Health trust fined for abandoning personal records

When will organisations ever learn?

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined a Primary Care Trust £100,000 (of our tax payers money!) after the organisation abandoned a large number of patient records when moving premises.

The now dissolved health trust left over 1000 documents behind at their old offices. These files included work diaries, letters, referral forms and patient records containing personal information. Some of the documents contained sensitive personal data, including details of miscarriages, child protection issues and, in one case, a police report relating to the death of a child.

The ICO have repeatedly warned organisations about their duty of care regarding historical paper records, however, two organisation have still been fined for leaving large volumes of personal information behind when leaving a site in the last year.

With businesses changing hands and being merged into other companies, there is always a risk that some important information is left vulnerable, however every organisation, no matter how small, should have someone responsible for protecting their data and it's about time that business owners took this matter seriously.

Image courtesy of ScottChan / Freedigitalimages.net

Hack of Medical Surgery's email account exposes patient details

A medical practice in Co Armagh has signed an undertaking with the UK regulator to improve how it looks after patients’ information following a data security breach.

The data breach happened when the free web-based email account used by medical centre used to inform patients of upcoming smear test appointments was hacked.

The practice only became aware of the problem when patients reported receiving strange emails claiming to be from a doctor at the surgery, asking them to provide their bank account details.

Although in this instance no sensitive information was accessed by the hackers on the email account, the account included the email addresses of approximately 175 of the practice’s patients which is in itself a serious breach of confidentiality.

Beware New EU directives if you keep your data in the cloud

Beware new EU Directives if you keep personal data in the cloud. In a recent EU Parliament report it has been recommended that EU businesses should not be allowed to use existing mechanisms for protecting personal data when sent outside the EU in relation to cloud computing services. 

According to the report, businesses should be prevented from using model contract clauses and binding corporate rules (BCRs) as mechanisms for processing personal data in the cloud because those arrangements do not prohibit US law enforcement bodies from gaining access to that information. 

The report, which was ordered by the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), asks that existing derogations are disapplied for the cloud, and requests that the EU  "open new negotiations with the US for recognition of a human right to privacy which grants Europeans equal protections in US courts." 

This report will add pressure to EU-based organisations to use cloud services which are based in Europe as opposed to the US or elsewhere in the world, regardless of cost efficiencies and market competitiveness.

If you have concerns about Data Protection and CRM systems within your organisation, contact Nicki Bury at Haybury Marketing on 028 95818989 or email info@hayburymarketing.com

The Truth behind Email Marketing

The Truth behind Email Marketing

By Nicki Bury – Haybury Marketing

Many business owners are, perhaps for the first time, taking a serious look at their future instead of just focusing on the here and now and doing what they have always done – many are literally in survival mode. 

I'm constantly asked about the real value of email marketing. There are so many pluses and minuses on how to successfully use email and which technology to use that I've put together a guide on successful emailing which is my gift to you….just read on to find out how to get your copy.

Where email marketing scores well for a small business is:

1) It's very cheap to send emails.
2) The software available is fantastic to measure and track all activity the email generates.
Indeed you can track and measure who opened the email, when and what they clicked on both within the email, what articles they read and who went onto the website.
The most sophisticated Software now allows you to link with your Google analytics so for the first time you can see what specific affect your email campaign has had in driving people to the site and what they did when they were there.
3) It's instant - You can agree the content and send it out immediately (Beware - this can be a really bad thing too if a campaign is ill thought out!)
4) The best email solutions now ask you to check the email against a spam filter so you stand the best (although not guaranteed) chance of getting your email to the recipient.

Where email falls down is that:

1) The content rather than the software is sub-standard. Uninvited, boring and irrelevant content which does not interest or add value to the reader is purely spam!
2) Email marketing is unfortunately badly abused which means that most people don't take notice of emails from a sender they don't know.
3) It is therefore hard to build trust or credibility with one email - your one chance before they unsubscribe!
4) It can be easy to misinterpret a message through just words.
5) Most businesses don't have an ethical data capture strategy within their business. They ignore all the customers and prospects who really want to hear from them and simply use out-of-date databases that they have managed to get from somewhere.
6) Business owners don’t understand the concept of Permission Marketing. This is the way marketing is going, driven by legislation and culture and it is essential that all small businesses look at this now.

How you can get your copy of the Golden Rules to Email Marketing

Personally, I see email marketing as a gift to small businesses. We can seriously punch above our weight and present our best image directly to our customer, but we need to think seriously about what we say, how we say it, when we send it and who we send it to.

I have developed some golden rules that I get all my clients to follow that help you achieve results through your email marketing. If you would like to receive a PDF of the Golden Rules to Email Marketing, simply click here. 

No catches - just my gift to you.

Until then...Happy emailing
Best wishes
Nicki

www.hayburymarketing.com
Small Business Email Marketing Software - www.easyemailer.co.uk
Professional Marketing Speaker www.nickibury.com

Nicki Bury from Haybury Marketing, based in Belfast, specialises in helping small and medium sized businesses and organisations to effectively market themselves. To find out how to extend the marketing your business without wasting a fortune, visit www.hayburymarketing.com,  call 028 95 818 989 or email info@hayburymarketing.com

Image Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/Freedigitalimages.net

Is your data poisioning your business?

Is your data poisioning your business?

The Direct Marketing Commission (DMC) Annual Report 2011/12 showed that in the year 2011/ 2012 more than three-quarters of the complaints they received were related to data, privacy and quality.

