We are occasionally, (OK once a week), asked to supply an impossible mailing list.
* 500 employee relations managers in Norfolk
* all the companies in Somerset which employ more than 2,000 people
* 1,000 marketing directors in Weybridge
These lists cannot exist, because there are areas of the UK where industry is concentrated and other areas where there are a handful of large companies. And it is only large companies which employ people with job titles such as employee relations manager and marketing director.
When you are considering how many companies make up your target market, bear in mind some key facts about the UK.
Two-thirds of UK companies are based in London and the South East.
The public sector is the UK's largest employer; government departments, local councils, police forces, universities and colleges and of course the NHS.
Of the 1.4 million limited companies currently listed as ‘live’ at Companies House, just over 56% have employees.
The Department of Business, Innovation & Skills data defines a large firm as employing over 250 people. In 2013 it estimated that there are just 7,000 ‘large’ firms in the UK.
These 7,000 large firms generate £1.7bn and employ almost 10 million people between them. They are the holders of huge budgets and are excellent targets for your business. But there aren’t that many of them. And if you are based in a remote part of the country, they are few and far between.
When you are briefing your mailing list provider be careful what you ask for. If you ask a mailing list company for something unattainable, a certain type of provider will be tempted to sell you data that doesn't suit your needs but sort of fits what you asked for.
Read more about buying mailing lists and email lists on the advice section of Electric Marketing's website.