B2B interactions can be extremely complex. To satisfy your clients, your business needs access to specific information that tells you more about the people working at the enterprise and gives you an insight into the buying habits of the company.
More specifically, during B2B interactions, you do not only need to sell your products and services to a company’s rep but also make sure that your solution addresses the company’s needs specifically. Personalization is key, and finding reliable firmographic sources can help your company thrive in the competitive business landscape.
What is firmographic data?
Similar to demographics data that refer to people, firmographics data are information related to the organization in its entirety. This type of information may have different data points, allowing you to understand how your products and services may be relevant and useful for a specific enterprise.
Some examples of firmographic data include:
- Industry and company size;
- Annual revenue and expenditure;
- Company’s growth;
- Funding stages;
- Market trends and market position;
- Ownership.
This is similar to demographic data that categorizes individuals in different groups according to age, occupation, gender identity, location, or average income. Both types of data are used by companies to target their market, obtain an insight into market trends, and successfully sell their products and services.
Also, if you currently use demographics data to understand your key customers, you can enrich your insights with firmographic data. For instance, if one of your clients is a company mainly staffed by millennials, you need to adjust your marketing efforts to capture both people’s interests and the company’s needs.
Firmographic data sources
Fortunately, most firmographic data sources for business are public. In other words, you can easily find them online. The main sources include:
- Company websites
- Company’s social media profiles
- Company registers
- Job websites
- Tax declarations
All companies must publicly display firmographics data when they are registered. Some basic information include company size, country of operation, address, and annual revenue. However, using online channels to source firmographics data can be extremely time-consuming.
For instance, you can find valuable firmographic data on social media platforms, but you need to search for it manually, which requires time and money if you have an in-house data-sourcing team. Because of this, many companies opt for data providers to collect and present all of this firmographic data in an easy-to-understand format.
Next, there are three main types of firmographics data based on the source. These are discussed below.
Self-reported data
Self-reported data refers to information you can find on company websites, company registers, and other online sources. It is typically collected via web scraping. This is the easiest way to collect basic firmographics data, such as company size, industry, and annual revenue. However, unless enriched with more detailed insights, this information may not be very useful.
Derived data
Derived data refers to data you extract from additional sources. For instance, checking a company’s LinkedIn profile may provide a better insight into the business. Other sources include job websites and reports. These sources help you reveal the broader context, but they may not be highly accurate; their reliability depends on how you collect and analyze the data.
Verified data
Finally, verified data sources include data providers like Coresignal, private databases, or directly calling the companies to obtain verified data. This source is highly accurate, as it often goes through different steps of verification. Another advantage is that, in case of using a data provider, you can rest assured that your data are recent, timely, and you have much quicker access to them compared to the manual collection.
How to use firmographic data
Firmographic data is key when you segment your market. It helps you create relevant, personalized marketing campaigns for current and potential clients. Also, knowing more about the company helps you understand how the company may best use your product or service, and what pain points your offering soothes.
Next, you will be able to understand how much the company may spend annually on products or services similar to yours, so you can find and focus on quality targets, improve lead priority, and create successful, accurate marketing strategies for different business types.
Firmographic data is the first step in understanding each company’s needs. There are no two identical people or companies; this type of information helps you understand what makes each client unique and how to help them thrive. Other use cases for firmographics data include:
- Creating personalized marketing strategies to improve customer retention and conversion;
- Personalize your interactions with your clients;
- Establish and sustain long-term, trust-based relationships with your clients;
- Understand your clients and optimize your efforts to maximize satisfaction.
Summary
Firmographic data are a key advantage to companies. They are used to enrich other data insights to create personalized marketing strategies, address clients’ pain points, and improve profitability. Integrating high-quality, reliable firmographics data in your processes helps you understand your customers and fine-tune your competitive advantages.
