Essentially, data, in the case of direct marketing, can be any piece of information provided by a consumer or business. It can take many forms but in the direct marketing industry the basic categories are name, address, phone numbers and at time email id.

Depending on how it is collected (and to a certain extent who it is collected by) additional information such as lifestyle preferences (eg where people like to go on holiday) and income are usually associated with these basic categories.

There are four main data categories:

Lifestyle consumer data

This is information personally provided by consumers in response to specifically targeted questions. Because people have chosen to take part ("opted in") and are providing answers to specific questions the resulting data should be both reliable and focused making it ideal for targeting a particular consumer group who will already have some interest in your product or service.

There are different types of lifestyle consumer data - for more information please see our  consumer data buyer's guide.

Modelled consumer data

This data is created using census information and other data pools to provide a model of consumer income, spending habits and other preferences.

Based at postcode level (as opposed to lifestyle, which works at a personal level), modelled data uses certain verifiable assumptions about income and lifestyle preferences associated with the type of area people live in to create broadly applicable information.

Modelled databases usually contain millions of entries and are most useful when conducting large campaigns with broad reach and wide appeal as well as allowing you to target and reach the millions of consumers who do not opt-in to lifestyle surveys.  

Electoral roll consumer data

This is the data supplied to local councils by residents and usually only consists of basic information such as name and address. The Electoral Roll is one of the main sources for modelled data.

Business data

This is data captured about businesses and the people that work there and would include such categories as name, job title, telephone and business address as well as type of business. Marketing Source is specifically a consumer data specialist and however iwe do provide certain Business data also on certain specification or industry type.