Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Advantage Digital Marketing Pty Ltd (we, us, our), trading as Advantage Digital, operates the website at advantagedigitalmarketing.com.au and provides design, development, integration, and AI automation services to clients in Australia and internationally. We are based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.

We are committed to handling personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), and, where applicable to our work for international clients, the EU and UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. Scope of this policy

This policy covers personal information we collect:

• through this website — including form submissions, calendar bookings, and emails to addresses on our domain;
• through direct interactions — such as scoping calls, project meetings, written correspondence, and on-site visits;
• during the delivery of an engagement — for example, where we are given access to your systems or data to build, integrate, or maintain something for you.

Where we process personal information on behalf of a client (for example, when building or operating a system that handles the client’s end-user data), we do so as a service provider under the client’s instructions and the client’s own privacy policy applies to those end users. Our handling of that data is governed by the relevant engagement contract.

3. What we collect

We aim to collect only what we genuinely need. In practice, that means:

• Identification and contact details — name, email address, phone number (if provided), business name, and role.
• Project details — information you choose to share about your business, goals, current systems, and budget while we work out whether we’re a fit.
• Engagement records — emails, meeting notes, proposals, contracts, invoices, and other records relating to a quoted or active engagement.
• System access details — where required for an engagement, credentials or access tokens for systems we are working on (handled under separate confidentiality and security arrangements set out in the engagement contract).
• Technical information — IP address, approximate location (country/region), device type, browser, referring page, and pages viewed. Captured at an aggregate level for analytics.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive information (as defined in the Privacy Act — for example, health, racial, political, or religious information) unless it is directly relevant to a specific engagement and you provide it to us with consent.

4. How we collect it

We collect personal information directly from you when you:

• submit the contact form or any form on this website;
• book a call through our embedded calendar;
• email or message us;
• meet with us in person, on a video call, or by phone;
• sign or accept a proposal or engagement contract;
• provide us with access to systems we’re engaged to work on.

We may occasionally collect publicly available information from sources like company websites, LinkedIn, or business registers when researching a prospective client — only to the extent reasonably necessary to prepare for our interactions with you.

5. How we use it

We use your personal information to:

• respond to enquiries and schedule conversations;
• prepare proposals, quotes, and engagement contracts;
• deliver the Services agreed in a contract;
• issue invoices and manage payments;
• maintain a working record of an engagement and provide ongoing support;
• improve this website and our services in aggregate;
• send occasional newsletter content — only with your explicit consent and only with a working unsubscribe link;
• meet our legal, regulatory, accounting, and tax obligations.

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We do not use your information for third-party advertising and we do not use your information to train any third-party AI model.

6. Legal basis

Under Australian law, we collect and use personal information where:

• we have your consent (for example, when you submit an enquiry or subscribe to our newsletter);
• we need it to perform a contract with you or take steps at your request before entering into one;
• we have a legitimate business interest that is consistent with how we operate (for example, keeping records of past engagements);
• we are required or permitted to do so by law.

For clients or prospects in the EU or UK, the equivalent GDPR lawful bases apply (consent, contract, legitimate interests, legal obligation).

7. Service providers we use

We use a small number of trusted service providers to operate this website and run our business. Where these providers process personal information on our behalf, they do so under written agreements requiring them to keep that information confidential and to use it only for the purpose we engage them for.

• Hosting & DNS — the website is hosted on a reputable Australian or US hosting provider and served through a global CDN.
• Email — transactional email (form notifications, contract delivery) is sent through Resend; day-to-day correspondence is via our own email infrastructure.
• Calendar bookings — scheduling is handled by TidyCal; their own privacy policy applies to the booking flow itself.
• Analytics — site analytics is provided by Google Analytics 4, with IP addresses anonymised by default and ad-personalisation features disabled. See section 10 for detail.
• Accounting & invoicing — we use a recognised Australian accounting platform for invoicing, billing, and statutory record-keeping.
• Project & document storage — engagement documents, designs, code, and project notes are stored in encrypted form on services with strong security postures (for example, GitHub for code, an established cloud productivity suite for documents).

We periodically review the providers we use to make sure they continue to meet an acceptable privacy and security bar.

8. International data transfers

Some of the providers above store data outside Australia — typically the United States or the European Union. By submitting information through this website or engaging us, you consent to your information being processed in those locations.

Where we transfer personal information outside Australia, we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient handles the information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles, either by way of contractual commitments, jurisdictional protections (for example, GDPR-compliant providers), or both.

For our overseas clients (UK, EU, South Africa), we are willing to enter into standard contractual clauses or equivalent transfer mechanisms as part of the engagement contract on request.

