How do I build a marketing list for businesses?

Q2 of 2020 is almost here and your marketing plan is still in development.  Don’t worry it is NEVER too late to start; you just have to start someplace.

Most clients will call me and say “I want to target ALL of the businesses in my area”.  I almost always find their idea of ALL businesses and ALL businesses on a B2B file will vary by quite a bit.  So, how do we start?

Here are some starter questions when I am talking with a new client:-

Business files are categorized by SIC (Standardized Industrial Code).  Major categories are Agricultural, Construction, Manufacturing, Wholesale, Retail, Services, Government, etc.  These are further refined to let us target very specifically.

– While most clients will say ALL businesses, most want me to omit:
1. Religious organizations (churches, temples, synagogues, etc.),
2. Educational (K-12 schools, higher education or even vocational),
3. Government organizations (city hall, mayor’s office, police station, etc.) when they say all businesses.

– What size of company?  Most clients want a size restriction such as <50 employees or 10+ employees.

– What about branch locations?  Or do you want just single location businesses?

– How are you planning to reach out to this audience?  E.g. Postal, phone, face to face, email, display? Multiple channels are better than one by itself.

– Are you looking for a particular title?  E.g. President, owner, CFO, CEO, etc.

Once we have these basics figured out we can get more detailed, but this will get you a long ways toward getting your marketing started.

Happy Hunting!


Greg Good
www.nSightful.com