Maarten, you are in charge of the Benelux and the United Kingdom at EMB. What differences exist on these markets compared to the French market?

I am in charge of the business development of EMB for the countries of the Benelux zone and those of the United Kingdom. These are indeed different markets, which require adapting to the needs of our customers, such as being able to provide qualified data in several languages.

In Belgium, the vast majority of companies are small structures, which is also a big difference with France. We also work with large companies in the Telecommunications or e-Commerce sectors for example, and most often in the context of a direct relationship. And very often with communication / marketing agencies that are looking for data for their customers.

As far as the United Kingdom is concerned, we especially support companies wishing to develop internationally.

What are the needs expressed by your different customers?

Our main mission is to provide our customers with B2B and B2C data for their marketing actions, and more specifically email marketing that our customers use for emailing campaigns. EMB offers unique databases on the market, which we have been collecting and enriching for many years. It is this specificity that makes EMB strong with our customers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

We also offer complementary offers around data for businesses: enrichment, deduplication, and updating of databases.

How does EMB meet these needs?

We have strong assets, which allow us to meet the demands of our customers. There is obviously compliance, symbolized in particular by our RGPD charter, but also the relevance and quality of our data which meet high standards even when we work with a large volume of data.

What are the main differentiating points of EMB on the market compared to its competitors?

We are able to respond to a very broad spectrum of requests, when others can not, because we have always worked on the completeness of the data at EMB. We have always been concerned about being able to offer our customers specific and precise data, and most often data they will not find elsewhere.

And how are EMB's international strengths materialized for companies wishing to explore multiple markets?

The very broad coverage of EMB data is our main strength. But also the ability we have to respond to requests in multiple languages. For example, companies in the Benelux can not simply look for their domestic market, which is quickly limited.

By working with us, companies can both work locally but also export, because at EMB, they can find suitable data that covers several countries and several sectors of activity. EMB can thus provide prospecting bases for more than 60 countries.

Does the impact of new regulations, including the GDPR, change the way you work with companies in the Benelux?

Already, you have to know that the regulations are different in each country with regard to digital prospecting. For example in the Netherlands, the collection of information must be done with a "double opt-in". And some practices allowed in one country are prohibited elsewhere.

Today, unlike other players on the market, we are able to deliver to our customers the data they are looking for and which comply with the legal standards in force in Europe. This is the result of the excellent anticipation work carried out by EMB's technical teams.