The best way to source B2B marketing data

When it comes to bad data, businesses are losing out. With so many options for sourcing data, the real question is what’s the best choice for you, your market and your budget.

Research suggests that more than a fifth of contact records are inaccurate or out of date, and UK businesses lose hundreds of millions of pounds every year through poor quality data. Royal Mail alone destroys millions of wrongly addressed letters annually, and some studies show that business data can decay at well over a third of records per year. When you factor in the opportunity cost of marketing materials going to the wrong people, the costs soon stack up, making a strong, accurate B2B marketing dataset essential for any successful direct marketing campaign.

When thinking about how to source B2B marketing data, you’ll need to weigh up the pros and cons of each approach, and keep in mind the type of database that will fit best with your business, sector and offering. Who are your target markets? Which segments do you want to reach within these markets? Are you selling to a highly specialised, niche audience, or is your proposition more far‑reaching? Your overall business strategy will determine the type of dataset you need to build, and which approach will best help you achieve this.

Why bad B2B marketing data is so costly

Headline figures highlight just how quickly data quality can slip. A significant proportion of business contact data is incorrect or out of date, leading to wasted budget on print, email and telemarketing campaigns that never reach the right people.

Beyond direct costs, poor data harms brand perception and sales performance. Repeatedly contacting the wrong sites, roles or lapsed customers frustrates potential buyers, while sales teams are left chasing dead ends instead of live opportunities.

Buy – using external B2B data suppliers

A quick and effective way to build your B2B marketing database is to buy data “off the shelf”, saving time and money that would otherwise be spent manually building a list. External data suppliers can provide new data in bulk, profiled to reflect your target market and segmented based on specific criteria.

Most reputable B2B marketing data providers allow you to segment data using fields such as company size, industry vertical, location, number of sites or decision maker job title. These fields are useful tools to narrow down your data and ensure that it’s as relevant as possible to your ideal customer profile.

However, when buying B2B marketing data, there are a few key things to look out for. Always check who you’re buying from and the quality of the data you’re paying for – with poor‑quality data, you could do more harm than good.

• Ask how they source their data and how often it is refreshed.
• Check what verification and cleaning processes they use, and typical bounce or error rates.
• Confirm that individuals and organisations have been given clear opportunities to opt out of marketing.

Your data supplier should comply with services such as the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS). If a business has opted out of either, you shouldn’t be calling them unless they have already opted into marketing from you by telephone in the past, and checks must be kept up to date.

It is also worth checking the supplier’s policy when it comes to refunding inaccurate data. A good B2B marketing data company should offer to refund or replace any records you find to be incorrect.

Working with an experienced B2B marketing data partner means these checks are done for you, so your campaigns start on the strongest possible footing.

Build – creating your own B2B marketing dataset

If your business is selling to a highly niche industry or specialist market, you may struggle to buy data that is focused enough. For example, if you’re a specialist engineering firm selling precision tools within a niche supply chain, you may only be selling to a handful of businesses across the country.

In this instance, it is unlikely that you will be able to capture the level of granularity you need through a purchased dataset alone. Instead, you can create your own dataset through online research and by using contacts gained from networking, exhibitions and platforms such as LinkedIn.

However, this “build” approach will usually be more expensive and time‑consuming, particularly if internal resource is limited. It often makes sense to explore reputable B2B marketing data suppliers first and then supplement what you buy with highly targeted research where the market is especially narrow.

Blend – getting the best of both

Often the most effective way to source B2B marketing data is to combine the two approaches and get the best of both. Buying data gives you a strong base to start from, but this does not mean you cannot go further.

• Use telemarketing to segment, prioritise and qualify your purchased data.

• Add missing fields that matter to your proposition, such as specific technologies, contracts or site details.

• Identify and validate the exact decision makers and influencers you want to reach.

The data you buy from a supplier will probably already be profiled, but you may want to carry out supplementary qualification checks to ensure that it meets all of your ideal criteria. While you can usually purchase details of key decision makers, the specific person you need may still be hard to identify, particularly in complex organisations.

In this case, an element of data cleansing and enrichment is crucial. By combining bought B2B marketing data with live telemarketing and verification, you can increase relevance, improve targeting and give your campaigns a far better chance of success.

Don’t forget the data you already have

Sometimes, building a whole new dataset is the only option, for example if you’re a new company or exploring entirely new target markets. But where you can, it is always worth considering the contacts you already hold in your CRM or marketing platforms.

Your budget can go further if some of it is directed towards cleaning and enriching existing data rather than starting from scratch. Existing contacts have already shown some level of interest or engagement, which often makes them more responsive than completely cold records.

Before plunging into a large‑scale data acquisition project, think about using data verification techniques or telemarketing to cleanse your existing records. Combining clean, compliant in‑house data with well‑sourced external B2B marketing data gives you a stronger, more sustainable foundation for future campaigns.

If you’d like help deciding whether to buy, build or blend your B2B marketing data – or want us to source and cleanse a dataset for your next campaign – talk to the Blueberry team today.