Prospecting Campaigns

Find and acquire new customers who haven't visited your site. Unlike retargeting (which re-engages existing visitors), prospecting campaigns target cold audiences through search keywords, interest targeting, and lookalike audiences.

What Are Prospecting Campaigns?

Prospecting campaigns help you reach people who don't know your brand yet. They work across Google, Meta, and LinkedIn to find new audiences based on:

• Search intent: People actively searching for your products/services
• Interests and behaviors: People who match your ideal customer profile
• Lookalike audiences: People similar to your existing customers

ILLIXIS analyzes your best-performing content to suggest targeting criteria for each platform.

Campaign Types

| Type | Best For | Platforms |
|------|----------|-----------|
| Search | Keyword intent (bottom-of-funnel) | Google, Bing |
| Display | Visual ads across websites | Google Display Network |
| Video | YouTube video ads | Google Demand Gen |
| Shopping | E-commerce product listings | Google Shopping |
| Performance Max | AI-optimized multi-channel | All Google channels |

Creating a Prospecting Campaign

Step 1: Campaign Setup

1. Go to Advertising → Prospecting Tab
2. Click "New Campaign"
3. Enter Campaign Name (e.g., "Q1 Search Campaign")
4. Select Campaign Type (Search, Display, Video, Shopping, or Performance Max)
5. Choose Objective:

• Brand Awareness
• Traffic
• Engagement
• Lead Generation
• Conversions

Step 2: Budget & Schedule

Daily Budget:

• Minimum: $1/day (Google), $20/day (Meta), $10/day (LinkedIn)
• Recommended: $50-100/day for meaningful data

Lifetime Budget (optional):

• Set total campaign budget
• Platform paces spend automatically

Schedule:

• Start date (optional, defaults to today)
• End date (optional, runs continuously if blank)

Step 3: Targeting Configuration

After creating the campaign, configure targeting for each platform.

Search Campaigns (Google/Bing)

Keyword Targeting:

• Add 10-50 keywords related to your product/service
• Use broad match for discovery, exact match for precision
• ILLIXIS suggests keywords based on your top-performing content

Example:
```
marketing automation software
best crm for small business
email marketing tools
```

Geographic Targeting:

• Countries, states, cities, or radius targeting
• Exclude areas where you don't serve customers

Demographics:

• Age ranges (18-24, 25-34, etc.)
• Gender (all, male, female)
• Household income (optional)

Display Campaigns (Google/Meta/LinkedIn)

Interest Targeting:

• Select interests that match your ideal customer
• ILLIXIS analyzes your content to suggest relevant interests

Examples:

• Meta: "Small Business Owners", "Entrepreneurship", "Marketing"
• Google: "Business Software", "Marketing Tools", "CRM"
• LinkedIn: "Marketing", "Business Development", "Sales"

Demographic Targeting:

• Age, gender, location
• LinkedIn: Job titles, industries, company sizes, seniority

Placement Targeting:

• Choose where ads appear (feed, stories, right column, etc.)
• Google: Select specific websites or categories

LinkedIn Professional Targeting

Job Titles:
```
Marketing Manager
CMO
Director of Marketing
VP Marketing
```

Industries:
```
Technology
Marketing
Professional Services
```

Company Size:

• 1-50 employees
• 51-200 employees
• 201-500 employees
• 501+ employees

Seniority Levels:

• Entry level
• Manager
• Director
• VP
• C-level

Step 4: Ad Creative

Headlines (up to 15):

• Add 5-15 headline variations
• Google rotates to find best performers
• Max 30 characters (Search), 90 characters (Display)

Descriptions (up to 4):

• Add 2-4 description variations
• Max 90 characters (Search), 90 characters (Display)
• Highlight benefits, not features

Destination URL:

• Where users land after clicking
• Use landing pages (not homepage) for best conversion
• Include UTM parameters for tracking

Creative Assets (Display/Video):

• Link to banner projects for display ads
• Link to video projects for video campaigns
• AI generates creative variations automatically

AI-Suggested Targeting

ILLIXIS analyzes your best content to recommend targeting criteria.

