Harte-Hanks Launches New Web Platform, www.citdb.com, To Make Tech Contacts Easily Available To Emerging Marketers

July 16, 2007; 08:08 AM

Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:HHS), a worldwide direct and targeted marketing company, announced today the release of an e-commerce platform designed to provide small and emerging technology marketers and sellers easy access to technology contacts across North America, Europe and South America. The new site, http://www.citdb.com, allows technology companies with small marketing budgets to search and select contacts from the Harte-Hanks Ci Technology Database (CiTDB), a source of rich installed technology content from 700,000 business sites on three continents.  

CiTDB.com users can focus their search on a very specific geographical area or market sector, and rent a list of contacts they want, entirely online by credit card.  The data made available are name, company, mailing address and telephone number based on the user's query, but without the location's technology profile information that is only associated with a full CiTDB subscription.  Further, citdb.com customers – typically small and medium businesses (SMBs) – are subject to the full terms and conditions for use of CiTDB data, which includes restrictions for marketing use only.

"This new e-commerce site allows us to provide critical marketing contacts to the important and growing smaller segments of our traditional markets," said Gary Skidmore, corporate officer and executive vice president, Harte-Hanks.

"For the first time, small- and medium-size enterprises can buy any quantity of technology contacts they need – however small," said Randy Wussler, managing director, market intelligence, Harte-Hanks.  "Traditional users of the CiTDB are larger technology and telecommunication enterprises across the world.  With their vast market intelligence needs and large scale of users, these clients have always purchased and accessed content primarily on a subscription basis, receiving updated data every month. With this new e-commerce platform, smaller, more geographically-focused purchases are now available, best suited for SMB companies, while larger companies still benefit from the full breadth of services tied to a CiTDB subscription."

The new platform provides 24-hour access to a choice of more than 15 list "selects" based on installed technology intelligence from the CiTDB.  Users can define their search to be as broad or as pinpoint-accurate as needed. They can target specific geographic areas by state, area code, ZIP or postal code, or major metropolitan area. Additional targeting can be achieved by industry and business size, Harte-Hanks reports.

"For companies selling to technology buyers, the real strength of CiTDB.com comes through the underlying CiTDB itself, where marketers can select from 16 different types of technology decision makers, from, for example, PC manager or network manager to software/ applications manager," Wussler said.

The Web site is designed to serve international markets, offering intelligence from more than 20 countries in North America, Europe, and South America.  Users provide payment with a major credit card and receive their selected marketing lists online.

"Our smallest clients tend to be our most nimble, with very specific marketing intelligence needs," Wussler said.  "CiTDB.com will allow them to act quickly and meet those intelligence needs independently, efficiently and cost-effectively."