# Firmographics: what they are and how to use them in cold outreach

> Firmographics are the facts that describe a business rather than a person. Here is how to use them to build tighter lead lists and write emails that fit the company you are contacting.

Firmographics are the descriptive attributes of a business, such as its industry, size, location, age and how it operates. They do for companies what demographics do for people: they let you group businesses into segments you can target and talk to differently.

## Why firmographics matter when you do outreach

Cold email works best when the person reading it thinks, "this was written for a business like mine." Firmographics are how you get there without researching every lead by hand.

They help you in three practical ways:

- **Deciding who to contact.** If your service suits restaurants with one or two locations, a list of every restaurant in a city wastes time and sending reputation. Filtering by category, location and size narrows it to people who can actually buy.
- **Writing the message.** A landscaper and a cafe owner have different busy seasons, different problems and different words for the same thing. Grouping by industry lets you write one solid email per segment instead of one vague email for everyone.
- **Judging results.** When a campaign underperforms, segmenting by firmographics shows you whether the offer is weak or just aimed at the wrong type of business.

## Common firmographic attributes

| Attribute | What it tells you | Where small businesses usually show it |
|---|---|---|
| Industry or category | What they sell and who they serve | Google Maps category, website |
| Location | City, region, service area | Address, map listing |
| Size | Rough capacity and budget | Number of locations, staff page, review volume |
| Online presence | How developed their marketing is | Website or no website, social profiles |
| Age | How established they are | "Since" lines, review history |
| Ownership | Who decides | Owner name on site or listing |

For local businesses you rarely get clean revenue or headcount figures. Treat signals like the number of locations or whether they have a website as stand-ins, and be honest with yourself that they are estimates.

## A concrete example

Say you are a freelance web designer. Your best past clients were florists and cafes in mid-sized towns that had either no website or a very dated one.

Your firmographic profile looks like this:

- Category: florist or cafe
- Location: three or four specific towns you can name
- Size: one location, owner-run
- Online presence: no website, or a website with no booking or ordering

Now you build two segments instead of one list. Florists get an email about online orders before holidays like Valentine's Day. Cafes get one about menus and opening hours that are easy to find on a phone. Both open with the town name and the business name, so the email reads as local and specific.

In practice you would search Google Maps for "florist" and "cafe" across those towns, then sort by whether a website is listed. The [guide to finding businesses without websites](https://getclient.pro/blog/find-businesses-without-websites) covers that filtering step in more detail, and the [florists](https://getclient.pro/industries/florists) and [cafes](https://getclient.pro/industries/cafes) pages have angles for each segment.

## Common mistakes

### Segmenting too broadly

"Local businesses in Texas" is not a segment. If you cannot write one opening line that fits everyone on the list, split it further.

### Segmenting so narrowly the list is tiny

The opposite problem. Ten perfect leads will not tell you whether your message works. Aim for a segment big enough to test, then refine.

### Trusting categories blindly

Map categories are chosen by the business owner and are sometimes wrong or too general. A "gift shop" might be a florist. Skim a sample of your list before sending.

### Confusing firmographics with intent

A business matching your profile is a good fit, not a buyer who is ready. Firmographics tell you who to talk to. Your message still has to give them a reason to reply now.

### Using a merge tag with no data behind it

If you segment by city but some leads have no city recorded, {{params.city}} comes out blank. Check your fields before you build the email around them.

### Forgetting the person

Firmographics describe the company, but a human reads the email. Where you can, address the owner by name with {{params.firstname}}, and keep the rules on contacting business addresses in mind. The [GDPR for outreach](https://getclient.pro/learn/gdpr-for-outreach) page covers the basics, though you should check the rules that apply where you and your recipients are.

## What to do next

1. **Write down your best three past clients** and list their category, location, size and online presence. Look for what they share.
2. **Turn that into a profile** of four or five attributes, like the florist example above.
3. **Build one segment per industry** rather than one big list. The [lead list](https://getclient.pro/learn/lead-list) page explains how to structure and clean it.
4. **Write one email per segment** that references something true about that type of business.
5. **Run your list through a checklist** before sending, such as the [cold email launch checklist](https://getclient.pro/resources/cold-email-launch-checklist), so verification and unsubscribe handling are in place.

Start with one segment, send to it, read the replies, and only then add the next. That way each firmographic choice is something you tested rather than guessed.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between firmographics and demographics?

Demographics describe people, such as age or job title. Firmographics describe organisations, such as industry, location and size. In B2B outreach you usually use firmographics to pick the company and a few personal details, like the owner's name, to address the email.

### Are firmographics the same as technographics?

No. Technographics describe the tools and software a company uses. Some people treat "has a website" as a firmographic signal for small local businesses, but detailed tech stack data is a separate category.

### Where can I get firmographic data for small local businesses?

Public sources like Google Maps listings, business websites and social profiles show category, address, website and sometimes the owner. Size and revenue are rarely published for small businesses, so you estimate from signals like number of locations.

### How many firmographic filters should I use?

As a rule of thumb, three to five is enough: industry, location, and one or two signals of fit such as size or online presence. More filters can shrink the list below a useful testing size.

### Do firmographics go out of date?

Yes. Businesses move, close, change names or launch websites. Pull fresh data before each campaign instead of reusing an old list for months, and verify emails before sending.

Source: https://getclient.pro/learn/firmographics