The Power of Public Records in Digital Marketing

The Power of Public Records in Digital Marketing

Let's face it – as marketers, we're always looking for an edge. We want to know more about our customers, find new prospects, and craft resonate campaigns. Well, there's a secret weapon that many overlook: public records.

What Are Public Records and Why Do They Matter?

Public records encompass various documents held by government agencies that are available to the public. These include land records, court documents, voter registration records, business registrations, etc.

While these records have always been accessible in some form, the digitisation of public records over the past 20+ years has made them far more accessible to search and leverage. No more trekking down to a dusty basement archive or having to know exactly what you're looking for – now you can access volumes of public records from your laptop.

For marketers and businesses, public records represent a data goldmine. By tapping into this information, you can:

• Better understand your existing customers – Public records can provide additional demographic and psychographic insights to help you refine targeting and personalisation.
• Find new prospects that match your ideal customer profile – Use criteria from your best customers to uncover net-new opportunities.
• Cleanse and append your contact data – Flag deceased contacts, fill in missing phone/address fields, and ensure data accuracy.
• Mitigate business risk – Perform due diligence on leads, partners, and vendors by checking civil/criminal records, bankruptcies, liens, and judgements.
• Monitor competitive activity – Keep tabs on your competitors by tracking lawsuits, new trademarks, locations, and other data.
• Conduct market research – Analyse market trends, demand indicators, and demographics by location.
• Verify customer-provided information – Cross-check submissions for accuracy to prevent fraud.

The use cases are nearly endless. While public records have always been available, digitisation makes it possible to leverage this data for modern marketing in ways never before possible. Those who learn to incorporate public records into their practices effectively will gain a clear competitive advantage.

A Goldmine of Information Waiting to be Unearthed

What kinds of public records are out there? Here's a quick overview of some of the most valuable categories for marketers and businesses:

Property Records

• Land records – Title history, sales data, ownership transfers, value assessments, etc.
• Mortgage records – Loan amounts, lender info, foreclosures, home equity loans, etc.
• Building permits – Home improvements, renovations, repairs, costs, contractors used, etc.

Court Records

• Bankruptcies – Bankruptcy filings, discharge info, assets, debts, businesses impacted, etc.
• Tax liens – Delinquent taxpayer info, taxing authorities, property liens, etc.
• Civil suits – Plaintiffs, defendants, judgment amounts, allegations, case outcomes, etc.
• Criminal records – Arrests, charges, convictions, incarcerations, parole details, etc.

Business Registrations

• Corporation records – Incorporation dates, company officers, operating status, etc.
• DBA/Fictitious business names – Sole proprietorships “doing business as”, locations, owners, etc.
• Professional/Occupational licenses – Status, disciplinary history, allowed services, etc.
• Trademarks – Registrations, applicants, goods/services categories, claims, assignments, etc.

Vital Records

• Birth records – Parents' names, child name, date of birth, etc.
• Marriage/Divorce Records – Spouses' names, marriage/divorce dates, locations, etc.
• Death records – Name, date of death, next of kin, burial details, etc.

Voter Registrations

• Voter rolls – Name, date of birth, address, districts, party affiliation, voting frequency, etc.

This is just a small sampling – there are many other categories like concealed carry permits, recreational licenses, vehicle registrations, and much more. Each contains insightful data points that can inform marketing efforts.

Influential Ways Marketers Can Apply Public Records

There is no shortage of high-value data within public records, but how specifically can marketers leverage it? Here are some of the most powerful applications:

Prospecting

Public records let you uncover promising new prospects that match your ideal customer profile. Target businesses by industry codes or revenue size, consumers by demographics, property details, voting patterns, and more.

You can also analyse the competitive landscape around prospects to inform messaging. Have they filed recent trademarks or building permits? Are they buried in lawsuits? This context helps tailor outreach.

Customer Intelligence

Upload your customer list and append valuable public records data to each contact. Enhance basic names and addresses with phone numbers, dates of birth, mortgage details, political donations, and beyond.

These additional attributes allow you to develop more nuanced customer segmentation to drive targeted messaging. And public records provide a way to keep customer data updated over time.

Due Diligence

Performing due diligence using public records can help you avoid significant risks. Search civil and criminal records on partners, vendors, or acquisition targets to uncover red flags like fraud judgements, bankruptcies, or troubled regulatory histories.

Similarly, public records can verify information submitted by prospects to catch falsifications on applications, claims, or other submissions that could indicate fraud risks.

Competitive Benchmarking

Running competitors through public records can generate real competitive intelligence. Monitor trademark applications to see new products/services on the horizon—track lawsuit activity to identify ongoing legal matters.

Review corporate records to analyse leadership changes, locations, regulatory status, and other developments. This data arms you with insights into competitor weaknesses, threats, and strategic moves.

