More and more businesses understand that data-driven decisions can make the difference between success and failure. However, with so much data available, it is easy to get drowned and overwhelmed.
How do you assess which information is important, and which you can skip?
Firmographic data, for example, can be extremely beneficial to better optimize your B2B marketing strategy.
Let’s learn more about it.
What Is Firmographic Data?
Firmographic data, as the name suggests, focuses on firms, or companies. Its goal is to collect and analyze key information about their operations. This includes:
- Location. Where are the headquarters, how many offices does the company have?
- Size. How big is the organization, including staff size and office dimensions?
- Industry type. What industry(ies) is the company dealing in?
- Sales and revenue. How much does the company earn quarterly and annually?
- Ownership. Is it a public company or a private enterprise? It is a non-profit, NGO, or charity?
- Growth. Is the company growing, declining, or maintaining its market position?
Essentially, you have to find answers to questions, like:
- How many employees work in the company?
- What is the yearly revenue of the company?
- When was the company founded?
- What is the organizational structure of the company (flat, structured, etc.)?
- What percentage of the target market does the company have?
Using these data points, you can craft a more personalized and effective marketing campaign.
Where Do You Get Firmographic Data?
Firmographic data mainly comes from three sources:
Self-Reported Data
This type of data is publicly shared by companies. While it is a direct source of information, you need to consider potential corporate disguises or selective sharing of data.
Such info is usually shared in the form of:
- Press releases. Official statements made to the media about company announcements, product launches, or important events.
- Company websites. A lot of times, companies share information on their official websites. This includes team size, annual reports, and company history.
- Public financial disclosures. These reports are mandatory for publicly traded companies. They give a detailed view of the organization’s financial health, including revenue, profit margins, and more.
- Investor relations pages. These are special areas on companies’ websites for people who own shares or want to invest. Usually, you can find data about stock performance, future strategies, and market positioning.
Derived Firmographic Data
This consists of information from different third-party sources. Due to the fact that the data comes from multiple sources, it is more accurate and reliable.
The data comes from:
- News articles. Media coverage can provide a different perspective into a company’s potential challenges, performance, and events.
- Social media mentions. You can gain valuable insights from mentions on social media like Twitter (now X), Facebook, and LinkedIn.
- Industry publications. Specialized magazines and newspapers can give unique insights and interviews that reveal the profiles of key company members.
Verified Firmographic Data
The best type of firmographic data, here you get manually verified information. In this type, collecting firmographic data involves:
- Company surveys. Direct and structured company surveys can provide highly accurate information.
- Outreach programs. Interactions through the form of phone calls, interviews, and face-to-face meetings reveal deep insights.
- Third-party aggregators. Firmographic data providers gather and verify information that they later distribute to guarantee high accuracy and relevance. The greatest benefit of purchasing data from reputable sellers is that they deliver consistently accurate results. This allows you to concentrate your time on other tasks.
What Are the Benefits of Firmographic Segmentation?
- Better Targeting
- Higher Customer Retention
- Efficient Resource Allocation
- Increased Conversion Rates
- Greater Customer Service
1. Better Targeting
By understanding the market share and company size of your potential B2B buyers, you can provide targeted marketing efforts.
Small companies and big corporations have very different needs and significantly different conversion paths.
However, both can be your target clients. Knowing how to approach each is essential to your success.
2. Higher Customer Retention
You can develop and modify your products/services to fit the needs of your customers. You can also predict what your clients need, based on their segment.
Hence, you will be able to offer solutions, which will make them more loyal to your business.
3. Efficient Resource Allocation
Marketing campaigns could be quite costly. Focusing on the wrong market segments makes them even more difficult to repay. Not to worry, though. By leveraging firmographics, you can ensure that your resources have higher returns.
Both sales and marketing departments will benefit from the adequate budget distribution. On top of that, your company will maximize its ROI.
4. Increased Conversion Rates
Highly personalized, segment-based, content can greatly increase conversion rates since it has a much higher chance of engaging your target audience.
Additionally, tailoring the overall user experience of your website to meet the needs and preferences of your potential customers, can also lead to more conversions.
5. Greater Customer Service
With key firmographic information, including size, location, industry, and growth, your customer support team will be able to provide top-notch service.
If you are dealing with an international company, for instance, your representatives will be able to improve their offerings, knowing where the team members are located geographically.
What Are the Latest Trends in Firmographic Segmentation?
- Advanced Data Analytics. Modern technologies, like AI and machine learning, are being used by businesses to analyze large amounts of data, identify trends and patterns, and perform an even more accurate firmographic segmentation. Predictive analytics tools are also utilized to predict future behaviors and the needs of businesses.
- Combination with Technographic Data. Technographic data provides information about the technology and tools that a company uses. Combine it with firmographics, and you can get a more complete picture of the business, allowing you to target your marketing strategy even better.
- Real-Time Information. IoT and big data make it possible to collect information continuously and rely on up-to-date firmographic insights. Additionally, real-time data enables dynamic segmentation, so you can reorganize businesses based on the most current information.
- Focus on SMBs. Growth stage, niche markets, and innovation adoption are some of the factors that are recognized by more nuanced sub-segmentation within SMBs. This makes it easier to target the unique needs of SMBs with products and services specifically designed for them, instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach.
- Industry-Specific Insights. It is very important to be able to approach every industry by addressing its unique challenges and needs. Vertical segmentation aims to focus on the different business sectors (healthcare, manufacturing, finance, etc.) This can also help you to better understand the trends and opportunities in different industries.
Wrap Up
Leveraging firmographic data can bring many benefits to your business. These include higher customer retention, better targeting, and more efficient resource allocation.
But that’s not all. Looking at it long-term, you will have an opportunity to improve your customer loyalty, close more sales, and increase your revenue.
Gathering firmographic data is not that complicated. Of course, you need to be careful and analyze every piece of information to make sure it is accurate.
Ultimately, you should look to lay out key data about your customers, including firmographics, demographics, technographics, and psychographics.
Team DevriX
This article is crafted by DevriX's seasoned marketing team, boasting over four decades of collective expertise in crafting sophisticated marketing funnels, devising comprehensive content frameworks and pillars, implementing engaging email campaigns, and creating impactful social media content designed for scalability.
Our marketing experts specialize in the complete spectrum of inbound marketing strategies. As an accredited HubSpot Agency Partner and a Semrush Partner, we engage in meticulous research, blending our extensive experience with the unique insights of our highly skilled team.
We set benchmarks in content creation by incorporating cutting-edge marketing trends, leveraging in-depth industry research, and utilizing state-of-the-art AI tools for data segmentation and captivating content hooks. Our proficiency extends across a diverse range of sectors, including working with SMEs, Fortune 1000 companies, global B2B brands, major publishing entities, WooCommerce platforms, business directories, and affiliate networks.