What ILLIXIS analyzes:

• Your top-performing articles (by traffic and conversions)
• Keywords that drive qualified visitors
• Topics that resonate with your audience
• Competitor content gaps

Suggested targeting includes:

• Search keywords (with search volume estimates)
• Interest categories (by platform)
• Content themes that attract converters
• Professional demographics (LinkedIn)

How to use suggestions:

1. Click "Get AI Suggestions" in targeting configuration
2. Review suggested keywords, interests, and demographics
3. Select relevant suggestions or customize
4. Save targeting configuration

Lookalike Audiences

Create audiences that match your best customers.

Creating a Lookalike

1. Go to Advertising → Prospecting Tab → Lookalike Audiences
2. Click "Create Lookalike"
3. Select Seed Audience (retargeting audience of converters)
4. Choose Lookalike Percentage (1-10%)

• 1% = most similar to seed (smaller audience)
• 10% = broader reach (larger audience)

5. Select Country for expansion
6. Choose Platforms (Meta, LinkedIn, Google)

Using Lookalikes in Campaigns

After creating a lookalike:

1. Wait 24-48 hours for platform processing
2. Go to campaign targeting
3. Select your lookalike audience as target
4. Launch campaign

Best practices:

• Start with 1-2% lookalikes (highest quality)
• Test 3-5% if 1% is too small (< 100,000 people)
• Use converters as seed, not just visitors

Performance Tracking

Monitor campaigns in the Prospecting dashboard.

Key Metrics

| Metric | What It Means | Goal |
|--------|---------------|------|
| Impressions | Times your ad was shown | Volume indicator |
| Clicks | Clicks on your ad | Interest signal |
| CTR | Click-through rate (Clicks / Impressions) | > 1% (Search), > 0.5% (Display) |
| CPC | Cost per click | Varies by industry ($1-10) |
| Conversions | Goal completions | Track in GA4 |
| CPA | Cost per acquisition | < Lifetime value |

Platform Status

See which platforms are connected and active:

• Google Ads: Shows Google campaign ID when synced
• Meta: Shows Meta campaign ID when synced
• LinkedIn: Shows LinkedIn campaign URN when synced

Optimization Recommendations

ILLIXIS monitors performance and suggests:

• Pause low-CTR keywords (< 0.5% CTR after 100 impressions)
• Increase budget on high-ROAS campaigns (> 3x ROAS)
• Add negative keywords (terms driving unqualified traffic)
• Test new ad creative (refresh every 2-4 weeks)

Automation Schedule

ILLIXIS runs several automated processes to keep your prospecting campaigns optimized without manual intervention.

| Process | Frequency | What It Does |
|---------|-----------|--------------|
| Prospecting Audience Refresh | Daily at 6:00 AM UTC | Updates audience segments with new visitor data and recalculates lookalike seeds |
| Budget Pacing Checks | Every hour | Monitors spend against daily/lifetime budgets and adjusts delivery if needed |
| Performance Optimization Suggestions | Weekly (Mondays) | Analyzes campaign data and generates actionable recommendations |
| Audience Expansion Recommendations | After each sync | Identifies new targeting opportunities based on fresh performance data |

What this means for you:

• No manual syncing required - Audiences stay current automatically
• Budget protection - Hourly checks prevent overspending
• Weekly insights - Check the Prospecting dashboard on Mondays for fresh optimization suggestions
• Timely recommendations - After each platform sync, you'll see new expansion opportunities if available

Tip: Schedule your weekly campaign review for Monday mornings to coincide with the fresh optimization suggestions.

Connecting Ad Accounts

Google Ads

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Google Ads
2. Click "Connect Google Ads"
3. Sign in with your Google account
4. Select the Google Ads account to connect
5. Grant requested permissions

Required permissions:

• Campaign management
• Ad group management
• Audience targeting

Meta Business Manager

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Meta
2. Click "Connect Meta"
3. Sign in with Facebook
4. Select your Business Manager
5. Choose the ad account to connect

Required permissions:

• Ads management
• Audience management
• Campaign insights

LinkedIn Campaign Manager

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → LinkedIn
2. Click "Connect LinkedIn"
3. Sign in with LinkedIn
4. Authorize ILLIXIS for your ad account

Required permissions:

• Campaign management
• Audience targeting
• Analytics access

Budget Guidelines

Recommended Starting Budgets

| Platform | Campaign Type | Minimum | Recommended |
|----------|---------------|---------|-------------|
| Google | Search | $10/day | $50-100/day |
| Google | Display | $5/day | $30-50/day |
| Meta | Feed Ads | $20/day | $50-100/day |
| LinkedIn | Sponsored Content | $10/day | $50-100/day |

