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1. Targeting

What are firmographics?

Firmographics are the facts that describe a company, such as its industry, number of employees, revenue band, location and age. They are to companies what demographics are to people, and they let you filter a large list down to the businesses that match your profile.

The parts

  1. IndustryWhat the company does, ideally with a standard industry code so two lists use the same labels.
  2. SizeEmployee count or a revenue band. Size often decides budget, buying process and who is involved.
  3. LocationCountry, region or city. It matters for time zones, language and local rules.
  4. Other company factsFounding year, funding stage, ownership and the number of sites. Pick only the ones that predict whether a company buys.

Worked example: Tallyfold, invoice matching for regional logistics firms

Tallyfold is a made-up company. Its profile says: logistics industry, 100 to 200 employees, Midwest. Six companies are tested against those three firmographic filters.

By hand

  1. The filters are: industry is logistics, 100 to 200 employees, region is the Midwest.
  2. Northgate Freight: Logistics, 140 employees, Midwest. Matches all three.
  3. Pinecrest Cartage: Logistics, 60 employees, Midwest. Misses at least one filter.
  4. Ridgeway Haulers: Logistics, 220 employees, Southeast. Misses at least one filter.
  5. Calder Supply Lines: Logistics, 175 employees, Midwest. Matches all three.
  6. Brightwater Foods: Food manufacturing, 190 employees, Midwest. Misses at least one filter.
  7. Lakeshore Transport: Logistics, 120 employees, Midwest. Matches all three.
  8. Matches: 3 of the 6 sampled firms, which is 50% of the sample.
CompanyIndustryEmployeesRegionFits
Northgate FreightLogistics140MidwestYes
Pinecrest CartageLogistics60MidwestNo
Ridgeway HaulersLogistics220SoutheastNo
Calder Supply LinesLogistics175MidwestYes
Brightwater FoodsFood manufacturing190MidwestNo
Lakeshore TransportLogistics120MidwestYes

Six companies against three firmographic filters

How to apply it

  1. Take the traits from your ideal customer profile that can be checked from public data.
  2. Turn each trait into a filter with a clear range, such as 100 to 200 employees.
  3. Apply the filters to your list source and review a small sample by hand before you use the full list.
  4. Add or drop a filter when replies show that a trait does or does not predict interest.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Relying on a single filter such as industry, which leaves a huge and uneven list.
  • Trusting stale data. Employee counts and locations change, so check how recent the source is.
  • Treating firmographics as the whole story when they say nothing about whether a company has the problem now.

Ideal customer profile

An ideal customer profile (ICP) is a written description of the type of company that gets the most value from what you sell and is easiest to win and keep.

Read more

Intent data

Intent data is information about what a company or person has been doing that suggests they may be looking for a solution, such as reading about a topic, visiting a pricing page or hiring for a related role.

Read more

Lead enrichment

Lead enrichment is the process of adding missing facts to a contact or company record, such as job title, company size, industry and location, from other sources.

Read more

Questions

What is the difference between firmographics and demographics?
Demographics describe people, such as age or location. Firmographics describe companies, such as industry and size.
Where do firmographics come from?
Public registries, company websites, professional networks and data providers. Each source has gaps, so check a sample by hand.
Are firmographics enough to find buyers?
They narrow the list, but they cannot tell you who is ready to buy. Pair them with a trigger or a signal of need.

Tell us what you sell and who buys it

What you sell

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