TWO former senior managers at support service Business Link have formed their own marketing intelligence business.

Neil Geoghegan and Peter Watson, he former business development director and chief executive of Business Link North West, have set up The Data Works to offer access to a database of more than 4m businesses.

Mr Geoghegan and Mr Watson say their time at Business Link showed then that small firms needed access to such detailed data to help them work out which companies they should target with their marketing materials.

“That was the nut we’ve tried to crack,” said Mr Watson. “We think we’ve cracked it.”

They left Business Link last year, starting The Data Works in Warrington this year.

Their system contains information on 4.3m businesses, with 250 attributes analysed for each – ranging from their size and where they are based to the age of age of the business.

Businesses can also be defined by type, ranging from ”local solid rocks” to “independent entrepreneurs”.

Those attributes allow Data Works to refine the information to suit clients.

Launching the firm, Mr Geoghegan said: “Data affects every aspect of a business today, from selecting target markets for a marketing campaign to a feasibility study for a new area of trading.

“Working with Business Link North West, gave both Peter and I a clear understanding of the needs of the SME market.

“In a difficult trading climate British business owners need enriched data intelligence in order to deliver on their corporate objectives, they need it in real-time and they need it to provide greater added value in the marketing process.”

He told LDP Business: “In sales and marketing, it’s about the what and the how. A lot of people look at the how, but seldom at the who. I’ve always had a problem with that.

“If you don’t know the who, how on earth are you going to do the how? How do you plan a strategy or a campaign if you don’t know who you’re going to talk to?”