Budget Allocation

For a $1,000/month prospecting budget:

• 50% Search (high intent, bottom-of-funnel)
• 30% Social (awareness and engagement)
• 20% Display (brand awareness)

Scale based on performance:

• Increase budget 20-30% weekly for campaigns with ROAS > 3x
• Pause campaigns with CPA > 2x target after 2 weeks
• Test new campaigns at minimum budget for 1-2 weeks

Best Practices

1. Start with Search

Search campaigns (Google, Bing) convert better than display for prospecting. Capture high-intent users actively searching for your solution.

2. Layer Targeting

Combine multiple targeting criteria:

• Keywords + demographics + locations
• Interests + job titles (LinkedIn)
• Lookalike + interest targeting (Meta)

3. Test Multiple Creatives

Run 3-5 ad variations per campaign. Platforms optimize toward winners automatically.

4. Use Dedicated Landing Pages

Send clicks to campaign-specific landing pages, not your homepage. Match ad message to landing page copy.

5. Set Conversion Tracking

Install conversion pixels before launching:

• Google Ads conversion tag
• Meta Pixel
• LinkedIn Insight Tag

Without conversion data, optimization is impossible.

6. Refresh Creative Monthly

Ad fatigue happens after 2-4 weeks. Update images, headlines, and CTAs regularly to maintain performance.

7. Exclude Existing Customers

Add exclusion audiences:

• Email subscribers
• Website visitors (from retargeting audiences)
• CRM contacts

This prevents wasting budget on people who already know you.

Troubleshooting

"Campaign not delivering"

Cause: Budget too low, targeting too narrow, or ad disapproved.
Fix:

• Check budget (minimum $10/day for Google, $20/day for Meta)
• Broaden targeting (add more keywords/interests)
• Review ad approval status in platform dashboard

"High impressions, low clicks"

Cause: Ad creative not compelling or targeting misaligned.
Fix:

• Rewrite headlines to be more specific
• Add urgency or benefits to descriptions
• Narrow targeting to more qualified audiences

"High CPC, low conversions"

Cause: Competitive keywords or poor landing page.
Fix:

• Add negative keywords to filter out unqualified traffic
• Optimize landing page (faster load, clear CTA)
• Test long-tail keywords (less competitive)

"Lookalike audience not populating"

Cause: Seed audience too small (< 100 people).
Fix:

• Wait for seed audience to grow
• Use a larger seed (e.g., all website visitors, not just converters)
• Combine multiple small audiences into one seed

Quota Usage

Prospecting campaigns do NOT count toward ILLIXIS quotas. Ad spend is billed directly by each platform (Google, Meta, LinkedIn).

ILLIXIS does not charge for:

• Campaign creation
• Targeting suggestions
• Performance tracking
• AI-generated copy

Platforms charge for:

• Ad impressions and clicks
• Per platform billing terms

Related Features

• Lookalike Audiences - Expand your best customers
• Banner Ad Builder - Create display ads for campaigns
• Video Production - Generate video ads for YouTube
• Landing Pages - Build campaign-specific landing pages
• GA4 Integration - Track conversions from campaigns

FAQ

Q: What's the difference between prospecting and retargeting?
Prospecting targets people who haven't visited your site. Retargeting re-engages existing visitors.

Q: How much should I spend on prospecting?
Start with $500-1,000/month across platforms. Scale based on ROAS (aim for 3x+).

Q: Can I run prospecting on multiple platforms simultaneously?
Yes. Create one campaign in ILLIXIS, select multiple platforms in targeting configuration.

Q: How long until I see results?
Search campaigns: 1-2 weeks. Display/social: 2-4 weeks. Platforms need time to optimize.

Q: Should I use broad or exact match keywords?
Start with broad match for discovery, then add exact match for your best performers.

Q: What's a good CTR for prospecting?
Search: > 2%. Display: > 0.5%. Social: > 1%.

Q: How do I know if my targeting is too narrow?
If campaigns don't spend full budget after 3-5 days, targeting is too narrow. Broaden keywords, interests, or demographics.

Q: Can I exclude certain audiences?
Yes. Add exclusion lists in targeting configuration (e.g., existing customers, competitors).