Firmographic data, or firmographics, is descriptive information about organizations, such as industry, number of employees, revenue, location and legal structure. It is to companies what demographic data is to people, and it is the basic layer B2B teams use to decide which accounts fit their market.
Firmographics answer "what kind of company is this?" They do not tell you what the company is researching (that is intent data) or what software it runs (that is technographics).
How firmographic data works
Firmographic attributes are mostly stable facts that can be looked up or inferred:
| Attribute | Example value | Typical source |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | NAICS 541511, Custom Computer Programming Services | Registries, data vendors, self-reported |
| Employee count | 250-499 | Professional networks, filings, vendors |
| Annual revenue | $50M-$100M | Public filings, estimates for private firms |
| Headquarters location | Austin, Texas, US | Registries, website |
| Office locations | US, UK, Germany | Website, vendors |
| Ownership | Private, PE-backed | Filings, funding databases |
| Company age | Founded 2014 | Registries |
| Growth | Headcount +30% year over year | Job and profile data over time |
| Corporate structure | Subsidiary of a larger group | Filings, vendors |
Industry is usually coded with a standard scheme. In North America that is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau; the older SIC codes are still common in data products. Many vendors also add their own simpler industry labels, which do not always map cleanly to NAICS.
For private companies, revenue and sometimes headcount are estimates. Treat them as ranges, not exact numbers.
Example
Example (illustrative): an HR software company looks at its last 100 closed-won deals and finds that most came from companies with 200-2,000 employees in healthcare, logistics and manufacturing, headquartered in the US or UK. It writes that into three firmographic rules and applies them in three places:
- The CRM tags every account as fit or not fit.
- LinkedIn ads target only those industries and size bands.
- The website shows a healthcare case study to identified visitors from healthcare companies, and a logistics one to logistics companies.
Then it checks the result: if win rates in the "fit" segment are not clearly higher than outside it, the rules are wrong and get revised.
How B2B teams use firmographics
- Defining the ideal customer profile: industry, size and region are the first ICP rows.
- Account scoring: fit points for target size bands and industries.
- Territory and routing: assigning accounts to reps by region or segment.
- Ad targeting: company-size and industry filters on ad platforms.
- Website segmentation: industry and size-specific headlines and proof for identified visitors.
What most teams get wrong
Our view: firmographics are necessary and overused. Industry plus employee count separates fit from non-fit, but it does not separate a company ready to buy from one that is not. Thousands of companies match any firmographic filter. Use firmographics to define the pool, then use behavior and intent to decide who gets attention this week.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between firmographics and demographics?
Demographics describe people: age, job title, location, education. Firmographics describe organizations: industry, size, revenue, location. B2B teams need both, because companies buy but people decide. Firmographics pick the account; role and seniority data pick the contacts within it.
Where does firmographic data come from?
Public registries and filings, company websites, professional networks, job postings and commercial data providers that combine these sources. For your own customers and leads, form fields and sales notes add first-party firmographics. Accuracy varies, so record the source and date for key fields and refresh them at least yearly.
Is firmographic data personal data under GDPR?
Data about a company, such as its industry or headcount, is generally not personal data. It becomes personal data when it is linked to an identifiable person, for example on a contact record. Sole traders are an edge case, because company information can identify the individual behind it.
Related
Turn attributes into segments with firmographic data segments that convert, add tool data with technographics, and see how companies are identified on your site in visitor identification.