9. Cookies & tracking

This website uses the minimum cookies and local storage required for it to function and to measure aggregate site usage. We do not use advertising cookies, behavioural retargeting pixels, or cross-site tracking. We do not sell your data, and we do not share it with advertising networks.

The cookies that may be set on your device when you visit are:

• Google Analytics cookies (_ga, _ga_*) — used to distinguish unique visitors and measure aggregate site usage. Set under the .advantagedigitalmarketing.com.au domain. See section 10.
• TidyCal session cookies — set only when you open the booking widget on /start-a-project/booking, and only by TidyCal under their own privacy policy. Used to manage the booking flow.

You can block or clear these cookies at any time using your browser settings, or use an extension such as the official Google Analytics Opt-out browser add-on to opt out of GA tracking site-wide.

10. Analytics

We use Google Analytics 4 to measure aggregate usage of this site — page views, traffic sources, approximate country/region, device category, and which calls-to-action are used. We use this to understand which content is useful and to improve the site over time.

Google Analytics is configured with privacy-protective defaults:

• IP addresses are anonymised before storage (GA4 does this by default and we have not enabled raw IP collection);
• Google Signals and ad-personalisation features are not enabled, so the data is not used to build advertising audiences;
• data retention is set to the minimum supported window (currently 2 months for event-level data);
• we do not connect Google Analytics to any advertising platform.

Google may process this data outside Australia (typically the United States or European Union). Google’s handling of analytics data is governed by their own privacy policy and the Google Ads Data Processing Terms. You can opt out of being measured by Google Analytics on any site by installing the official opt-out browser add-on.

We also receive aggregate metadata about emails sent through Resend (delivery, bounce, open) when we email you in the course of an engagement. We do not combine this with website analytics.

11. Marketing communications

We may, from time to time and only with your express consent, send you occasional newsletter content covering the kind of work we do, articles we’ve published, and updates about our services. Every newsletter contains a working unsubscribe link. You can also opt out at any time by emailing hello@advantagedigitalmarketing.com.au. We honour unsubscribe requests within seven (7) days.

We do not send unsolicited bulk marketing email to anyone we have not had a prior business relationship with, in line with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

12. Storage & security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. In practice that includes:

• strong unique passwords and multi-factor authentication on accounts that hold personal information;
• encryption in transit (TLS) for all access to this website and to our cloud services;
• encryption at rest provided by the underlying cloud platforms;
• limiting access to personal information to those who need it for a specific purpose;
• secure handling and rotation of credentials given to us during an engagement, with deletion at the end of the engagement;
• periodic review of our providers and our own security posture.

No system is perfectly secure, but we treat any incident or near-miss as something to learn from and improve on.

13. How long we keep information

• Enquiry and prospect information — up to 24 months from last contact, after which we delete or de-identify it unless an engagement has commenced.
• Engagement records — for the duration of the engagement and for at least seven (7) years afterward, in line with Australian record-keeping obligations for tax, accounting, and contractual matters.
• Newsletter subscribers — until you unsubscribe, after which your email is removed from active sending and retained only as a suppression record so we don’t accidentally re-contact you.
• Analytics — aggregate, non-identifying usage statistics are retained indefinitely.

14. Your rights

You have the right to:

• request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• request correction of personal information that is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, or misleading;
• request deletion of personal information that we no longer need or are not required to retain;
• withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent;
• opt out of marketing communications at any time;
• complain to us, and to the regulator, if you believe we’ve mishandled your information.

For requests under the GDPR (data portability, restriction of processing, objection to processing) we will assess and respond consistently with that framework.

Send any request to hello@advantagedigitalmarketing.com.au. We aim to respond within five (5) business days and will action reasonable requests within thirty (30) days. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request to access or delete information.

15. Data breach response

We have an internal procedure for assessing and responding to suspected data breaches. Where we identify an eligible data breach under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme (Part IIIC of the Privacy Act), we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as soon as practicable, and within the timeframes required by law. For breaches affecting EU/UK individuals, we apply the equivalent GDPR notification timeframes.

16. Children

This website and our services are aimed at businesses and professional stakeholders. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us and we will delete it.

17. Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The version published on this page is always the current version, and the “Last updated” date at the top reflects the date of the most recent change. Material changes will be communicated to anyone with an active engagement or newsletter subscription.

18. Contact & complaints

For privacy questions, requests, or complaints:

• Email: hello@advantagedigitalmarketing.com.au
• Address: Advantage Digital Marketing Pty Ltd, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

We take privacy concerns seriously and aim to resolve them directly. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a privacy matter, you can lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

• Website: oaic.gov.au
• Phone: 1300 363 992

This policy is written in plain English for readability. It is not a substitute for legal advice. If you require advice on how this policy applies to your specific situation, please consult a qualified Australian legal practitioner.