The simplest firmographics definition is:
Information that can be used to classify an organisation.
Firmographic classifications are used to group and segment organisations based on common factors, like how many they people they employee, or how large their annual revenue is.
These classifications can include almost any data, including:
Industry sector
Website
Revenue
Location
Employees
Ownership
Growth trends
Any data point that can be used to classify an organisation can be classified as firmographic data. As DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) factors become an integral aspect of purchasing considerations, some organisations are also using them as a firmographic data point.
Firmographic data is vital because it helps to ensure you are targeting the right firms with the right message. This increased accuracy helps to reduce wasted effort and expenditure, maximising return on your investments.
Grouping organisations by sector in which they operate ensures that your messaging directly addresses issues faced by their industry. It also ensures that you do not waste resources promoting advanced manufacturing software to public libraries for instance.
The internet is composed of billions of webpages and finding the correct address can be time consuming and confusing. This is particularly true for businesses that operate multiple divisions or national subsidiaries. Accurate firmographic data ensures you always have a record of the correct website address.
If your product is aimed at multi-million dollar businesses, you do not want to waste time and effort trying to sell to SMEs. Using revenue data, you can segment your contacts database to target resources at the firms with sufficient financial resources. Similarly, you want to avoid entering into long-term partnerships with organisations that demonstrate revenue problems.
Knowing where a business is physically located allows you to better plan regional campaigns or to allocate accounts and support coverage.
Headcount data is another useful metric for determining whether an organisation falls into your target market.
Public limited company, limited liability partnership, privately owned, public sector, charity - determining organisation type will ensure you contact the businesses and bodies most likely to need your products and services.
Developing effective partnerships relies on understanding the current growth stage of a prospective partner. The risk of working with a new start-up may be unacceptable for a business that prefers to deal with well-established, stable enterprises. Using growth trends firmographic data allows you to identify where a business is in its growth cycle and make effective constructive decisions accordingly.
The better you understand your customer, the better you will be able to tailor your products, services and marketing messages to their needs. For B2C marketers, the ability to group prospects, leads and customers is vital. And at the individual level they rely on demographic data to do it.
Firmographic segmentation works on very similar principles, allowing for the creation of B2B segments. Marketers can use firmographic data to create a new campaign targeting businesses which employ more than 10,000 people in the manufacturing sector and are based in Germany. Or the product development team can create a market research group to help source feedback on their latest ideas, targeting companies that earn €20m+ revenue and which are based in France.
The more granular and accurate the data, the more effective your firmographic segmentation becomes.
Firmographics can be used in much the same way as demographics data. Some examples include:
Crafting a personalised marketing, contact, and sales conversion strategy and pathway for B2B leads and customers.
Personalising and improving your customer service interactions with target businesses, targeting their specific needs and pain points.
Develop long-term relationships with target businesses by understanding the issues they – and their industry - face.
Understanding your ideal client profile and developing optimised marketing campaigns to reach them.
Firmographics can also be used to enrich your existing data sets, allowing you to unlock additional value and insights. And with more data, you can become more creative in your analysis and application.
Sourcing your own accurate firmographic data is time consuming and labour-intensive. So choosing to work with a reputable firmographic data vendor can save you time and money, allowing you to focus on using the data, rather than finding it.
It is also worth noting that like Global Database, a good data vendor will routinely refresh and update their firmographic information. Partnering with one of these providers will ensure that your records are accurate, trustworthy and ready for any application.
Firmographic data vendors source information from a range of sources, such as annual reports, government registration databases and even corporate websites. Just make sure that any potential provider adheres to the applicable data protection laws (such as GDPR) in your territory before purchasing their data.
Your business may already have an extensive CRM database – but that information can always be enriched and improved. With firmographic data you can obtain additional insights and context about your contacts – and how best to reach them with your messaging.
To see how firmographics data can help your B2B marketing and sales processes – and to experience the Global Database difference for yourself – please contact us to arrange a free trial.