Hyperlocal Marketing

Public records contain volumes of locational insights that can power hyperlocal marketing strategies. Target homeowners in specific zip codes. Seek out neighbourhoods with high levels of recent remodelling based on building permits. Identify voting precincts that lean toward your brand values.

Even judge demand by geographic area – see where the most relevant civil cases are concentrated. Public records take demographic and psychographic targeting to a granular level.

Data Hygiene

Public records provide a way to cleanse and enrich first-party data like customer contact lists. Append missing phone numbers and addresses, then screen for deceased individuals or fraud risks. This ensures you aren't wasting resources marketing to invalid contacts.

These are just some of the applications – with some creativity, public records can support nearly any marketing initiative from lead gen to customer retention and everything in between. Those who learn to harness this data will gain an instant edge.

But it Isn't Using Public Records…Creepy?

For the uninitiated, tapping into public records on individuals may seem overly invasive – perhaps even “creepy”. Without proper care, it certainly has the potential for misuse. But when leveraged ethically, public records provide a means to enhance experiences for customers and prospects.

Used judiciously, public records allow you to:

• Craft more relevant, personalised messages – Demographic and behavioural data enables better personalisation at scale.
• Validate B2B contact data – Verify professional titles, employer information, and other details.
• Prioritise outreach – Focus sales efforts on those most likely to have interest and ability to buy.
• Improve products – Features and solutions can be tailored based on real user needs and challenges.
• Reduce repetitive form filling – Pre-populate applications with available public data to simplify the process.
• Increase security – Cross-check provided info to protect from fraud risks.
• Avoid irritation – Disengage those unlikely to be interested, like the deceased or relocated.

When applied judiciously, public records ultimately improve experiences for customers, prospects, and your business.

The Public Records Gold Rush

With all this invaluable data just waiting to be unearthed, it's no wonder that accessing and applying public records is becoming ubiquitous across industries.

In the hyper-competitive digital marketplace, public records represent an opportunity to gain an instant edge over rivals. Savvy companies are racing to bake public records into their strategies:

• Banks – Underwrite loans faster, qualify borrowers, and prevent fraud by verifying applicant details.
• Insurance – Price policies more accurately and spot questionable claims using property records, accident reports, judgements, and other data.
• Healthcare – Create complete patient health histories by compiling records across providers and pharmacies.
• Retail – Hone product selection and personalised promotions based on insights like home ownership, income, or family status.
• Real Estate – Target homeowners by equity position, length of residence, and remodelling activity.
• Services – Qualify leads with professional licenses to focus sales efforts on verified prospects.

Forward-thinking companies are riding the public records wave to amplify marketing and business impact. The insights uncovered represent a true competitive advantage that delivers ROI across the customer lifecycle.

Public Records Go Mainstream

Once the domain of investigative specialists, public records are now being democratised for mainstream business use. Much of this shift is enabled by modern digital platforms, which make public records accessible and actionable:

• Centralised collection – Disparate records from thousands of sources are aggregated into a single search interface.
• Intelligent categorisation – Records are tagged with labels and data fields for easy filtering, sorting, and analysis.
• Linkage engine – The connections between records on individuals and companies are mapped to compile a complete profile.
• Risk indicators – Potential red flags like bankruptcies, judgments or regulatory issues are flagged for due diligence.
• Match/merge tools – Upload contacts, then match to public records to uncover additional intelligence.
• Exportable data packages – Easily extract record details into spreadsheets, CRM, or marketing automation systems.
• Configurable alerts and monitoring – Get notified when thresholds are met for new litigation, judgments, regulatory actions, or other risks.
• Cloud access – Search public records through any web browser for on-demand access.

By harnessing technology to tame volumes of public data, these platforms have made public records accessible for organisations of all sizes – no longer just for specialists. They provide the interface needed to distil public records into actionable intelligence.

An Essential Part of Today's Data Stack

For modern data-driven organisations, public records access should be considered an essential element of any martech or sales tech stack:

• CRM/MAPs – Enhance contact profiles with additional intel from public records to improve targeting and campaigns.
• Predictive analytics – Combine public records with first-party data for more accurate propensity models and scoring.
• Customer data platforms (CDPs) – Use public records to fill gaps and update profiles over time for complete single customer views.
• Sales intelligence – Augment firmographic data on prospects with public records details on litigation, leadership changes, regulatory standing, and more.
• Account-based marketing – Build complete target account profiles using public records on companies and their essential buyers.
• Ad platforms – Layer in public record attributes to direct digital ad campaigns toward high-value segments more precisely.

As assembling holistic, accurate customer and prospect intelligence becomes increasingly critical, public records access must be part of the modern Martech stack.

Public Record Partners Provide a Leg-Up

For most marketers and businesses, going the DIY route to tap into public records across thousands of government sources is unrealistic. The data is vast, formats are fragmented, and the learning curve is steep.

