As a distributor, protecting your client list is crucial. So, what happens if your competitor asks chatGPT for potential client ideas and your client list is floating around in its pool of data? Not to mention what would happen if your client’s competitor got ahold of behind-the-scenes insights into your client’s next campaign. And that’s not even taking into account what criminal actors like scammers might use that data for.
As AI reshapes how distributors run their business, it’s critical to understand how to protect sensitive data when using generative tools. We’ll break down what promo companies need to know about data privacy in the age of AI—and how to stay compliant as technology evolves.
Why Data Privacy Matters for the Promotional Products Industry
The promo industry deals with more personal and brand-sensitive data than many people realize. This includes:
- Artwork, logos, and trademarks
- Customer or employee names for personalization
- Shipping addresses
- Event and program details
- Client purchase history and preferences
- Internal brand guidelines
If you feed any of that data into a free or unsecured AI tool, it’s likely that data will be stored in some form or another. That doesn’t mean private client information will definitely show up in other users' prompts, but it has happened before. Weirdly enough, researchers were able to get chatGPT to spit out sensitive training data like names and addresses by asking it to repeat the word “poem” forever. Once you feed your data into a large language model, you lose control and risk exposing it.
If promo companies don’t follow proper privacy practices, they risk:
- Violating customer contracts
- Exposing confidential brand assets
- Breaking global privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA, etc.)
- Damaging long-standing client relationships
- Introducing legal liabilities
AI isn’t inherently unsafe but using it without a privacy framework is.
How Promo Companies Can Stay Compliant
Choose AI Tools With Strong Privacy Protections
If you can, upgrade to a business-grade version of the AI platform you’re using. You’ll often have more control over how your data is used. Not only does that mean that you’ll be able to keep your data from leaking, so to speak, to users outside your organization, but it means that users within your organization benefit from each other’s prompts as the model learns your company’s voice, industry, and audience.
Use Client Pseudonyms
Not all businesses can afford to upgrade to an enterprise AI solution, but luckily, there’s a simple fix: Replace company names and the names of individuals with a generic placeholder like “Client A” or “Jane Doe.” Then once you’re ready to use the content you generated, you can do a find and replace search with the actual information.
This approach won’t work with generative image tools, but you might consider using your AI tool to come up with the general image and add any necessary personalization to the image in canva or another design tool.
Research the Tools You Use
Check the privacy policies of the tools you use to better understand how they store your data and what safety measures are in place. Some tools like chatGPT may have an optional setting you can turn on to ensure the model won’t be trained on your prompts.
Create an Internal AI Usage Policy
Your policy should cover:
- Which AI tools employees may (and may not) use
- What types of client data are allowed in AI systems
- How to treat artwork, trademarks, and confidential documents
- What requires client approval before being used in AI workflows
The Bottom Line: AI Success Starts With Trust
AI has the power to reshape our industry with tools that reduce admin work, automate creative tasks, and provide smarter product recommendations. But none of those benefits matter if clients don’t trust how their data is handled.
Companies that take privacy seriously will build stronger client relationships, protect themselves from competitors and criminal scammers, and avoid legal risks. The companies that win with AI will not just be the ones who use it—they will be the ones who use it responsibly.