No matter which side of the fence you were on last year, Brexit is
happening. So, what does this mean for your business and its marketing?

Following the 2016 EU referendum, the country remains split almost down the middle as to whether Brexit is ultimately going to be a good or a bad thing for the country. At the final count, 51.9% of people voted in favour of ‘Leave’ but many of the winning campaign’s voters were not expecting such an immediate impact on the British economy.

Some of the primary concerns for UK businesses are EU regulations and currency valuation. How will they change and how will any new arrangements work out in our favour? Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer and in this blog post, we’re going to look at how the Brexit result has and how it may affect your business’ marketing efforts.

However, with Britain’s official exit from the European Union potentially taking years to legally go through, marketers should try to look at the positives!

New Consumer Regulation

Different regulatory systems could present further barriers to trade and the UK government will need to decide how closely to match existing EU laws in these areas with any new proposed legislation.

Ensuring that you’re complying with all relevant data protection laws is imperative, especially if your business operates in more than one country. One of the main concerns for digital marketers is what Brexit will mean for the UK’s part in the EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations), which are set to come into force in April 2018. This law will govern how businesses in the EU manage, protect and administer data in the future.

We now know that Brexit will in no way impact the GDPR and that the GDPR will not apply to the United Kingdom. We already currently operate under the UK Data Privacy Act 1998 and we are set to continue to do so unless we decide to make any changes to it in the future. It is also probable that the UK government will update the act to align with the GDPR in the future; although we can’t say for sure. However, until the UK has officially left the European Union, nothing has changed.

Currency valuation

The value of the pound is always fluctuating, so nobody can say with any certainty exactly what effect Brexit will have in the long term. Initially, the shock Brexit result had a massive negative impact on the valuation of the pound sterling against the dollar and the Euro. However, as time has passed, there have been definite signs of improvement.

Perhaps the biggest concern for digital marketers is the potential rise in costs for services which are billed in dollars, of which there are quite a few! Amazon Web Services, Hootsuite, Buffer, MailChimp and many more besides are all billed in dollars, and in the current circumstance, all we can do is hope that the pound begins to settle against the dollar and returns to its pre-referendum level.

On a more positive slant, UK companies which offer their products and services to overseas markets may now find themselves to be a more appealing choice to foreign customers. Businesses should definitely look to make the most of the current publicity around the price differences in their marketing communications!

Access to talent and funding

By signalling the UK’s withdrawal from the principle of free movement of workers, Brexit could make it more difficult for brands to recruit talent from EU countries. Britain’s marketing, technology and creative industries are highly diverse and multinational, so restrictions on EU immigration would affect the recruitment practices of many businesses.

What does the future hold post-Brexit?

It’s definitely a case of watch this space! Now that Article 50 has been triggered, for the next two years the UK will work out a deal for leaving the EU. This process is set to be lengthy and complicated, so for the time being, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Get in touch to find out more

For more information about how your business may be affected by Brexit and how Voodoo Agency can help you with your marketing, please call Simon on 07966 396 306 or send him an email at simon@voodooagency.com.