That's why leveraging a specialised public records partner is the most effective way to unlock public data's potential while avoiding common pitfalls like data inaccuracies, compliance risks, and excessive costs.

The right partner serves as an extension of your team to:

• Simplify and streamline access – No need to navigate arcane government systems and physical offices.
• Maintain strict compliance – Helps ensure appropriate, ethical use, meeting all legal obligations.
• Concatenate data – Links records from disparate sources to build complete profiles.
• Translate into marketing intelligence – Provides insights tailored to enhance CRM, ABM, hyperlocal targeting and more.
• Monitor and alert – Proactively watches for litigation, judgements, strategic moves by competitors, and other record changes.
• Offer training and support – Provides playbooks, use case guidance, and expert assistance to coach you on best practices.

INDUSTRY STAT: 93% of companies using a public records partner saw increased efficiency and cost savings versus self-service options.

The right partner unlocks public records' potential without the headaches of going solo. They let you focus on applying data to your specific business goals rather than wrestling with the mechanics of sourcing public records.

Critical Considerations in Partner Selection

However, partners themselves vary widely in capabilities and specialisations. Not all provide the same level of service and customisation. Here are key factors to assess in your selection process:

Data breadth and depth – Do they offer access to a full spectrum of record types from land to court to business registries? What about volume and history – can they deliver the depth needed for longitudinal analytics?

Linkage capabilities – Does their system effectively link records from various sources to uncover connections and build holistic profiles?

Compliance rigour – Do they maintain stringent processes, access controls and audit trails to ensure adherence to regulations and consumer protections?

Matching and enrichment – What are their capabilities to match customer and prospect lists and then enrich them with additional public data attributes?

Configurability – Can they tailor searches, reports, and alerts based on your unique KPIs and use cases? How easily can data be exported?

Support model – Is end-to-end concierge support provided to guide you on strategy and offer training resources to your team?

Pricing – What is their pricing model? Are unlimited access tiers available to power broad initiatives and enterprise-wide use cases?

While the partner landscape still has room for maturity, leading platforms are emerging that can serve as true strategic enablers for unlocking public records at scale. Taking time to assess providers based on required criteria is a critical step to maximise value.

The Future of Public Records Innovation

We're still just scratching the surface when it comes to innovating new applications for public records in the digital age. As records continue to digitise and new emerging technologies mature, there are exciting possibilities on the horizon:

Integrations with analytics – Expect tighter integration of public records with downstream modelling, propensity scoring, and predictive analytics tools to drive insights.

Reporting automation – Platforms may auto-generate reports and insights tailored to specific roles like sales, marketing or product.

Speech/language analysis – Natural language processing could help cluster and tag unstructured public text data like legal proceedings or property descriptors.

Blockchain integration – Blockchain-based identity management and “self-sovereign” records could allow consumers to own their public data.

Lifecycle monitoring – Users could set alerts for public changes tied to life events like marriage, divorce, new children, or the death of a spouse.

Contextual recommendation engines – Platforms may suggest additional relevant data searches based on user behaviour.

Enhanced risk protection – Expect advanced anomaly detection and reporting tools to spot public changes that may pose fraud or security concerns.

Customer self-service portals – Customers could contribute public or social data to improve personalisation.

Street-level imagery analysis – Computer vision-based assessments of properties, vehicles, or asset conditions captured in public streetscape images.

Drone data integration – Incorporating overhead imagery from unmanned drones and aircraft could enhance context on locations, structures, and significant assets.

As innovation progresses, expect platforms to become increasingly “intelligent” – incorporating more automation, contextual recommendations, and sophisticated analysis capabilities. Public records usage will shift from purely manual lookups to AI-augmented decision-making. Exciting times ahead!

Are You Ready to Unlock the Power?

Public records present an unrivalled 360-degree view of individual consumers and entire businesses. While public data has always been available in some form, modern digital platforms finally make it accessible and actionable for today's innovative marketers and competitive brands.

Leading companies now consider ethical public records usage a core competitive advantage woven throughout strategies from lead gen to customer retention. Those who wait risk falling behind.

Now is the time to start unleashing public records' potential within your organisation:

• Audit your existing data practices: Where could public records fill gaps?
• Chart your aspirations: Which business initiatives could public data empower?
• Run test searches: Kick the tires on a potential partner's platform.
• Start small, scale up: Identify a focused pilot initiative to demonstrate impact before expanding access.
• Monitor adoption: Track ROI and usage across teams to ensure benefits are realised.

With the right tools and partners, integrating public records can quickly become a force multiplier. Much like digital disruption over the past decades, those organisations who embrace this new wave early will undoubtedly reap the benefits. Public data democratisation is here – now is the moment to unleash its power for your business.