What is small business data?  

What exactly is small business data and how can it help your business grow? Markaaz tells you all
image of two business people discussing a spreadsheet

The accuracy of your small business data can make or break your business, but what is it, and how can it help your small business grow?  

Small business data is critical to your company’s ability to make informed decisions that can improve its performance. Small business data is also essential so that you can monitor competitors and potential clients. Your data’s accuracy, quality, and accessibility can heavily impact your business.  

There are websites and databases that gather and store small business data acquired from public data sources. Your marketing and sales team can utilize these B2B contact databases to find the correct contact information to reach key contacts. On sites where your business data is stored, in some cases, you can modify or control the information B2B data providers have about you or your company.  

In this guide, discover more about small business data, including how to leverage a small business data provider to find accurate data about potential customers and ways to manage your own data.  

What is small business data?  

Small business data is the information stored in a specialized B2B database. This data is gathered and maintained by a company from public data sources such as public financial filings, legal filings, news reports, and more. In some cases, the data is contributed by the businesses themselves.  

This data can include:  

  • Contact details  
  • Job titles  
  • Biographies  
  • Email addresses  
  • Phone numbers   
  • Business addresses  
  • Work histories  
  • Board memberships  
  • Affiliations  
  • Education  
  • Organizational charts  
  • Company blogs  
  • Recent news  
  • Company revenue and funding information  
  • Similar people and companies  

This information can help you better understand possible business partners, customers, and clients and see how other businesses perform.  

Can business owners control the information in small business databases?  

Some B2B data lists come from aggregate sources of information. This means that the information you find on one website actually comes from a different website or database. If the information is outdated, incorrect, or poorly reflects your company, you may not be able to find the right resource to revise it.   

Fortunately, some small business data companies allow you to manage and update your data. For example, Markaaz enables business leaders to confirm ownership of their businesses and update their data quickly. Accurate and up-to-date data makes it possible to connect with larger enterprises and grow your business.  

Why is small business data essential?  

There are many reasons why small business data is important, no matter the size of your small business. If you operate a newer or smaller organization, keeping your data updated on business contact directories makes it possible for potential customers and partners to reach you. It also allows larger corporations to make connections that could provide tremendous revenue potential for smaller businesses.  

For larger companies, having access to small business data is essential to creating lasting partnerships and finding reliable vendors. If a small business isn’t listed on an online directory, corporations that need the services of local suppliers and vendors may be unable to find it.  

Additionally, small business data is critical regarding your business’s finances. Credit card companies, banks, and commercial real estate brokers use business credit scores and other forms of business data to assess your risk before approving you. As a result, if your information is inaccurate, you could be denied based on that.  

How does data help small businesses?  

Having access to data can help small businesses:  

Connect with new clients and business opportunities  

Small businesses can use data to connect with new clients, as marketers and leaders can find contact information for other business leaders to foster relationships. Maintaining accurate data in B2B contact directories means potential customers can connect with your business.   

Make informed decisions  

Accessing data can help you make more informed decisions. Statistics can determine if your marketing initiatives and customer service plans work. Seeing what information other companies make available through databases can give you an idea of how much transparency is expected within your industry through your competitors.  

Monitor competitors and industry news  

You can also use small business data to monitor your competitors and identify new opportunities for your company based on industry news and trends. For instance, by closely monitoring what news, media alerts, and significant staffing changes the B2B data provider publishes, you can be informed of new services, products, and events that could impact your enterprise.  

Get the financing your business needs  

Having access to your small business’s data can help you get a loan or a company credit card through companies such as Nav. These institutions will carefully examine your financial history and other documentation that proves that you are trustworthy and responsible. Without this data, you could be considered too high risk.  

Why do you need accurate small business data?  

Accuracy is one of the most critical aspects of small business data. Incorrect data wastes time and resources. For instance, if you use a B2B contact database to tailor a cold email outreach campaign to a particular contact only to find out that the contact no longer worked at the company, you wasted your time.  

In addition, if the data about your small business is inaccurate, anyone who wants to connect with your business or your team won’t be able to or will have the wrong information to hand. Having an accurate business overview for target accounts from your contact database provider can make a difference to relevant leads.  

How can you use your data to build your business? 

desk with laptop and drawn pie chart
Data is the backbone of your small business’s success.

It’s possible to use your data to build your business. Some ways that you can utilize data are:  

Find new partners or suppliers  

As the supply chain disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted, losing a key supplier, vendor, or partner can be extremely disruptive to your business’s operations; by following the small business data on your partners and suppliers, you can gain insight into any changes or risks that could impact your working relationship together.   

Data to watch out for in company profiles includes new owners or staff members, a change in location, or news reports and positive mentions such as press releases on key factors in their business. This B2B data can keep your business operating with the resources it needs and maintain high-quality standards.  

