Here is a 2000+ word blog post on "What is Firmographic Data?":
Firmographic data refers to information about a company‘s characteristics such as industry, location, size, and financials. This data provides insights into a company‘s operations, customers, and potential for future growth. For B2B marketers, firmographic data is a crucial tool for personalized marketing and sales strategies.
When combined with demographic data about individual decision-makers, firmographics allow marketers to segment and target accounts precisely. In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll cover everything you need to know about collecting and leveraging firmographic data.
What is Firmographic Data?
Firmographic data includes details like:
- Industry classification – What markets and segments does the company operate in?
- Location – Where are the company‘s offices, headquarters, and branches located?
- Company size – How many employees does the company have? What‘s their physical footprint?
- Revenue and sales figures – How much does the company earn annually? What are their growth trends?
- Ownership structure – Is the company public or private? Who are the key investors and stakeholders?
- Customer profiles – Is their focus B2B, B2C, or B2G? Who are their target demographics?
- Technologies used – What software, tools, and systems does the company rely on?
- Leadership team – Who are the key decision-makers and influencers?
These data points help B2B marketers categorize companies and understand their operational structures. Firmographic segmentation enables accounts to be grouped by factors like industry, size, tech stack, and revenue profile.
For example, a tech company selling SaaS products could filter their database to only target mid-sized retailers in the fashion industry. This allows campaigns to be tailored based on the relevant segments‘ needs and challenges.
The Difference Between Firmographic and Demographic Data
While firmographics describe a company‘s attributes, demographic data refers to the qualities of individuals within that organization. Common demographic factors are:
- Name
- Job title and department
- Age and gender
- Location
- Salary range
- Education and background
- Communication preferences
In B2B sales and marketing, demographic data identifies the actual decision-makers you want to reach. Firmographics provide the context around their company environment and purchasing power.
Together, these two data types give a 360-degree view of both the customer and the account. This enables precise personalization based on insights into someone‘s role, challenges, and business ecosystem.
The Benefits of Firmographic Data
Let‘s explore some of the key ways firmographic data improves B2B marketing and sales:
1. Facilitates Personalized Marketing
According to a survey by Evergage, 77% of B2B marketers say personalization improves customer relationships. Firmographics allow you to segment and target based on companies‘ unique environments and needs.
For example, the content offers you provide to a Fortune 500 company will differ greatly from what resonates with a 50-person startup. Detailed firmographics ensure messaging is tailored based on company size, industry, tech stack, and other attributes.
2. Identifies High-Value Prospects
Not all accounts are created equal when it comes to sales revenue potential. Firmographic data reveals factors like company size, growth trends, and customer profiles that indicate buying power.
This allows sales teams to prioritize and focus efforts on prospects demonstrating high lifetime value. For example, fast-growing companies or category leaders make ideal targets.
3. Enhances Account-Based Marketing
ABM or account-based marketing involves orchestrating highly personalized campaigns focused on strategically targeted accounts. Firmographics help identify and segment priority accounts for ABM success.
According to ITSMA research, ABM initiatives achieve close rates of over 15%, compared to less than 5% for broad marketing campaigns. Investing in firmographic research improves your ability to execute effective account-based strategies.
4. Builds Detailed Buyer Personas
Buyer personas based solely on demographics like "John, 35-year-oldMarketing Manager" lack context about the account. Firmographic data illustrates the company ecosystem and priorities driving the buyer‘s behavior.
This results in detailed personas that reflect both the individual‘s perspective and motivations, as well as the business environment influencing their decisions.
5. Powers Your Sales Funnel
Sophisticated firmographic segmentation enables you to model target accounts that best fit your ideal customer profile (ICP). Focusing sales efforts on these prospects streamlines funnel conversion.
Firmographics also inform lead scoring models. A fast-growing startup may warrant more sales attention than a small stagnant business, for example. Advanced segmentation improves conversion rates across the entire funnel.
How to Collect Firmographic Data
Manually researching firmographics company-by-company would be extremely tedious. Here are some tips for aggregating quality firmographic data:
Utilize Your CRM
CRM software like Salesforce often contains lots of firmographic data on your customers. Ensure this data is properly tracked and clean to maximize its usefulness.
