WINTER IS COMING: 5 Things SMART Marketers Are Doing RIGHT NOW To Prepare For The Big Changes Likely Coming Down From Regulators

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It may be a blazing hot summer right now, but the winter of marketing discontent is just around the corner.  And the wise and prudent business owner is always scanning the distant horizon for the coming storm.

While the foolish tend to stay flat footed and deny that change is coming right up until they are swept away, SMART companies are always ready to make adjustments.

I will be deep diving into the MASSIVE regulatory changes coming out of the FCC and FTC in a few weeks at contact.io–incredibly excited for that show–but in the meantime here are five things SMART marketers are doing RIGHT NOW to prepare for the coming storm:

1. Stopping Prerecorded Marketing Calls on Purchased Leads 

When the FTC makes a straightforward statement–such as “[a] business can’t send you robocalls if they got your contact information from someone else” you have to take notice. Yes, it was *cough* informal guidance provided over a social media post, but it also represents a clear change in the approach being applied by the primary regulator governing the content and method of telemarketing in this nation.

Smart companies can detect the proverbial hand writing on the wall and adjust. Even if the FTC’s action is not yet actually the law, the Commission has plainly called its shot and prudent companies will take the FTC at its word and stop using prerecorded calls for marketing purposes in connection with purchased leads.

For more on this important topic check out this INCREDIBLE FREE webinar breaking it down:

For more CRITICAL content be sure to follow our INCREDIBLE YouTube channel! 

2. Looking For Better Ways to Drive Traffic to First-Party Sites

While the FTC’s guidance is limited to prerecorded marketing calls, a parallel NPRM proceeding before the FCC may expand the reach of the FTC’s new “direct consent” rule to other channels, including text messages and even manual calls to numbers on the DNC.

While plenty of folks are still in denial, smart businesses are already preparing for a new potential lead generation paradigm and looking to position themselves to drive traffic with smart media buys and engaging–lawful–content.

There may still be room for affiliate in the post-NPRM world, but they will no longer drive consents on third-party forms or via transfers. Those days may be gone very soon. And even companies that are not sure which way the wind might be blowing need to have multiple strategies in place to make sure TRUE first party consent is something they can deliver.

3. Cleaning Up Misleading or Deceptive Pieces of Their Funnel 

Beyond shutting down lead sales, the FTC is hyper-focused on assuring the consumer has a transparent path to obtain information or goods and services without being tricked into providing unnecessary information or consent. While a business is still free to collect and share data–assuming its privacy policies are up to date and not misleading–the days of duping consumers into less friendly paths, or trapping or tricking consumers into providing consent or information, are over.

While most legitimate businesses will avoid these tactics anyway, there has been a real “race to the bottom” apparent in the digital marketing world for a few years now where everyone tested just how much they could get away with. Mercifully, this trend now seems to be reversed as lead buyers–pushed on by initiatives like R.E.A.C.H.–have engaged in a flight to quality and smart digital and performance marketers are cleaning up their act in response.

4. Preparing to Charge (and Pay) More For Leads

The pricing consequence of all the regulatory changes we are seeing in the ecosystem have not yet hit, but they will–and soon.

Smart lead buyers and sellers will know it is coming. Smart lead buyers will adjust and recognize that CPA may stay the same (or even improve) with better leads, even if the cost of leads as a unit will now increase. And smart lead sellers–who are complying with industry-best practices and staying ahead of the curve–should NOT be shy about charging more for compliant leads.

If the lead is cheap, the buyer needs to wonder why. And a seller should not be shy about explaining why an expensive lead is expensive– fraud detection, third-party witness verification, and legal reviews for compliance are NECESSARY but also EXPENSIVE. And that’s a cost that should ultimate be passed on to the lead buyer. Lead sellers should be honest and transparent about this.

5. Gathering As Much Information As Possible–From TRUSTED Sources

As with any paradigm shift, there will always be inertia but the OPPORTUNITY is in being proactive as conditions start to shift. To make the most of this opportunity SMART businesses are starving for actionable information and devouring it.

TCPAWorld.com–probably the most trusted marketing law blog on the planet–has seen a massive spike in readership this year, and that is no coincidence. The more things change the more reliance on trusted advice increases.

But a blog– no matter how incredible–is no substitute for the professional advice provided by consultants and lawyers. Smart businesses are hiring KNOWLEDGABLE folks with PROVEN track records of success to help provide actionable guidance.

Ultimately nothing is more valuable in an environment like this one than information, knowledge, and JUDGMENT.

The Czar is always here to chat.

 

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Published by Eric J. Troutman

The Czar of TCPAWorld Eric Troutman is one of the country’s prominent class action defense lawyers and is nationally recognized in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) litigation and compliance. He has served as lead defense counsel in more than 70 national TCPA class actions and has litigated nearly a thousand individual TCPA cases in his role as national strategic litigation counsel for major banks and finance companies. He also helps industry participants build TCPA-compliant processes, policies, and systems. Eric has built a national litigation practice based upon deep experience, rigorous analysis and extraordinary responsiveness. Eric and his team feel equally at home litigating multibillion dollar telecommunications class actions in federal court as they do developing and executing national litigation strategies for institutions facing an onslaught of individual TCPA matters. They thrive in each of these roles – delivering consistently excellent results – while never losing sight of the client experience. While many firms now tout TCPA expertise, Eric has been there from the beginning. He built one of the country’s first TCPA-only defense teams and began serving as national TCPA counsel for his clients nearly a decade ago. This perspective allows him to swiftly develop the right litigation strategies for dealing with recurring problems, without wasting time on tactics that are bound to fail. Eric’s rich historical perspective and encyclopedic knowledge of the TCPA landscape also make him an invaluable resource to institutional compliance teams struggling to comply with the shifting regulatory landscape. No task is too small – or too big. Indeed, Eric and his team have helped build TCPA-compliant systems and processes for some of the largest and most complex corporate entities in the country. He commonly works with in-house compliance counsel to build and implement enterprise and business-line specific TCPA solutions, performs TCPA audits and drafts and reviews proposed TCPA policies and procedures. He and his team also have the technical expertise necessary to assist call centers seeking to develop TCPA-resistant call path architecture or to modify existing telephony and software integration to better insulate from potential TCPA exposure. Eric has built a reputation for thought leadership. An avid blogger and speaker, he has been at the forefront of the industry’s effort to push for clarity and a return to sanity for the TCPA for years. He was selected to advocate for the financial services industry on important TCPA issues before the Federal Communications Commission and co-authored the nation’s only comprehensive practice guide on TCPA defense. In his spare time, Eric leads defense teams representing banks and other financial services companies in consumer finance litigation matters. He has experience representing clients in UCC, TILA, RESPA FCRA, CCRA, CLRA, FDCPA, RFDCPA and FCCPA claims, as well as in fraud and bank operations issues.

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