Curate a strong professional image  

If you can claim the B2B data about your small business within B2B contact databases, you can control the information that is made available about your company. You increase the likelihood that a B2B customer will find your company, and you can curate the strong professional image you want. Make sure any photographs and bios of staff members look great. Fill out all available fields so that B2B prospects can get as much information as they need to decide to connect with your company.  

Attract potential buyers  

By researching what your company’s ideal buyers want to see through buyer intelligence initiatives, you can create a buyer profile or buyer personas to understand what kinds of content they want to see about your company. You can also use intent data to increase engagement rates from potential buyers. This could even drive up conversion rates.  

For example, if your company provides cybersecurity services to businesses within the retail industry, ideal prospects looking to hire a cybersecurity firm will look for specific things, such as a history of stopping data breaches, staff members with the right experience, and strong customer support communications from their customer success team.   

By taking control of your small business data as a part of your business development strategy, you can highlight information that will attract this ideal customer profile. Give more details about how your firm’s CEO has ten years of experience stopping data breaches in his bio. Add a list of your company’s relevant certifications in its ‘about’ description.   

Distribute news and media alerts  

Since companies will follow your business to keep in touch, foster relationships, and find informative content, this is an ideal place to house all of the links to important news and media alerts your company wants to distribute. Most press release distribution services cost a lot of money, but it may not cost you anything to share information about your company’s news and achievements through your own data in a database or directory.  

Engage in account-based marketing  

Marketing teams work hard to build a successful marketing strategy to attract and convert new leads. However, using small business data makes it easier to engage in account-based marketing, which is more personalized and has higher conversion rates than broadcast campaigns, where every cold lead receives the same message.  

Having quality data can make a difference in:  
  • Marketing outreach  
  • Matrix marketing  
  • Marketing intelligence   
  • Inbound marketing  
  • Marketing communications  
  • B2B marketing strategies  

What is a B2B directory?  

A B2B directory contains end-to-end company information, including addresses and vertical information. It can also include other helpful information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and social media profiles. This is especially useful when it comes to networking and building relationships with third-party stakeholders.   

Where can I get small business data?  

There are a few strategies that you can use to get small business data. You can find company data using a small business database such as Markaaz. You can also uncover small business information through networking and creating connections with people who work for a specific company you want to target.  

Where does small business data come from?  

Small business data can come from a variety of places, including:  

  • Existing business databases  
  • Chamber of Commerce membership records  
  • Companies submitting their own data  
  • State registration paperwork  
  • Conference attendance  
  • Association membership records  

Is there a small business database?

Sites like Markaaz can offer you access to the data of over 100 million small businesses. You may decide that you want additional data outside the scope of what’s readily available in the business directory. There are ways to get additional small business data.  

Some other data sources to consider include:  

In addition to these online small business databases, you can also gather your own information in a customer relationship management platform by forging relationships with industry leaders and contacts within other companies. You can also attend industry events.   

The impact can be powerful when you combine the information you find in a B2B database with the information you personally keep records of. For instance, following up with a contact you meet at a conference on their birthday or with information about their favorite sports team can be more meaningful than a cold email without personalized messaging.   

B2B database laws and regulations  

There are several laws and regulations that impact the use and storage of data on small businesses and larger enterprises. These include:  

General Data Protection Regulation  

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, known better by its acronym GDPR, was introduced in 2018. Even though it’s an EU security and privacy law, it is a major data protection framework that impacts businesses across the globe. These regulations have significant compliance requirements for companies that target EU citizens or collect information for them.   

To comply with the GDPR, businesses must:  
  • Get explicit permission to collect information  
  • Adopt security measures to prevent data breaches  
  • Disclose compliance with GDPR on your website  

Companies that violate these regulations will face fines and create liability for customers to take legal action.  

CAN-SPAM Act  

The United States passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003. These regulations impact companies that send unsolicited or cold emails to potential leads or customers.   

For companies using email marketing, it is imperative that marketers incorporate CAN-SPAM Act compliance tactics into emails they send to contacts found in a database. Specifically, you must allow recipients to unsubscribe through an easy-to-find link and honor those requests.   

It is also essential to avoid misleading subject lines and to identify your message as an ad if it is one. Non-compliance can lead to fines from the Federal Trade Commission and potential jail time in federal prison.  

California Consumer Privacy Act  

The California Consumer Privacy Act, also known as CCPA, is specifically for California residents. Under this law, customers can request to know what personal information businesses have about them and learn what the business uses it for. Additionally, they can ask for the information to be deleted.  

Take control of your small business data with Markaaz  

Are you ready to take control of your small business data? You can claim your business listing in the Markaaz Dashboard today and join over 100 million small businesses across the globe. Create your account to get started.  

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