Most of us believe that Business to Consumer (B2C) marketers are mostly to blame for this, but the truth is that many Business to Business (B2B) marketers are just as guilty.

Although this is not proven scientifically, based upon the evidence of the data I have processed over the past 6 months, I believe that over 90% of B2B data held by small companies is unacceptably inaccurate.

What I mean by “unacceptably inaccurate” is that there is more than 20% of their database (often their customer database) that has the wrong company name or contact information, wrong address, wrong telephone number, the organisation is no longer in business, details such as contact information, phone number, address etc are missing. I haven’t even mentioned email addresses yet…

Commercial B2B databases consider that 6% is the maximum reasonable level of returns/goneaways for their data. This dirty data threshold not surprisingly rises to 25% bounce backs being acceptable when email addresses are involved. 

The truth is that most small businesses are not even meeting these figures on their client data, let alone any prospect data they may have.

Why is this toxic for your small business?

1. Using 'dirty' data to prospect for new business is like taking poison and wondering why you never get better. Prospecting is key to the survival of business in this day and age. Your largest customer could fail tomorrow and there is never a guarantee of payment from even your best customer. So we all need to prospect for new customers to spread our business risk but we're all guilty of using what ever data we can. 
2. If you never communicate with your existing customers (which are proven to be your best prospect base), they'll never know what else they can buy from you.
3. You can and will waste up to 50% of the costs on your next direct mail from mail that is not deliverable. If like many small businesses you choose the Quantity of data over the Quality, you're taking an unnecessary gamble? 
4. You start the downward spiral of disillusionment with marketing when you don’t get any response to your mass mailings and continue to do what you have always done.

5 ways to avoid your data becoming Toxic

1.  Build one single face of the customer that everyone in your organisation uses. Accounts, sales, production, credit control, marketing, customer relations etc. These days it is essential that you
2. Gain permission! Just because you have someones email address does not mean that you can contact them. Permission marketing is an increasingly important factor with all data. People want to have the choice how to hear from you and even whether they hear from you in the future.
3. On a monthly basis take 10% of your database and call the contact you have listed. Check all their details are correct and update any new details.
4. Keep adding new data to your database: Every month look at your top 10 most profitable customers that month and find their main five competitors. Add their details to your prospect database - gaining their permission first of course!
5. 10 before 10 on a daily basis. Phil Heskith talks about calling 10 customers before 10 am. I love this idea for there is no better way to keep in touch with your customers and what their needs are. Plus if someone has moved on then you can update your database quickly.

Nicki Bury from Haybury Marketing is an expert in Business to Business Direct marketing. If you would like some advice on data and how to manage permissions within your business or to undertake an audit on the quality of your data, email info@hayburymarketing.com or visit www.hayburymarketing.com

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Shut up and Listen!

Absolutely love this video. There are so many learnings for any business leader...

DETOX YOUR MARKETING! Stop fishing – Start Hunting!

DETOX YOUR MARKETING! Stop fishing – Start Hunting!

Prospecting is key to the survival of business in this day and age. With Pattons fresh in our minds, it is a reality that for any business their largest customer could fail tomorrow and there is never a guarantee of payment from even your best customer. So we all need to prospect for new customers to spread our business risk.

Great you say. Let’s send some emails…

STOP! The time has come to Stop Fishing and Start Hunting!

1)      STOP FISHING!

Firstly google is filled with information about business tools designed to help the small business owner to market themselves very cost effectively.

Unfortunately, it is not the tool that creates the success. It is the strategy! Sadly this is where business owners fail miserably.

Many abuse free tools such as email marketing and scattergun their marketing messages far and wide, waiting for someone to bite. My issue with email is that we have become too passive. We send out emails and social media messages and expect the business to flood in with people knocking our down to get our special offer, to enter our competition or to ‘Like’ our facebook page. Unfortunately, business is not a popularity contest and popularity does not pay the bills.

This is not marketing this is fishing!

2)      START HUNTING


Any one can write an email and send it out to hundreds of people. The skill is writing an email, letter, postcard etc that is relevant to the person receiving it. You need to use your hunter skills to track that person or small group of targets down.

The advanced version of the art of targeting is to not only to send it to the person who is interested, but also at the TIME when  they’re interested.  More about “triggers” in the next article.

Detox your database and focus on a specific sector/niche that you KNOW you can help.

3)      UNDERSTAND YOUR PROSPECTS’ PAIN

You need to understand what problem you are resolving for your prospect. One solution does not fit all problems, so unless your prospective client can identify why your product/service can help, they may not understand what your solution is and why it is relevant to them.

When you understand their pain, tell them how you know. Then tell them clearly how you’re going to take the pain away and finally, don’t forget to tell them what they need to do to start the process off using a strong call to action. Often this will include an offer but scarcity can work just was well.

4)      FOLLOW UP

We have all become lazy. We expect one email or letter to generate business.  B2B marketing is about building a relationship along the path of three phases:  Know, Like and Trust.

• First the prospect needs to know you to consider you
• Secondly the prospect needs to like what they see of you
• Thirdly they need to trust that your business is the partner to solve their issue

Was a single email or letter ever going to achieve all that? Even with an excellent offer and call to action?

It takes skill, patience and a good list to target a sector or niche and turn your database into sales. Follow these four steps and see how this will make a massive difference to your success rates!


Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net