more suspicious you should get. That includes any omission to mention prices in any approach to you.

The enormous prices for services from NGR

You most certainly don't need to be spending a lot of money. Most artists simply don't need help from professional companies if they are prepared to learn the basics for themselves. It's not difficult.

Personally I'd recommend avoiding SEO companies who in my book are the equivalent of snake oil salesmen!

Try and see how far you can get on your own through studying the basics of what helps with marketing your art online. Unless you've got a BIG pot of money to sink into creating a brand and marketing it and expert who gets results for ARTISTS!

One simple way to improve your website performance

I've always found the Google Webmaster Guidelines is a good place to start because you need to ensure your website is compliant with Google if you are to get a good ranking and turn up in search enquiries.

Work your way through these before you ever contemplate looking around for more help.

What's your best tip for fellow artists?

Please share your best tip for improving the performance of your website.

Mine relates to being very careful how you title pages and construct URLs for individual pages on your website.

be aware of the keywords associated with search queries
be very accurate as to content (Google likes this!)
try not to be the same as everybody else!

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How to share your Facebook Page in a Facebook Group

22/12/2015

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If you have ever found it difficult to share your Facebook Page try this work around.

Go to your personal account (i.e. it's ESSENTIAL that all actions are performed while you are in your personal account - the image for your personal account must stay in the top menu line all the way through this process)
Put the name of your page in the search box - and select/click it when it comes up. This takes you to your page but as a visitor from your account rather than as the owner (Below I'm searching for my Facebook Page 'Making A Mark' from my personal Facebook account)

Select your Facebook Page from the search results

Next click the three dots to the right of 'message'. This generates the drop down menu. Go down the list until you find "Share" and select/click this option (below I've shown the drop down menu below the three dots)

When you click on share a menu popup box opens up and shows you your options for the different places you can share your Facebook Page (subject to the limitations created by your target). Hence you can share on your own timeline (e.g. announcing the creation of your page) or you can share in a group or on another Page you manage

If you want to share in a Facebook Group you first need to identify the name of the group next to where it says 'Group Name'. This assumes you have first checked the rules of the group to see if it is OK to share. Do NOT assume it's OK as sharing without permission might get you expelled from a group!
Next write a message about why your are sharing - for example, in an Introduction thread where people are allowed to post their Facebook Pages say who you are, what you do and how long you have had your Facebook Page. Then publish the post - and that's it!

The same process also applies if you are posting:

on your own timeline
on a Friend's Timeline
or on another Page you Manage.

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<<Previous

Art Business Info: NEWS

ICO's Draft Code of Practice for Direct Marketing

What is direct marketing?

Who needs to know what to do

Consultation: direct marketing-draft code of practice

TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

How to report a spam email address

Characteristics of spam from a scammer

How to check if it's spam from a scammer

How to report spam from a scammer

Did you find this helpful?

Don't be conned by SEO companies!

One simple way to improve your website performance

What's your best tip for fellow artists?

How to share your Facebook Page in a Facebook Group

Art Business Info. News for Artists

Visitors so far

Author

Archives

Categories

Art Business Info: NEWS

ICO's Draft Code of Practice for Direct Marketing

What is direct marketing?​

​Who needs to know what to do​

Consultation: direct marketing-draft code of practice

TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

How to report a spam email address

Characteristics of spam from a scammer​

How to check if it's spam from a scammer​

How to report spam from a scammer​

Did you find this helpful?

Don't be conned by SEO companies!

One simple way to improve your website performance

What's your best tip for fellow artists?

How to share your Facebook Page in a Facebook Group

Art Business Info. News for Artists

Visitors so far

Author

Archives

Categories

What is direct marketing?

Who needs to know what to do

Characteristics of spam from a scammer

How to check if it's spam from a scammer

How to report spam from a scammer