Pre-targeting ads for outbound: Turning “Seen you before” into replies

Cold outreach dies the second your pitch walks in before your name does. Your reputation should come first. And your message second.

Pre-targeting ads fix that. They plant your face, brand, or offer in someone’s head first, so when the cold outreach lands, it feels more like a familiar nudge than an unwelcome intrusion.

In this piece, we’ll show you how pre-targeting ads work, how to set them up, and why they make outbound easier.

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Why does pre-targeting work?

People usually see this as a bottom-funnel play – those annoying ads that follow you after a site visit. Pre-targeting turns that logic upside down. 

Instead of waiting, you go first: show ads to your outbound list before sending an email or LinkedIn DM. 

So when your message lands, it doesn’t feel random. It triggers the “I’ve seen you before” effect.

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How to set up pre-targeting?

There are a few ways to make this work:

• Creative and audience design: Upload your outbound list (or segments of it) to LinkedIn or Meta. Use custom audiences or match them with pixels. Keep ad creative simple: brand visuals, thought-leadership snippets, or messaging tied to a webinar, ebook, or newsletter.
• Sequential messaging: Don’t try to close a deal with your first ad. Think of it as a sequence: first ad = brand recall, second ad = authority/content, third ad = credibility. 
• Tiny but potent budgets: You don’t need to spend much. A few hundred euros/dollars spread across highly targeted pools can make an outsized impact. The goal isn’t scale, it’s familiarity.
  
  

Where does it fit in your funnel? 

Pre-targeting is the bridge between brand and outbound. 

Traditional demand gen (ebooks, webinars, podcasts, newsletters) is slower to pay off. Outbound, on the other hand, is fast but cold. 

Pre-targeting sits right in the middle:

• It borrows the awareness tactics of demand gen (ads, content snippets).
• It powers the directness of outbound (email, LinkedIn, WhatsApp).

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Example in action

Let’s say you’re targeting industrial tech SaaS buyers. Instead of dropping straight into their inbox cold, you:

1. Upload a curated list of 500 ICP-fit accounts into LinkedIn Ads.
2. Run a pre-targeting campaign with simple creative: “3 ways SaaS leaders cut CAC with AI workflows.”
3. Two weeks later, launch your outbound sequence to the same list

Now, when your SDR emails them, there’s a mental trigger that says you’re not a “stranger danger”. Just a flash of recognition that makes your company feel like a known player.

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Steal our playbook

Here’s the exact playbook we run to turn cold lists into engaged prospects and then into paying customers:

Stage 1 – Brand awareness

• Goal: Warm up your cold audience so they know who you are before outreach.
• Steps:
  
  1. List building → You start with a defined cold list of prospects.
  2. Advertise on LinkedIn → Run awareness ads targeted at this list.
  3. First 10–14 days → Use low-budget, low-frequency ads (2–3 impressions). For example, a paid article in niche media introducing your company.
  4. Next 10–30 days → Keep showing ads but start layering in educational content:
     
     • Podcasts
     • Thought leadership ads
     • Resource ads
     • Newsletters

Stage 2 – Audience Activation

• Goal: Turn awareness into engagement and start real interactions.
• Steps:
  
  1. Create a series of 3 webinars (industry-relevant topics).
     
     • Release them over 4 weeks (1 every 2 weeks).
       
  2. New paid article for each webinar in niche media (extra exposure).
     
     • Optional: publish 1 more article a few days before each webinar.
       
  3. LinkedIn Ads promoting the webinars from day 1.
     
     • Webinar ads (different visuals, video intro).
     • MOFU ads (case studies, downloadable content, testimonials).
       
  4. Cold outreach → 5–10 days before each webinar, SDRs reach out via LinkedIn + email.
     
     

Stage 3 – Conversion

• Goal: Turn engaged prospects into customers.
• Steps:
  
  1. Advertise on LinkedIn with BOFU ads:
     
     • Case studies
     • Direct offers
     • Product-focused messaging
       
  2. Warm outreach → Follow up with prospects who interacted with earlier content or webinars.
     
     

At this point, outreach feels much warmer since prospects have:

• Seen your brand,
• Engaged with your content,
• Possibly attended a webinar.
  

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This is the cheat code that makes outbound work. Warm them up. Hit them with value. Then go for the close.