I currently work for two organizations: one is a consultancy, the other is a non-profit. They both have an interest in drastically expanding their contact database. Both have very specific requirements. The one company wants to know ALL senior marketers around the world. The other wants to know all C-level execs at major companies. The goal is to send out monthly newsletters with relevant content to both databases.

That was the background. Now the question:

is it legal, and is it wise, to proactively seek out leads (who do not opt-in) via LinkedIn and business intelligence platforms such as Jigsaw/Zoom Info, and to target them with what's supposed to be relevant information?

I have started this approach 4 months ago and am having serious doubts as to its effectiveness and am concerned about being marked as a sender of SPAM (though I have not received any complaints from recipients). Any thoughts/experiences with this?

Thanks,

Steve A.