Everything you want to know about UK business data and how to use it on your direct marketing campaigns to find new leads and sales in just 3 minutes

There are three general types of UK business data (B2B) data and they can be split into the following categories:

Contact data

Containing the contact details of companies who have already bought from you together with the decision maker names (your “customer purchases” database)

Contact data of decision makers

From companies who have been in touch with you but who haven’t become customers yet (also known as your “prospects”), and every other company.

The value of this information

Your customer data

The business data of the greatest value is that of your clients.

This is because the cost of selling to them is five times less than finding brand new customers.

Because of this fact, you should keep in touch with your existing customers at least once a month.

Send email newsletters and make a follow-up telephone call.

Don’t let them forget you or think about going somewhere else for the products and services you sell.

Existing clients will always be your most productive and highest-generating source of leads.

If you ever come to sell your company this is your most valuable non-physical asset. Buyers will want to know about your existing customer database more than any other. The better you keep it and use it, the more you’ll sell your company for.

Your database of prospects

Of the next highest value are your prospects. Your prospects already know about your company and its products and services.

Just as with your customer database, stay in regular touch with your prospects either by email marketing or telemarketing.

If you work your database of prospects right, you’ll make a lot of sales from them.

Everyone else

This is the great unknown as this is where the opportunity lies to insert yourself into a supply chain currently occupied by your competitors.

The number of clients you have on your customer database and prospects database is dwarfed compared with the number of potential customers waiting for you to contact them.

So, how do you find them?

Getting to know everyone else on UK business data lists

In the UK, business data is either sold by list owners or by list brokers.

More Than Words definition – list owners compile B2B data lists. List brokers are expert intermediaries with access to hundreds of databases owned by multiple owners.

Each business is contacted by a list owner. This is so they can record detailed information on companies and the people with the purchasing authority.

More Than Words note – examples of information collected on decision makers includes direct contact email address, job title, telephone number, postal address, and so on. Examples of information collected on companies include line of business (see here for descriptives, A-Z, and SIC codes for the hundreds of classifications used), number of employees, turnover size, and so on.

This B2B data is gathered so that companies like yours can use the data for direct marketing. Products and services can then be aimed at specific decision makers (DMs).

More Than Words definition – B2B direct marketing is a form of marketing where you:

• choose who you market to by selecting your targets from a list of specifications,
• when you market to them, and
• how you market to them.

More Than Words note – other than their name, B2B data researchers collect information on purchasing responsibility. In addition to senior contacts, other data collected on those with differing purchasing responsibility include:

• engineering,
• facilities management,
• finance,
• fleet,
• health and safety,
• human resources,
• marketing,
• operations (including business processes),
• general procurement,
• sales, and
• telecoms.

The three most popular methods of B2B direct marketing are via email marketing campaigns, telemarketing, or postal marketing.

How do you choose who you get in touch with?

Get in touch with the UK business data owner or broker you want to work with.

Discuss your products and services and which companies you normally sell them to. Using the details you’ve provided them, they’ll select the target companies and DMs based upon your specifications.

It’s your job then to inspect the count they present you with. If you feel that they have included business categories of little or no interest to you, ask them to remove them from the data.

Once you have agreed on the exact type of business you’re targeting, you then select the number of companies they have with a validated email, telephone number, or postal address depending on the types of marketing you wish to carry out.

B2B direct marketing results

While no UK B2B data owner or broker can guarantee a successful marketing campaign, there are plenty of verifiable, third-party statistics demonstrating the success of  direct marketing.

Research carried out in the UK has indicated the following level of average success:

• Email marketing – an average return of at least £42 worth of turnover for every £1 spent, according to the UK Data and Marketing Association (DMA).
• Telephone marketing – telemarketing generates £11 worth of turnover for every £1 spent on it, according to the DMA.
• Postal marketing – postal marketing achieves a response rate of 4.4% (DMA)

Business access to direct marketing services

Not all businesses have the staff, experience, or infrastructure to promote a product or service they want to sell with a B2B email database, B2B telemarketing data, or a business to business mailing list they purchase.

Many list owners and brokers, including More Than Words, offer the businesses they work with the option of:

• outsourced B2B email marketing campaigns, and
• outsourced B2B telemarketing campaigns.

Business data health check

When marketing to business owners, you need to ensure that data records under go a regular data health check.

When you purchase from an established B2B data list owner or broker, each business record will be updated on a regular cycle.

In addition, your owner or broker will ensure that the business data they supply you with is fully compliant with all applicable data protection laws including GDPR and PECR.