Privacy policy.
The Marketing Pod Ltd will ensure the protection of all data held within the business in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR rules, established in 2018. The company is registered with the ICO and provides at least 12-monthly training for its employees on their obligations.
The Marketing Pod usually processes, rather than controls, its clients data. Should that position change, it will prompt a policy review.
It’s vital that an agency, such as The Marketing Pod is fully compliant with data protection and compliance laws. Not only do these affect our legal standing, they also affect our reputation and, potentially, the reputation of our clients in the event that data is mismanaged. As such, we take our responsibilities very seriously.
Scope
The Marketing Pod typically works with B2B organisations, and therefore the data we manage is typically business rather than personal data. However, we believe in adopting best practice protocols throughout.
Inclusions:
Client, stakeholder and prospect data held within The Marketing Pod’s systems
Any data that we process on behalf of clients
Our commitment
To comply with both the law and good practice
To respect individuals’ rights
To be open and honest with individuals whose data is held
To provide regular training and support for staff who handle personal data, so that they can act confidently and consistently
To notify the Information Commissioner voluntarily where we believe it is appropriate, even if this is not required
Key risks
It’s important to identify potential risks in managing data, as this forms the basis of our information management practices.
Identified risks are as follows:
Personal information getting into the wrong hands, through poor security or inappropriate disclosure of information
Individuals being harmed through data being inaccurate or insufficient
To help mitigate these factors, we have robust security measures in place both in terms of system certification, malware protection, staff training and carefully managed access.
For more information see our Information Security Policy.
Responsibilities
Directors have overall responsibility for ensuring that The Marketing Pod complies with its legal obligations.
Head of Digital Is responsible for: reviewing risks; taking mitigating actions where potential risks are identified; advising staff on best practice; approving any new or unusual arrangements concerning data management with our clients; notifying any instances of breach.
Each member of The Marketing Pod’s team is responsible for understanding the company’s obligations and following operational procedures (including induction and training) to ensure that good Data Protection practice is established and followed. In particular, the following roles must take direct responsibility for ensuring they remain up-to-date:
Client Director/ management roles, where staff are working directly with clients and making decisions around campaigns and data management
Digital roles, which are more likely to be managing digital campaigns involving data
Working from home/ off-site
Where employees are working with The Marketing Pod’s data - or their clients data - away from the main office, the same protocols and security settings remain. Whether employees are working from home or at a client’s site, data is only accessed via The Marketing Pod’s G suite platform.
Staff must never save data to their desktops or a drive outside of The Marketing Pod’s G Suite drives when working elsewhere, to avoid risk of security breach.
Staff must take particular care when working away from the office to avoid data becoming visible to others on-screen. This includes taking precautions to position the screen away from others, or using a screen mask.
Data recording and storage
Solicited communication - all recipients of communication from The Marketing Pod or its clients must have the ability to unsubscribe if they desire.
Data retention and update - The Marketing Pod’s data is reviewed regularly and updated/ discarded where appropriate.
Subject access
Where a subject requests access to their data from The Marketing Pod, this will be provided within 30 days.
Subject access requests must be in writing. Staff are responsible for passing on anything which might be a subject access request to the digital team without delay.
Where the subject is not known personally by the person receiving the subject access request, additional identity checks must be taken before handing over any information.
Subjects have the opportunity to opt out of their data being used. Consent can be withdrawn, but not retrospectively.
Privacy
This governs the manner in which The Marketing Pod collects, uses, maintains and discloses information collected from users of the www.themarketingpod.co.uk website. It applies to the Site and all products and services offered by The Marketing Pod.
Personal identification information
We may collect personal identification information from Users in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our site, fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site or on our social media platforms. Users may be asked for, as appropriate, name, email address, phone number. Users may, however, visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personal identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain activities.
Non-personal identification information
We may collect non-personal identification information about Users whenever they interact with our Site. Non-personal identification information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about Users’ means of connection to our Site, such as the operating system and the Internet service providers utilised, and other similar information.
Web browser cookies
Our Site may use "cookies" to enhance User experience. Users’ web browsers place cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. The User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert them when cookies are being sent.
Find out more about how we use cookies:
How we use collected information
The Marketing Pod may collect and use Users’ personal information for the following purposes:
To improve customer service - information provided helps us respond to customer service requests and support User needs more efficiently.
To send periodic emails - we may use the email address to respond to their enquiries, questions, and/or other requests.
How we protect information
We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of personal information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Site.
Sharing personal information
We do not sell, trade, or rent Users’ personal identification information to others. We may share generic, aggregated demographic information - not linked to any personal identification information - regarding visitors and users with our business partners, trusted affiliates and advertisers, for the purposes outlined above.