How to Get Clients for a Digital Marketing Agency via Cold Outreach

Cold outreach can sometimes feel like shouting into the void. You send message after message and hope someone, anyone, will respond. But what if there was a better way?

The truth is, getting noticed and hearing back isn’t about fancy words. It's about understanding who you’re reaching out to and speaking in a way that genuinely connects with their needs.

How do you do that? This article breaks down how to get clients for a digital marketing agency via cold outreach. So, if you’re just starting or looking to improve your outreach game, these simple, practical tips will help you start small, stay consistent, and turn cold contacts into warm conversations.

Let's get started.

What is cold outreach, and why use it for digital marketing clients?

Cold outreach refers to the act of contacting a potential customer who has no prior relationship with your products or services. It involves initiating contact with people who are unaware of your business.

It’s done through various methods such as email, phone calls, LinkedIn, and more. The goal is to send unsolicited messages or emails to generate new leads or opportunities for your business.

Cold outreach offers various benefits, such as:

1. Cost-effectiveness

When compared to other forms of marketing like advertising, cold outreach is cheaper. Rather expensive media purchase or large teams, you rely on automation tools. This low cost enables agencies to maximize their marketing budget efficiently while generating meaningful leads and converting clients, resulting in a high return on investment.

2. Scalable

Scalability is tied to the nature of cold outreach, being a direct and proactive method. Instead of waiting for inbound leads, agencies actively engage decision-makers across various industries. Through automated sequences of personalized emails, follow-ups, and multi-channel touches, including calls and social media messages, agencies can efficiently ramp their client acquisition efforts.

3. Targeted

Unlike traditional marketing methods that reach a broad audience, cold outreach is more targeted. With the right focus on the specific ideal client profile, putting certain factors in check, agencies can tailor their messages to address precise pain points and needs. This targeted approach increases the likelihood of engagement and conversion because the outreach feels personalized and relevant rather than generic.

In short, cold outreach stands out for its scalability, cost efficiency, and highly targeted, measurable interactions, making it ideal for businesses to engage with potential clients directly.

Why you should niche down for better messaging

Picture trying to get noticed in a vast expanse of different industries. Tough, right? That is why you need to niche down. Niching down means identifying a smaller segment of your audience to target, rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

You’ll stand out more to a specific group of people who are looking precisely for what you’re offering. It’s a highly targeted form of marketing that offers these benefits:

1. Improved marketing focus

Instead of spreading resources thin across multiple customer types and goals, niching down helps create manageable marketing projects with a unified direction, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of growth initiatives. This focused approach also enables quicker identification of potential market gaps and customer pain points.

2. Builds trust as an expert

Once seen as an expert in the field, it’s easier to get more of the same types of customers. More experience in the marketing niche builds industry thought leadership and helps establish the brand as an expert who can solve problems. The niche expertise creates a clear competitive advantage when going up against a generalist.

3. Creates a distinctive brand identity

When done correctly, it can help businesses to better connect with their ideal customers, resulting in more sales and profitability. Companies need to know their target audience well enough to predict reactions ahead and have messaging that resonates with them.

Crafting a unique and consistent image that clearly communicates the business’s specialized value to its target audience starts with a deep understanding of the niche market.

4. Smarter spending choices

Smart spending in a niche means more than just budget allocation. It involves focused use of team skills, outsourcing when appropriate, and continuous monitoring to ensure resources drive the best possible results.

Since it is a smaller part of a bigger market, you create a budget to reach specific markets and get a higher return on investment. This disciplined approach fosters sustainable growth with less financial waste compared to generic mass-market marketing.

How to build a targeted prospects list

When building a consistent pipeline, applying effective B2B lead generation strategies and utilizing the right tools, you can identify the ideal prospects for your lead generation efforts. Michel Lieben, CEO and Founder at ColdIQ, recommends using a Clay table to build your list and shares a five-step approach on how to do it.

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An overview of how to build a targeted prospects list

1. Have a blocklist

A blocklist is a list of prospects that your clients don’t want to contact. According to Michel, this list contains a mix of past clients, competitors, existing clients, or companies you simply don’t want to prospect. Once you have this “do-not-contact” list, your Clay table automatically cleans the data and enriches domain URLs from company names, letting you focus on prospects who matter.

2. Use different data sources to find leads

Access multiple data sources from your Clay table to get more prospects’ information. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Grab domains from Ocean.io, DiscoLike, and custom databases like Instant Data Scraper
• Import domains from Apollo through Clay’s webhooks to find an individual’s contacts
• Clay finds more leads from the same domains (no duplicates)
• Use Clay’s webhook to import leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator

3. Enrich lead list

Once you have your targeted list, use a waterfall enrichment solution to find their valid email addresses and phone numbers. At ColdIQ, we use these tools:

• Valid email addresses — Prospeo, LeadMagic, and FullEnrich
• Mobile phone number — FullEnrich

Then, we fact-check their personal LinkedIn profile to make sure the person still works there.

4. Push out to an outreach tool

With every contact cleaned, we export the table to any outreach tool like Lemlist, Instantly, or Expandi.io. But before then, we make sure to remove any duplicate contacts, valid information, sort them by seniority level, and focus on the top 3 per organization. Once this is built, we can reuse the list for every single client in that field.

