B2B Data Lists

Business To Business Data serves as the hub of most of our marketing campaigns. Get this right and your marketing ROI will flourish as you'll have an audience of only companies you want to do business with.

What is B2B data?

Simply put, Business to Business (B2B) Data is relevant business and contact information of a given company. It's primary used to fuel marketing and lead generation campaigns. The better the quality (accuracy & how recently it was confirmed) the better your results will be.

The information contained in a typical B2B list would include general company contact details like the switchboard number, address and general email (enquiries@). Then any senior decision maker contact details like full name, job title, email and direct dial if available. Then there's information available from Companies house like the associated SIC codes used to categorise the company (e.g. SIC code 7379 is typically used by IT Support Companies), any financial information such as their recently filed turnover, established date, number of employees (per site or nationally) and anything else available

The good news is with this information, you can see it's quite easy to hone in on very specific types of companies. Be aware though every time you add another layer of criteria, the amount of available data will shrink and it's no good starting a campaign with 12 target companies. Albeit they might be the first ones to receive a call/ email.

B2B data sources

There are two groups of B2B data: internal data and third-party external data. The internal data is data of contacts you have collected yourselves. This could be from the business card fish-bowl at an exhibition, from subscribers on your website, contacts you've added to a CRM from Linkedin or any other area.

If your internal data is up to date and they're engaging regularly, this is considered excellent data and invaluable to any sales and marketing campaigns.

Most people we work with don't have a goldmine sat there of very warm, ready prospects. So they either require a refresh of their old data before a campaign starts (are they still actively trading, checking each contact is still at the business, the contact details are correct or if anyone new has taken the position) or there isn't anything worth starting with so it makes more sense to purchase a brand new list of contacts that meet your specific requirements from a third-party external data provider.

"You can buy a list of contacts,
but you have to earn a client."

Martin Dugan

UK B2B Data Providers

There are a growing number of data providers offering a variety of plans to use the data they have procured. Firstly, there are a few types of B2B data provider:

Data Vendor

They are the creators of the data, and are on the phones making millions of calls per year speaking to the contacts in their database ensuring accuracy by confirming the contact details are correct and explaining the purpose for holding their information (to comply with the UK GDPR legislation).

Typically you'll only be able to access 'senior decision makers' within the dataset. Such as Managing Director or C-Suite contacts. Market location is a good example. When you buy from Data Vendors you know you're essentially going to the source, it's unquestionably GDPR compliant and as it's very up to date, there is considerable peace of mind knowing the contacts are absolutely fine to introduce yourself to.

Data is usually on a 12 month licence and within that, you are able to contact 12 times (or once every month from a marketing point of view, then unlimited if they engage and want to use your services).

Date Broker

Taking the created data potentially from a number of vendors, Data brokers can offer quite specific contact information that a single vendor may not be able to. They may also have a workforce who are appending the data for a niche industry. For example they may be able to offer you the Head of Procurement contact details for all the catering companies around the UK.

Databroker is a good example here. Similar to vendors, the data purchased from a broker will be for 12 months and perhaps have a few more rules on how to use the data but nothing that doesn't help maintain the quality of the data.

B2B Database Platforms

Most started as scraping tools, scouring the internet (LinkedIn & 'meet the team' pages) for all publicly available data. You could purchase this at very low prices. In addition to this there was the data they purchased from companies where we as individuals have knowingly or unknowingly clicked 'accept' on a website's terms & conditions and they now have permission to sell our data.

Times have moved on and now these platforms use very powerful methods to get as much data on business individuals as possible making them very interesting to Revenue Teams to help deliver business growth.

They typically offer only subscription options but you won't get many records for your money compared to purchasing a dedicated list from the above two options. The Data platforms are the most expensive ways to gain access to potential clients but used properly and being very targeted due to the depth and breadth of their databases, they can be perfect for an internal sales team.

A company like ZoomInfo are one of the most reputable that we know of.

B2B data use cases

B2B data plays a crucial role in how productive and successful a sales and marketing campaign can be. In addition to the obvious lead generation purposes, the data is also good for market research and direct outbound sales.

