Practical Outbound Marketing (Cold Outreach) Guide for Startup Founders
When you hear the term "outbound marketing," it’s often dismissed as old-fashioned or overly intrusive. Many marketers will argue:
“Inbound marketing is king, outbound is a relic of the past.”
While it’s true that outbound marketing involves reaching out directly to your audience, it’s far from obsolete. The smartest marketers understand the power of combining outbound and inbound strategies for a well-rounded, impactful approach.
In this playbook, I’ll break down growth hacks for outbound marketing and reveal 8 highly effective tactics to supercharge your efforts and deliver measurable results. Whether you’re new to outbound marketing or looking to refine your strategy, this guide has everything you need to get started.
Timeframe
2022 - 2023
Platform
Outbound Marketing
1. Find the contact details of potential leads using Getkoala and Apollo
→ Go to “Getkoala’s” free database and scrape 10,000 records
→ Then verify lead emails using Apollo
→ Click on Search and select “C-level” under job titles
→ Choose "verified" for the Email status
→ Insert your business niche in the “Currently hiring for” section (to detect a clear buying intent for your solution)
→ Filter companies with an ARR ranging from 0.1 - 2 Million USD
→ Save search results and add scraped emails to the new sequence
Don't use numbers in the subject line
Cold emails that include numbers in the subject line receive 46% fewer opens. Here's the winner SL: {{Their Company}} <> {{Your Company}}
Send more emails on Wednesday Mid-week emails see higher reply rates than Monday, Friday & the Weekend.
Don't sell in the first email. Invite them to a conversation. The subject line will get them to open the email, the copy will keep them engaged, and the CTA should prompt them to send a follow-up message.
Send simple texts Never design emails, as they scream "Promo".
Make sure you don't end up in spam Warm up your email address and avoid spam words: free trial, investment opportunity, etc. Use Mail-Tester .com to check spam scores.
Power of a P.S. Include a P.S. if you want to achieve 14% higher reply rates.
Font size is crucial!
If you want to stand out and receive 20% more replies than usual in your cold email marketing campaign, consider increasing the font size of the body text from normal to H1/Large.
If you're running low on funds, here's a template to help you pitch VCs like a pro founder:
To: Investor
Subject Line: Your Full Name & WhatsApp Number
I'm the CEO of [Startup], we launched [x] months ago. Our traction is [x], we are growing like [x], our margins are [x], our customers are [x]. Because of your investment in [x company], I believe you would be interested in the round we are raising currently.
What do you think?
Best,
Your Name
If you want to win over users from your competitors, start by asking about their frustrations. Here’s a cold email template that follows this exact formula, and it helped launch a $200 million company: ConvertKit!
Here's another cold email template that started a $100M / year company
If you want to master marketing, join my startup accelerator!
