It is simpler than most people think

If you have never commissioned a direct marketing campaign, the process can seem opaque. How do you go from "we need more customers" to a list of actual people you can contact? Here is how it works in practice.

Start with who you want to reach

Every targeting exercise begins with a commercial question, not a technical one: who buys what you sell?

That might be defined by sector (construction firms, legal practices, logistics companies), by company size (10-50 employees, or £5m+ turnover), by geography (South West England, or nationwide), or by the role of the person you need to speak to (the IT director, the finance manager, the managing director).

Most B2B companies already know this intuitively. They know their best customers tend to look a certain way. Direct marketing simply makes that knowledge actionable.

How the selection works

A data supplier like Corpdata maintains a continuously researched database of UK business sites and the decision-makers within them. When you describe who you want to reach, the supplier builds a selection — filtering by the criteria that match your target profile.

The result is a list of named individuals, in specific companies, doing specific jobs, who have been verified by telephone research. Not a vague "audience segment." Not an algorithmic estimate. Actual people in actual businesses.

What you get

A typical selection includes:

• Contact name and job title
• Company name, address, and postcode
• Telephone number and/or email address
• Company size indicators (employees, turnover)
• Sector classification

You choose the channel — email, telephone, postal, or a combination — and you control the message, timing, and volume. There is no auction, no algorithm, and no intermediary deciding who sees your message.

Why precision matters more than volume

The instinct with any outreach is to go wide. More names, more chances. But in direct marketing, precision consistently outperforms volume. A campaign reaching 500 well-targeted decision-makers will almost always outperform one reaching 5,000 loosely matched contacts — at a fraction of the cost and with far less waste.

The reason is straightforward: every contact that does not match your target profile costs money to reach and produces nothing. Better targeting means less waste, higher response rates, and a lower cost per acquisition.

The first step is easier than you think

If you have never used direct marketing, the simplest way to start is to describe the type of company and decision-maker you want to reach, and ask a data supplier to show you what is available. A good supplier will walk you through the targeting logic and help you understand what a campaign would look like before you commit to anything.

No mystery. No jargon. Just a direct route to the people who are most likely to buy what you sell.