B2B Data for Outbound Lead Generation

The most common use of B2B data is for uncovering new potential sales. Thinking of B2B data as a haystack (and the more targeted the data the better quality of hay) and the potential opportunities within as needles. The goal of most sales & marketing campaigns and teams is to increase the number of opportunities uncovered and convert into appointments or sales. You'll find more needles when you start with better quality hay.

The data isn't static and throughout the course of any campaign, should be enriched with additional decision makers, any influencers in the buying process and potentially those who feel the pains but don't make the decisions (middle management usually) will make the data far more valuable to you.

As the foundation of utilising any marketing channels such as telemarketing or email campaigns, selecting the right type of data with the correct criteria and from the right source reduces the variables of how successful a campaign can be.

At Double Tap Marketing, we only work with the most reputable data vendors (and occasional broker if necessary) and we'll happily scrutinise data before purchase to ensure we are starting any campaign on the best foot forward.

That being said, it's never a perfect science and if a Limited company has registered on Companies House as something they either aren't, or are very tenously linked to, the odd anomaly will get in any data purchase.

Internal B2B Data for upsells

The most common use of internal B2B data is for uncovering new potential sales. Depending on the availability of data within a given organisation, is whether there is the possibility to track valuable insights from customer and sales pipeline behaviour to enhance the chance for upsells or cross sales.

An example of this would be a Software company utilising their technographic data (B2B data showing a company's entire technology stack, from hardware and infrastructure to SaaS solutions such as their CRM or even data platform) and changing their marketing approach according to those who are using x systems because they know y integrates better than z.

Benefits of B2B data

The first step in identifying, introducing, nurturing and creating a relationship with potential customers is utilising B2B data. From building decade long sales pipelines filled with rich & critical information to helping understand competitors activities better B2B data is a valuable asset in most competitive organisations.

B2B Data for sales teams

Dig deeper into potential clients. With enough data on potential clients, you can segment them into different categories and investigate them according to a set of criteria.

Improve product and industry knowledge. B2B data provides you with information about product sentiment directly from customers, which allows you to consider their feedback and make necessary product adjustments.

Ask more specific and tailored questions. Personalisation is a powerful tool that allows you to address prospects' needs or pain points specifically.

Better understand your clients' needs. By using B2B data, you can build a picture of your client and understand what they need, which will help you better prepare a sales pitch.

Identify key people and how to reach them. With B2B data, you can select only the people and companies that interest you and fit your ideal customer profile.

Enrich your existing data to make more accurate business decisions. Adding more relevant data to your existing data set enriches the data and makes it more actionable and accurate. This is only possible if the existing data is well-maintained and managed appropriately.

B2B Data for For marketing teams

Create an ideal customer profile. This is a description of your ideal customer, including their industry, size, location, pain points, and goals. Having this will help you focus your sales and marketing efforts on the people who are most likely to buy from you.

Increase demand generation. The data can help you identify the content that is most relevant to your target audience. By creating content that is relevant and valuable, you can increase demand for your products or services.

Enhance lead generation. B2B data can help you identify the people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. By targeting your marketing efforts to these people, you can increase your lead generation rate.

Make data-driven decisions. B2B data can help you make better decisions about your sales and marketing strategy. By analysing data, you can identify what is working and what is not. This information can help you improve your results and convert more.

Know your target audience better. B2B data can help you understand your target audience better. By understanding their needs, pain points, and goals, you can create content and marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with them.

How to choose B2B Data

Working with Double Tap Marketing means we'll help guide the whole process and make it as easy as possible. If you want to get more involved, then consider the possible options below to help hone down from the 'we can work with anyone' to 'let's start with this vertical and these types of companies within, and branch out after we've learnt from them'.

Criteria options

The further you go down the rabbit hole and adding filter after filter means potentially there won't be enough data available to accurately prove if your service is of interest to that category. However, by sticking to the main options you'll be able to have accurate data to then build out from. Which is smarter financially as well as utilising time better.

