Warm the committee with ads before the first message
Stage 1 puts the people at your hottest accounts into a Meta custom audience every day, or a file for LinkedIn, so they know your name before the opener.
· 2 min read
A first message lands better when the buyer has seen your firm's name before. Most services firms can't fund broad ads, and they don't need to. They need the few dozen people at the accounts that are heating up this month.
What it does
Stage 1 takes the people on your hottest accounts and turns them into an audience your ads can reach. On Meta, it syncs a custom audience once a day. For LinkedIn, you download a file and upload it to Campaign Manager.
The ads run next to the outreach, not in place of it. The committee sees your name in their feed. Then the opener shows up from a firm that already feels familiar.
Who counts as hot
You set the line. Pick the signal strength an account has to reach, anywhere from 20 to 95. The default is 60. Stage 1 shows how many people qualify today, so you can see the audience size before you spend a dollar.
People qualify from accounts you're working. Accounts you approved, accounts with a meeting booked, and accounts on the Board that you kept or added yourself. Suggestions you never kept stay out.
Anyone who opted out of your messages is left out every time.
You get two downloads. The contact list carries email, first name, last name, job title and company, and LinkedIn matches it to people. The company list carries the company name, website and email domain, and LinkedIn matches it to the accounts.
Upload either one in Campaign Manager under Audiences, Create, Upload a list. Contact lists are tighter. Company lists reach more of the account when you have few emails.
Meta
Add a Meta access token with ads management rights and your ad account ID under Settings, Connections. Then turn on Sync every day.
Stage 1 creates a custom audience for its hot accounts in your ad account and replaces it with today's list on every sync. Accounts that cool off fall out. Accounts that heat up come in. You don't touch it.
Emails and names are hashed before they leave Stage 1. Only people with a work email go to Meta. There's a Sync now button when you don't want to wait, and you can download the file and upload it by hand instead.
Where you find it
Settings, Ad audiences. The workspace owner sets the threshold and turns the daily sync on or off. Everyone can download the files.
The same screen shows your phone number allowance. That's a separate feature, and it comes with paid plans.
Why it matters for services
Senior buyers give meetings to firms they trust. Trust starts with recognition. A CIO who has seen your name three times this month reads your opener differently from one who has never heard of you.
The spend stays small. You're not buying reach across an industry. You're paying to be familiar to the people at accounts already showing signs they're getting ready to buy, ranked the way the Board ranks them. That's a budget a 30-person firm can carry.
Ads don't do the selling. The research and the Hypothesis Opening do that. And if you're thinking about what the ads should say, content that sells services is a good place to start.
Ads don't open the door. They make sure the person behind it knows your name when you knock.