Tim Holt
Managing Director
An experienced data professional who has been working within the direct marketing industry for over 20 years. Having spent 17 years as owner and MD of Data HQ Ltd his remit covers the whole of the management spectrum including; strategy development, organisational structure, company policy & procedure and product development.
Change is normal
Throughout the UK over the last 10 years since the last major recession the business landscape has changed a lot. Businesses fail every day of the week and new businesses start up, that’s just what happens, businesses merge and get acquired and some businesses decide to cease trading whether they’re profitable or not.
In fact, on average UK Business Data decays at a rate of 40% per annum. Most businesses are aware of this and understand that they need regular data cleansing processes in place to keep their data and mailing lists accurate and up-to-date.
Emergence of business Start-Ups
We normally see a spike of new business start-ups in January and April as people decide to leave the sanctuary of employment and take on the risk of being an entrepreneur, but there is no real set pattern to business failures. However, for the period March to December 2020, when plotted on a graph, the volume of business failures is going to look very steep indeed; far worse than anything we saw in the financial crisis.
It is also likely that over the next few months the UK economy will see far fewer business start-ups than in previous years. However, when we do see a higher instance of business failures it is often followed by an increase in business start-ups.
Towards the back end of this year it is very possible that we will see this increase as experienced employees who have been made redundant take the plunge to go it alone.
How will this effect data marketing?
Keeping track and on top of this rapidly changing data when it comes to providing a business marketing list is going to be crucial. Not only are businesses going bust but hundreds of thousands of people are going to be changing their jobs and their roles due to redundancy and reoganisation. Existing mailing lists will more than likely decay at quicker than the 40% we typically see.
Not only will this require more data cleansing as previously mentioned but businesses should add additional prospect data to their mailing lists. This will put them in the best place to take advantage of the new opportunities later in the year.
Choose the right data supplier
Critical to this for most businesses will be working with the right data supplier. Using established data suppliers that have helped clients through similar changes in the past and know how to respond to these circumstances will be crucial. The UK marketing list sector is changing and ensuring your provider has the right technical expertise and industry know-how will in-turn help you to succeed.
B2B mailing lists and marketing data can now be selected by a lot more than the traditional indicators such as industry, employee size and job titles. Ensure your chosen data supplier has additional variables, such as credit information, to assist you in targeting the right prospect data.
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