An example of just one of our Data vendors (who create the data so it's been 100% phone verified) has over 800k email addresses from over 2000 business sectors in the UK. You can drill down using employee numbers, SIC codes, Market sectors, radius from a postcode, established date, emails and types of email (removing generic domains like Hotmail or generic stems like info or sales etc, financial records or other attributes like if they are TPS/ CTPS flagged.

Our advise is to look at some of your favourite clients - what industry are they in, roughly how big are they and if you want more of them, what else would be nice to have but not compulsory. With that information we can work together and replicate them so you have a list of ideal potential clients to approach.

Buy it or build it?

Time and money answers this question. If you've got a good starting base of previous data but it's out of date/ unreliable, however you have very competent people in the team who can make the calls, document conversations and confirm the validity of the data then definitely keep in house. Also the software used and storage should also be considered.

If you have a good amount of old data (not previously purchased so it doesn't have an expired licence) but you don't have, or can't spare, the people to update it, then consider using a service to refresh the data rather than starting from scratch. Double Tap Marketing offer Data Refreshment services so by all means speak to us and we can help.

If you don't have a good amount of starting data you're happy with, then buy it. You're looking at around £250 - £350 per 1000 including direct email addresses if you're not buying in large quantities so hopefully that helps your decision.

Legal aspects of B2B Data in the UK

GDPR

The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government. From your hospital records to polling information to credit card info stored on your favourite retailer to personal and identifiable information from your first job, a lot of people have your information. The GDPR sets out very strict rules 'data protection principles' that all data controllers and processors must adhere to.

Discussing data in general, under the GDPR you can only contact someone/ use their information for six legal reasons:

Explicit consent has been given and you have a record of this.
Contractual purposes means you must contact the individual
Legal obligation as you must comply with the law
Vital interests to protect someone's life
Public task; for example, law enforcement may need to access data in order to prevent criminal activity.
Legitimate Business interest for yours, or a 3rd party's reasons (unless there is a good reason to protect the personal data which would override this).

For marketing purposes and B2B data, we use 1 Consent (opted in to an email, confirmed over the phone to market to) and 6 Legitimate Business Interest. If you are contacting a Limited Business (opposed to a Sole Trader or LLP who fall under different laws) then as long as you can prove there is a legitimate business reason you are contacting them, and how you have chosen to contact them, then you are fine to market to.

An example being you are an IT Support Provider, you have a list of 100 local Accountants who you want to market to. You have 12 accountants already on your books, it's fair to say you know accountants would 1, use your services and 2, expect to hear from an IT Support Provider/ MSP. The lawful reason for contacting a prospect in this list is covered under Legitimate Business Interest.

However, if you are a Commercial Premises Window cleaning company and have bought a list of 500,000 UK companies (probably in a 'deal too good to miss') and you just blanket marketed to everyone, sending emails every other day. All the Ice Cream vendors who are self employed have every right to say there is no foundation of Legitimate Business interest to contact them. And hopefully you'd agree.

If you have any doubts of if you should be contacting anyone in particular, then it's best to carry out an LIA - Legitimate Interest Assessment which will clearly confirm if you can, or cannot use Legitimate Interest as the lawful reason for processing their data.

At Double Tap Marketing, we create and assess companies who require a Legitimate Interest Assessment for both confirmation and peace of mind.

PECR

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations sits alongside the Data Protection Act and GDPR. Where GDPR are the regulations 'data controllers and processors' must adhere to, PECR lays out the specific rights people have in relation to electronic communications.

There are specific rules on:

marketing calls, emails, texts and faxes;
cookies (and similar technologies);
keeping communications services secure; and
customer privacy as regards traffic and location data, itemised billing, line identification, and directory listings.

How GDPR B2B Data should be used

In our humble opinion, only when discussing B2B data, GDPR is more about enforcing respect and common sense into the processes and the safe storage of data. There is a vast distinction between using and keeping personal and sensitive information compared to B2B data.

B2B data is mainly comprised of publicly available data like company info, mixed with more specific individuals within that company and how to contact them - and hopefully most of the time only whilst at work.

As a rule of thumb, if your ideal customers work in Limited Companies or the education sector and your service is clearly something they would use, then there is no reason you cannot start a marketing campaign to win new business.