In order to target prospects why can’t we just use SIC codes?

A new campaign typically begins with the same questions:

• What is your ideal customer profile?
• What motivates your target market?
• What industry sector do your customers belong to?
• Why do they belong to that industry?

Customer interactions may already have given you some answers, and these can help you to build your buyer persona.

For further research, marketers use classifications like SIC codes to narrow down their target markets.

SIC codes: what are they?

In the UK, the Standard Industrial Classification sets out five-digit codes used for categorising the economic activities of limited companies.

In essence, they’re a way for the government to collect and analyse economic data and make policy decisions based on that.

SIC codes are broken down into categories, starting with Section A (Agriculture. Forestry and Fishing) and ending with Section U (Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies). Each category contains a number of subcategories.

Theoretically, all business activities should all fall into at least one industry classification.

The problem

It is important to note that SIC codes are only a general guide because they are too specific in some areas and not specific enough in others.

For sports shops, for example, there is no exact match, so they are listed under sic code 5091 – Sporting & recreational goods.

“Establishments primarily engaged in the wholesale distribution of sporting goods and accessories, billiard and pool supplies; sporting firearms and ammunition; and marine pleasure craft, equipment, and supplies.”

So if you’re a wholesaler of golfing equipment, you’ll find the stores you want here – but also companies that sell boats, hot tubs and swimming pool supplies.

However If you sell golfing apparel, this code would not be appropriate. but rather you would use or target businesses in SIC Code 47640: Retail sale of sporting equipment in specialty stores.

By targeting one particular code, you will miss some companies that suit your criteria, while getting some that don’t.

How is using SIC codes for lead generation a problem?

It is a fact that new markets emerge every day.

SIC codes were first introduced in 1948 and it often fails to recognise newer industries. Furthermore, manufacturing is still heavily favoured in the classification.

With UK SIC codes last updated more than a decade ago, you might have a hard time finding and targeting the right industry.

The more information a marketer has about a company and its key activities, the more successful their sales team will be.

When you fully understand what the company does, you can highlight the elements of your product that will appeal to them.

You can’t build a targeted campaign that really addresses your potential customer’s needs by simply categorising a business as ‘Agriculture’ or ‘Wholesale and retail trade’.

In B2B sales, finding qualified prospects with the strongest needs can be challenging with basic SIC codes that provide very little information about the company.

Marketing alternatives to SIC codes

With an understanding of how and why SIC codes can be less than ideal on their own, we can now consider how to find the right data.

The good news is that SIC code targeting does not have to be completely discarded; we can simply integrate with other data classifications that are more current and precisely targeted.

Using More Than Words Marketing’s list of SIC codes, you can pick and choose which types of businesses you would like on your mailing list.

We’ll then use the additional data classifications we carry in our databases to find the decision makers for you.

Rather than only relying on Companies House to source data, we blend our data from a wide range of UK data sources.

Our Approach

Over 3,000,000 UK companies are available in our UK business database (including email data records for around 590,100 companies).

We give our customers a huge advantage when they need to gain insight into the specific industry sectors they wish to sell to through our streamlined approach to collecting, processing, and communicating company data.

Whenever a client contacts us, we ask them to:

Decide who their audience is

Understanding your audience is crucial to direct marketing success.

You should not only consider the commercial and operational needs of your target audience, but also their motivations for purchasing.

Your marketing campaign should start with a clear understanding of your overall objectives.

You can then build a detailed profile of the sort of decision maker who is most likely to respond positively to your marketing communications.

Identify relevant UK businesses

Clients can search audiences by a variety of data points, including:

• line of business,
• decision maker job title
• location, and
• company size.

We build a bespoke data list of contact information of interested buyers based on:

• type of organization and department,
• a contact’s seniority and areas of procurement responsibility,
• spending per year, and
• their service areas.

Contact us to find out more on 0330 010 8300 or email [email protected]