Criteria to filter prospects

There’s nothing more frustrating than investing time and effort in engaging people who turn out to be nowhere near a purchasing decision. You have to learn to filter your leads to avoid situations like this. Here are some factors to consider:

1. Revenue

Filtering by revenue helps sales and marketing teams focus their efforts on prospects that have the financial capability to progress through the sales funnel, reducing wasted time on leads who cannot afford the offering.

2. Location

Consider your prospect’s location to avoid wasting resources on people outside your company's operational areas. Target geographically relevant prospects with customized and effective messaging that results in precision in lead generation and maximizes conversions.

3. Job title or role

Look for decision-makers or key influencers whose job roles align with the product or service being offered. This role-focused qualification connects you with the right people, resulting in precise targeting and boosting higher conversion rates.

4. Tech stack

Use the technology a company employs to narrow down potential leads before deeper analysis. Look for companies that employ certain technologies (software, platforms, or tools) relevant to their offering before considering further qualification steps. This indicates compatibility or a higher likelihood of interest.

Tips for organizing and updating your list regularly

If you want to get clients for digital marketing, it’s crucial to organize and update your lead list before cold outreach. Why?

It removes invalid or unengaged contacts, allowing you to contact the right people with the right message. In this section, we will share some tips for organizing and updating your list regularly.

1. Use a dedicated system

A dedicated tool that serves as a storehouse keeps your list intact in one place. Take, for instance, a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce can serve as a centralized hub for storing contact information, company data, and interaction history.

This avoids scattered spreadsheets and keeps every record standardized with consistent fields. No matter how big the list grows, you can alter records and manage with ease.

2. Regular data cleansing and verification

Emails change, people leave jobs, and companies pivot, which means old data quickly becomes useless. Running all new contacts through a verification tool ensures only valid addresses are kept, while risky or invalid emails are eliminated immediately.

On a broader scale, the entire list should be re-verified on a monthly or quarterly basis to reduce bounce rates and protect sender reputation.

3. Segment your persona

Instead of blasting the same message to everyone, prospects are grouped into meaningful clusters by industry, role, company size, or buying stage. This makes outreach feel relevant and targeted. Anthony Natoli, Senior Account Executive at LinkedIn, shared four tips on how to better segment multiple personas in your cold campaign.

• Create persona-based sequences and use persona-specific messaging. Take it a step further and segment by prospect engagement or awareness level.

• When selling to one persona, create below-the-line (BTL) and above-the-line (ATL) sequences and use messaging based on their seniority level.
• Create a re-engagement sequence for prospects who have ghosted your campaigns, lost deals, or any prospects you’ve engaged with in the past.
• Create high-intent sequences for prospects who are down in the funnel of the buyer’s journey or have some brand awareness.

As engagement changes, prospects can be reclassified into more accurate segments, ensuring that messaging evolves with where they are in the buyer’s journey.

4. Continuously enrich data

Data enrichment keeps the list alive and valuable over time. This goes beyond the basics of name, title, and email. Alex Vacca, COO and Co-founder at ColdIQ, recommends Clay and GhostGenius for enriching your prospect’s data. For a company list, you enrich it with:

• Follower count,
• Website,
• Employee count.
• LinkedIn URL,
• Activity level

For a person list, you enrich it with:

• Job titles
• Email address
• Phone number

Continuous enrichment lets you have a clean list, which you can leverage for a timely and contextually relevant outreach.

5. Ensure compliance

Cold outreach doesn’t work without compliance. Respecting unsubscribes, managing a suppression list, and following laws like GDPR and CAN-SPAM are non-negotiable.

Every email must provide a clear opt-out path, and every unsubscribe or complaint must be processed promptly. Compliance protects both your sender reputation and your brand credibility.

What should your cold outreach message include?

When crafting your outreach message, following proven cold email best practices can significantly increase your chances of getting noticed and receiving a response. Here are some elements your cold outreach message should include to get digital marketing clients.

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Elements of a cold email message

1. Personalized introduction

A cold outreach message should begin with a personalized introduction that grabs the prospect’s attention and shows you’ve done your part.

This means you address the recipient by name and reference specific details relevant to them, such as their role, company, recent achievements, or challenges they face. Personalization creates immediate relevance, builds rapport, and demonstrates respect for the prospect’s time.

2. Value proposition

Your value proposition clearly communicates what you have to offer. It’s a concise statement that explains how your product or service can solve a specific problem or fulfill a need for the prospect.

Like Alex Vacca, COO of ColdIQ says, “You can build the most sophisticated Clay table, pulling every data point imaginable to personalize your emails. If you’re not solving a real problem for your prospect. No amount of personalization will get you results.”

He further adds, “ Personalization grabs attention. Relevance books meetings. It’s not about how well you know their favorite sports team or where they went to college. It’s about showing that you understand their pain points and have a solution that genuinely helps.”

