25 April 2023

How to stay GDPR compliant with Roxhill

No one likes receiving spam emails; thanks to GDPR, we all have the right to opt out of these unwanted emails. Anyone sending a business email must now prove it is of legitimate interest to their recipient.

In the media world, where journalists’ interests are constantly changing, determining what stories are of legitimate interest can be quite challenging. 

Journalists change beat all the time meaning your media lists quickly become outdated. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips on how to use Roxhill to ensure your lists stay relevant.

1. Keep your media lists small 

Smaller, niche-focused, targeted lists are much easier to track, adapt, maintain, and keep relevant.

2. Know who's on your list 

Checking their Roxhill profiles. It’s so easy to add lots of journalists to your list that, on the surface, may seem relevant. 

Looking at individual journalist profiles takes time but allows you to get to know journalists, ensuring you add the right contacts to your list.

Journalists can tell which PR’s have taken their time and done their research, so they know which emails are worth looking at. 

3. Using Twitter 

Twitter is a great way to discover a journalist’s interests. However, journalists tweet about a lot of things they find interesting but do not write articles on.

Roxhill’s Twitter Keyword Search filters and profiles help you verify what’s important to each journalist BEFORE adding them to your media list.

Take the time to check if their tweets match their profile topics, sectors or recently written related articles and tailor your pitch. 

4. Limit your range of topics and sectors

Whilst building a list with journalists from multiple sectors may seem like a great way to increase your coverage, it is unlikely that journalists from such a broad range of sectors would be interested in the same press release. 

Under GDPR this approach is considered an ‘excessive manner’, and you may find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

5. Narrow down your location

Is every story global? If you want your story to hit the right audiences, always refine your search by location so you can approach the right markets with the right story at the time.

Roxhill's Pitching Guide on:

GDPR & The PR Industry

Discover what every PR needs to know about staying GDPR compliant.

As PRs, we should all be aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect in May 2018. However, the guidance around GDPR can often be confusing, so we’ve read through the jargon to clarify the key areas you need to focus on to stay compliant.

Need a few more examples? Here's how not to approach GDPR.

Scenario 1

You are about to launch a revolutionary skincare product, so you whip up a quick media list tagging journalists from the beauty sector. Your new product also features a few advancements in skincare routines, so you throw in a few technology journalists to bump up the numbers.

By doing so, your press release goes out to journalists covering healthcare, wellness activities such as spa breaks and fintech. It is unlikely that journalists from these sectors will be interested in this release.

Sending out unsolicited bulk emails to such a varied group of journalists is not Legitimate Interest. It is spam. These journalists will have no interest in skincare products even if they’ve written the odd beauty article before. Unless a journalist is listed specifically as a beauty writer, it’s best to leave them out of your beauty list.

Top tip: Where possible, narrow down your search and always validate each journalist by reviewing their Roxhill profile; this will help you avoid unnecessary or accidental spamming.

Scenario 2 

As a luxury travel PR it may seem perfectly reasonable to create a media list using the sector or topic ‘luxury lifestyle’ to target luxury writers with your next story. However, such a board term will also include journalists with an interest in luxury fashion, cars, watches, property etc., across the globe.

Creating a large media list with a broad range of journalists’ contacts for a niche product will be considered an ‘excessive manner’ under GDPR guidelines.

Top tip: Do your due diligence and validate each journalist on your list by reviewing their Roxhill profile BEFORE adding them to your media list.

Scenario 3

You’ve got an interesting story covering the UK economy, you decide to create a media list based on an ‘all UK’ country search to capture as many UK journalists as possible. 

In doing so you create a large media list containing journalists from Computer Weekly, a banking reporter for Bloomberg, a showbiz journalist at the Straits Times, various journalists from Women’s lifestyle magazines. 

It is unlikely that journalists from such a broad range of sectors would be interested in the same release. Therefore, your list will not fall under Legitimate Interest and will be considered an ‘excessive manner’ under GDPR guidelines.

Top tip: Narrow down your country search and include other attributes such as sector or topic to build a more tailored list.

Roxhill's Pitching Guide on:

GDPR & The PR Industry

Discover what every PR needs to know about staying GDPR compliant.

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Roxhill's Pitching Guide on:

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25 April 2023

How to stay GDPR compliant with Roxhill

No one likes receiving spam emails; thanks to GDPR, we all have the right to opt out of these unwanted emails. Anyone sending a business email must now prove it is of legitimate interest to their recipient.

1. Keep your media lists small

2. Know who's on your list

3. Using Twitter