Privacy Policy

Cookies, GDPR and data protection

I know you’re concerned about privacy and keeping your data safe. So here’s the lowdown on how this website keeps your details to itself. 

FYI, I’m talking about myself in the first person — as I do throughout this website — because I am a one-woman business. But the legal entity this information refers to is my business, Word Service Marketing Communications Limited. It just feels a bit disingenuous to say ‘we’, because there’s only ‘me’ (unless you count the dog and cat).

What data I collect, and why

Personal data

The only personal information I collect via this website is from the contact form which includes

This is only used to get in touch with you to handle your enquiry, and to connect with you as our business relationship develops.

If you download my free press releases guide, your data will be added to my mailing list. This is currently held on MailChimp, which is GDPR-compliant (Here’s its privacy policy). It will only be used to send you occasional emails about my services or other stuff I think you’d find interesting. 

You will be asked to confirm you’re OK with this before you’re added to the list and you will be free to unsubscribe at any time (as soon as you’ve downloaded the guide, if you wish – but imagine what you could be missing!)

I’ll never share your personal data with third parties unless required by law (for example, if HMRC requested an audit). I’ll ask you first if you’re happy for this to happen, though. 

I keep a record of any e-mails we exchange, so I can track any problems or concerns you’ve had. Your data will be stored on my email software and, if you become a client, it will also be stored on my cloud accounting system (also GDPR-compliant) and on MailChimp. 

I store data for as long as projects are in progress and you remain an active client. Email addresses in MailChimp are stored until consent is withdrawn. Information for tax and legal purposes is held for seven years, as the law requires.

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that a website like mine will store on your hard drive and sometimes use to track information about you, like what language you prefer to use when browsing the web. 

Cookies can’t be used to track any personal information, passwords or credit card details.  

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but if you’d rather they didn’t, you can change your browser settings to prevent this. It will mean your online browsing won’t be as convenient: your browser won’t remember the URLs of the sites you visit frequently or store your login information, so you’ll have to remember it for every site.  And any ads and offers you see online won’t be as relevant to you as they would otherwise be. 

Analytics

This website also uses Google Analytics so I can work out what pages are popular, and with what sort of visitor. This helps me improve the site and make it more appealing for you. 

Google Analytics stores usage data which may include your IP address, location, referral source (for example if you landed here via an online link), how long you stayed and which pages you looked at – although a lot of this is aggregated data, so I won’t be able to personally identify you. 

Please don’t supply anyone else’s personal data, unless required by law or you have their explicit consent to do so.

Legal basis for processing data

Word Service Marketing Communications Ltd is a data processor registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), reference number ZA567571. 

This means that any data I process complies with the UK GDPR requirements, in line with the accountability principle. 

The legal basis for processing your data will be any of the following:

Security of your data

You recognise that the Internet is not a 100% secure platform for communication and so the security of data shared via the internet can’t be guaranteed. Word Service Marketing Communications is not responsible for any damages which you, or others, may suffer as a result of the loss of confidentiality of such information.

However, I take every precaution to safeguard your information. All personal data is kept stored on a server in a secure environment. The devices I work on are password protected.  Data held in the cloud is password protected and held on encrypted systems, and third-party software has its own security systems. 

Your rights 

You have the right to:

To exercise any of your rights, contact me at [email protected] or write to Word Service Marketing Communications, 46 Witton Street, Stourbridge DY8 3YE, UK. 

Updates to this policy

Any future updates to my privacy policy will be made on this page, so please come back to check at any time. 

Last updated: March 2021.