An expert opinion on effective B2B databases
Enhancement & Appending
It’s time for the big push on that new product or solution, the one the CEO has personally been championing. Everything’s in place, the contents done, the infographics look amazing but what about the mailing list? The one you used 2 years ago will be fine… wont it?
The fact is that it probably won’t and rushing out to buy a new database is not necessarily the answer. But sending to a poor quality, outdated or badly targeted mailing list is also a waste of both your time and money. A far quicker and more cost effective way could be to enhance your current database.
How do you want your data to work for you?
We’d all like to think we’ve got a healthy, well maintained database, however the harsh reality is that unless you’ve had a dedicated resource looking after it full time - it probably won’t meet your needs all the time.
How well do you know your database? For example you may have a large database bursting with prospects but can you segment them by job function, sector, number of employees or turnover? This can be crucial in an age when people receive dozens of sales emails or phone calls every day. Meaning you need to ensure that the message you are sending is specific to the prospect. But tailoring your messages can be very difficult if you don’t have all the information you need about the prospect.
You may already have 75% of the information you require and all you need is the final crucial piece of the puzzle, such as the number of employees the company has, to make the campaign work.
Choose the correct data provider
If you don’t have a full time resource to look after your database choosing a dependable data partner or agency is essential. A good data partner will assess your database and help you decide when to enhance what you have and when it’s best to cut your losses and buy new data.
It may be easier said than done but try not to focus on the financial aspects of fixing up a database. Remember, especially for telemarketing and postal campaigns, that the cost of postage or time spent on the phone to the wrong contact will be greater than enhancing that contact now.
There are hundreds of data providers out there who can help you, all of them promising the world so how do you choose who to work with? Make sure you do your research and give a prospective provider as many details as possible. Explain to them the problem you are trying to solve and listen to the solution they suggest. A sign of a good provider is that they will ask you for more detail and make suggestions on how to maximize your potential data pool.
Test and evaluate
The first stage of the enhancement process is to match your existing data against the provider’s data. Some providers may charge for this service, so it’s always worth checking before you send your file for matching. Don’t expect a 100% match rate however; a good range to aim for is between 60-80%. It is important to check that the provider can get you the specific enhancements you require for the matched data e.g. turnover or SIC Code; after all its no good matching 80% of your data only to find the provider doesn’t have SIC codes for all that data.
Often different providers will have better coverage in different areas so always get counts from multiple vendors before you commit or find a data broker you can trust to do that job for you.
A word of caution only send your data to a data provider for appending if you are certain they can be trusted and always ask for a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Fueling Insight
Just by adding a few fields to your existing database you will be amazed by the insight this will provide into your customer and prospect base. By adding the right fields you could get a better understanding of your core sectors and where there could be potential for growth in the future. Using your own data as evidence you could assess what type of companies provide the largest orders and what type of companies may not be worth pursuing.
With the ever increasing demand from the top to show tangible ROI for all aspects of business, the more data and insight you can provide into the benefits of effective marketing campaigns the better. We explore this further in our guide 'The essential guide to boosting your marketing with optimised data'.