Proper CRM adoption across sales, marketing, and customer success teams is vital. Optimize your platform to serve as the central firmographic data hub.
Purchase Firmographic Datasets
Many third-party vendors sell access to extensive firmographic databases. Companies like ZoomInfo and DiscoverOrg offer firmographic data on over 70 million global companies.
Purchasing datasets can provide quick access to quality firmographics. Make sure to evaluate coverage, accuracy, and integration capabilities when selecting a data provider.
Apply Web Scraping
Web scraping uses automated bots to extract large volumes of data from websites. Scraping company websites, directories, and other public sources can uncover quality firmographic data.
The challenge is that many sites block scraping bots. Work with an experienced web scraping provider who can overcome anti-bot measures for successful collection.
Conduct Direct Research
Your sales team can gather valuable firmographics through direct prospecting activities. This could involve researching key accounts and supplementing CRM data.
Reps can also use meetings, demos, and conversations to learn about accounts‘ tech stacks, growth plans, and pain points for marketing leverage.
Acquire Data from Form Submissions
Getting prospects to fill out forms, surveys, or quizzes lets you gather firmographics directly. This could include info on company size, tech tools used, or departments.
Offering content downloads or discounts in exchange for form completion encourages data collection from your top-of-funnel visitors.
Leverage Intent Data
Buyer intent data reveals companies researching products or solutions like yours. It exposes promising accounts you can target while their interest is piqued.
Intent data provides firmographic insights into the accounts demonstrating active research behavior related to your offerings.
Tips for Applying Firmographic Data
To maximize value, here are some best practices for activating firmographic data in your tech stack and processes:
1. Build Firmographic Profiles in Your CRM
After collecting firmographic data, make sure to load it into your CRM to build robust account and contact profiles. These enhanced profiles provide context for sales and marketing.
Properly tagging accounts based on factors like industry, customer segment, and revenue provides helpful filtering for campaigns.
2. Create Dedicated Segments and Lists
Leverage your CRM, marketing automation platform, or specialized tools like Demandbase to create lists and segments organized around firmographic factors.
Build targeted lists for specific campaigns based on attributes like geography, company size, or tech stack makeup.
3. Map Content to Buyer Stages and Firmographics
The content you create and promote should align with customers‘ firmographic profile and position in the buyer‘s journey.
For example, small companies may respond better to lower-priced entry-level tools versus enterprise offerings. Make sure messaging matches their firmographic profile.
4. Enhance Account Scoring Models
Incorporate firmographic data into your account scoring models and lead ratings used by sales. Factors like company growth, customer base, and revenue potential help prioritize the most valuable prospects.
5. Improve Multi-Touch Attribution
With detailed firmographic data enriched in your tech stack, you can better track engagement and attribute pipeline influence across multiple channels and touches.
6. Identify New Target Account Opportunities
Analyze your data to spot "lookalike" companies that share firmographics with your best customers. This allows you to identify net-new prospects that resemble your ideal buyer profile.
7. Power Account-Based Advertising
Paid platforms like LinkedIn Ads and Demandbase allow B2B advertising targeted directly at specific companies identified by firmographics. This enhances return on ad spend.
8. Continuously Expand Your Data Foundation
View firmographic data collection as an ongoing initiative, not a one-time project. Expanding and enriching your firmographics unlocks more sales and marketing opportunities.
Tying It All Together: Blend Firmographics and Demographics for B2B Success
For today‘s B2B organizations, success requires personalization and relevance at scale. This depends on having insights into both the individuals you seek to engage and the companies where they work.
Firmographic data provides the contextual understanding of accounts and their buyer journeys that allows engagement to be tailored based on company attributes. Combined with demographics, it enables both contacts and organizations to be targeted with precision.
To orchestrate effective ABM and propel sales funnel velocity, every B2B organization needs to prioritize firmographic intelligence. Robust data profiles on accounts, enriched in the martech stack, underpin truly personalized, account-driven marketing.
With the right tools and processes, firmographics can help B2B marketers and sellers achieve new levels of efficiency, revenue growth, and customer retention. The time for firmographic adoption is now.
