If you saw any of the Christmas films over the festive period almost certainly there would have been snow. It’s a strange thing that our perception of the perfect Christmas still includes something which very rarely – if ever – happens. And all because it was very cold over Christmas’s in the Victorian era when many of our traditions became fixed in the public psyche.

Funnily enough this year we did have snow on the Mendips the day after Boxing Day which we enjoyed hugely – but not on Christmas Day itself.

In business there are similar assumptions which lead us to see the world, not as it is, but how it might have been only a few years ago.

We still believe that we are in control of the image our business has in the market place. If our website is great, and we have marketing colleral which is well thought through, we can make sure the world sees us as we would like. But of course this is a complete fallacy. In a world dominated by social media where anyone can write anything they like about us it is very easy for us to lose track of our public image. All we can do is try to give the best service we can, in a way which engages our customers in as positive way possible. Hopefully this will encourage them to give us great referrals that they make public.

This year with the advent of GDPR we will have to make changes to how we hold information about third parties and how we use that information to market our services. We will have to make sure we get people’s explicit consent to send them items such as the newsletter you are now reading. It will no longer be acceptable to assume consent because a tick box has NOT been ticked.

The changes come into effect on 25th May so make sure you are up to date on how they might effect your organisation.

Fiona:)