UK Business Lists (B2B)

With so many data providers out there, how do you know which business database is right for you?  At WhichList2 we have decades of experience as business data brokers and relationships with most of the UK business database owners.   It is this long experience that sets WhichList2 apart from most list providers with a good amount of our clients being other companies in the list industry who know that we can find the data they need quickly and at a competitive price.

Some of the ways we help you find the best business marketing lists for you are:

What Are Your Objectives

Knowing what you are trying to achieve in your marketing may sound obvious, but it is something that will dictate what it is you need.  For instance:

If you are looking to create leads and increase sales, it would most likely be better to get a smaller number of very specific records, based on your ideal customers and including information such as business contact in a specific job role, personal business email address, even the software they use, essentially any information that will help you to best prepare your sales team to provide them most appropriate information and sell the most profitable prospects.

If you are looking to increase your brand or awareness, you will probably be looking for larger volumes with more general information, to ensure the maximum exposure to relevant prospects.

Who Are Your Ideal Prospects

Having defined your objective, now is the time to define who it is that you really want to target.  Our b2b data allow for great flexibility, but you knowing who your ideal customer is, is something you know best.  Starting with this information helps us in identifying the most appropriate business database, increasing your chances of  achieving your desired goals.

Our business lists include all of the various channels of communication allowing you to make contact by post, telephone & email.  The most common selections available include line of business, of which we have over 2,000 industries that can be chosen from, geography, which can be as specific a chosen postcode or radius’s to counties and regions, and company size, which allows you to target businesses that are most suited to your product or service.

What is Your Budget

Knowing how much you are budgeting for your marketing campaign is not only important to be help gauge the final success of the campaign but it could dictate which business list you should opt for.  Very specific data costs more, though if you are running a direct mail or telemarketing campaign it will most likely be the smallest percentage of the overall budget.  It is important to consider that it is worth not scrimping on cheaper data as the wrong business database could result in the failure of your marketing before it even has even started.

What is Your Timeline

We live in a time when everything is electronic and information can be accessed almost immediately,  but allowing time to identify your objective, the right criteria, and in-turn the ideal business list for your marketing campaign will eliminate costly mistakes & ensure your understand what you are getting.

Which Communication Channel Are You Going To Use

Deciding how you are going to communicate with your new prospects will change the dynamics of your campaign.  Marketing to your prospects using multiple channels will increase response rates, and help reduce the feeling of over communication when only connecting by one channel.

A tried and tested approach starts with email marketing, due to it’s exceptional benefits of getting out your marketing message quickly and cheaply.  By communicating first with email and then following up prospects who have opened or clicked on your email with direct mail or telemarketing, you can focus your efforts on only the most receptive prospects.

How Many Times Do You Want To Use The List

Business Lists are generally not sold for outright purchase but on a rental licence that allow you to use the data a designated number of times.  The two most common options are:

• Single use rental which allows you to use each communication channel supplied one time i.e. when renting data with a postal address and email address you can email the database once and mail out to the database once.
• 12 months multiple use which allows the database to be used up to 12 times within a 12 month period.

So what is a “use”?  For postal and email data, a use is simply the act of either sending a single item of mail or email.  Telephone data is slightly different as a “use” is defined as actually making contact via a phone call, so you can keep trying to call the number until you make contact with the specified contact.

An important point to remember is that regardless of which channel is used, if a prospect express a positive interest that record is now yours to keep (within the rules set out in the GDPR).  If however at any point regardless of licence a prospect request not to be contact any more, this must be honoured.

What Do You Want From The Data (Quantity, Quality, Price etc.)

All business databases have their own advantages and disadvantages and knowing what your priorities are when it comes to choosing a list will help to identify the correct list for you.

Some databases are built to be a comprehensive list of businesses in the UK, however the very nature of a database of this size often means that it cannot offer the highly targeted elements such as type of software used, specific contacts and job role, size of car fleet etc.  Other niche lists are much smaller, and considerably more expensive, but they can provide data insights that would otherwise be very hard to acquire without a considerable amount of time and money manually contacting and researching each business.

Finding the right list for you is a balancing act, and something you will have to address before you can finally acquire the database that will provide you the greatest success.

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