Select Page

List Wednesday – Business List Demographics: Business Size

Targeting businesses of a certain size is a very common strategy for almost every direct marketer out there. Almost all of them are shooting for a “Goldilocks” model to where they need to find the “not too hot” and “not too cold” pool of prospects to market to.

Through compiled business lists, D&B or InfoUSA, there are two selections you can use to target businesses by size: Employee Size and Annual Sales.

Which selection is more reliable? Two questions:

  1. How many total businesses are there in the United States?
  2. How many of them are publicly traded?

Think on that while we talk about how information is compiled.

First, through public records, D&B and InfoUSA look at Annual Reports and other filings to see what the business reported for head count and annual sales. Since privately held firms don’t need to release earnings to the public, that information can remain private, creating a hole in the compilation process.

  • Approximate number of businesses in the US: 20 Million
  • Approximate number of publicly traded companies: 6,000

Yeah, that can create a pretty big hole.

The second avenue to compile data is to call every business on their list. When D&B and InfoUSA call, they typically talk to either the receptionist or the owner if it’s a small company. They run through a series of questions, eventually getting to the topic of business size where they ask about sales figures and how many people work there.

Which question do you think is answered more often and more accurately? Without a doubt, Employee Size. For the receptionist, it’s much easier for them to figure out how many people he or she works with and not feel as if they’re breaking company policy by releasing the info over the phone. If they were asked about sales, they likely would not know or throw a dart at the board and report that figure. As for the business owner, he or she would likely decline to answer the sales question (very understandable).

Now with all that being said, which selection do you think is more reliable when targeting businesses by size? That’s right, Employee Size instead of Annual Sales typically pulls the most accurate information available.

INSIDER TIP: Modern Postcard has relationships with both D&B (available online through our list portal and offline through sales team) and InfoUSA (available offline through the sales team), which enables us to provide you access to one or both at the same, if not at lower cost than if you went direct. Which one is better for you to use? Depends, call or email me to learn more.

By Modern Postcard

Call a Direct Marketing Specialist at 800.959.8365.

Join Now for 20% Off Print
Free Direct Mail Crash Course Seminar