As a result, focus on benefits rather than features, highlighting the unique advantage or outcome the prospect can expect. Explain how you can help them by addressing their specific pain points or offering relevant insights. A strong value proposition quickly answers the prospect’s question, making your message relevant and compelling.

3. Social proof

Including social proof in your cold outreach message builds credibility and trust, showing that others have benefited from your offer. This can take the form of client testimonials, case studies, recognizable brand names you’ve worked with, statistics on success rates, or relevant awards.

Alex Vacca, COO at ColdIQ, explains, “Share a relevant success story or a client you’ve helped in a similar situation. People are more likely to respond if they see how others have benefited from your solution.”

Social proof helps reduce skepticism by providing evidence that your solution is effective and trusted by peers or industry leaders, making prospects more open to engagement.

4. Clear call to action

The call to action is the final part of your cold outreach message. It tells the prospect exactly what you want them to do next, making it easy and clear for them to take the next step.

The CTA should be simple, direct, and clear to encourage a response. Do you want them to book a demo, visit a specific link, or book a quick call? It will avoid ambiguity and guide the prospect toward engagement.

Tips for writing simple, conversational, and benefit-focused copy

Testing is the only real path to figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and it’s essential to start split-testing from the get-go. However, there are some timeless principles that have been proven to work.

• Write like you talk. Makes your copy feel natural and relatable, so readers connect with it like a conversation, not a lecture.

• Readers don’t care what a product does; they care how it makes their life easier, faster, or better. So, focus on benefits, not just features.

• Keep the spotlight on the reader and make the copy feel personal, showing what’s in it for them.

• Ask engaging questions. Spark curiosity, acknowledge pain points, and invite readers to keep going.

• Keep sentences short and clear because it is easier to skim and digest, especially on screens where attention spans are limited.

• A clear, friendly call-to-action guides readers toward what to do next without confusion or hesitation, so do well to make the step clear.

Examples of subject lines and email openers that work

A Yes Lifecycle Marketing study reveals that personalized subject lines in cold email campaigns get 50% more open rates. But how do you do this? Michel Lieben, CEO and Founder at ColdIQ, shares some tips for constructing subject lines to get a digital marketing client.

• Avoid clickbait in subject lines
• Keep it between 3-5 words
• Use lowercase
• Make it relevant to their world, not yours.

That said, Gerardo Teijeira, GTM Team Lead at ColdIQ, shares some examples of subject lines and email openers that are proven to work well, focusing on clarity, personalization, and relevance.

Note that these subject lines and email openers depend on the kind of campaign you’re running. However, as a general rule, here are some examples of short, punchy lines that work

• Hiring process.

• Outbound acquisition.

• US expansion.

For email openers, Gerardo advises that “Opening lines must not be robotic or cheese; it’s like the hook of your cold email. If your first sentence isn't good, recipients will not continue reading your email.” That said, here are some examples:

• “Must be a busy time for you now that [Event] is coming".

• “Reading the JD for the [Position] you're hiring, seems like…”

Pro tip: Always avoid starting your emails with words like "I saw" or "I noticed", everyone starts emails that way.

Overview of cold email automation tools

Choosing the best outbound sales tool tailored to your needs is key to scaling personalized outreach without sacrificing quality. Here are some tools for cold email automation:

1. Lemlist

Source: Lemlist

Lemlist is a cold outreach platform that enables you to reach out to potential prospects via multiple channels. With this tool, you can customize your cold emailing messages, employing elements like dynamic templates, icebreakers, or spintax variations. You can also include images and videos to better engage your prospects.

Besides, its powerful sequence engine automates 6 to 12 touch follow-ups, gently reminding your leads without feeling spammed. On the deliverability front, Lemlist includes Lemwarm, its built-in warm-up tool that uses smart sending logic to nurture sender reputation and keep messages out of spam. Overall, check out this Lemlist’s tutorial on how the tool works.

Pricing

Lemlist’s pricing plan starts at $69 per month.

2. Instantly

Source: Instantly

Instantly’s top focus is email deliverability. It’s a perfect choice for making sure your cold emails land in your prospect’s inbox, not the spam folder. One of its prominent features is unlimited mailboxes, which lets you create multiple email accounts to protect your primary domain.

On top of that, you get access to an automated warm-up system that mimics human sending behavior across networks, boosting inbox placement and improving the sender’s reputation. Users also enjoy basic but effective AI-powered campaign automation and personalization for scalable outreach.

Pricing

Instantly’s pricing starts at $37 per month.

3. Woodpecker

Source: Woodpecker

Woodpecker is a well-known platform for cold outreach automation. It is best for sales teams seeking to make sure their emails avoid the spam folder. For instance, you can add up to 100 email accounts to reduce the chance of hitting the service provider’s limits and improve deliverability.

You can also warm up these email accounts. Rather than sending those cold emails at once, it send them bit-by-bit to mimic a human sending pattern and let your emails land in the prospect’s inbox.

Pricing

Woodpecker offers a 7-day free trial, but its paid plans start at $29 per month.

4. Reply.io

Source: Reply.io

Reply.io is an AI-powered platform that automates your cold outreach across multiple channels so you can adapt based on recipient behavior in real time. With ready-made templates and elements like AI variables, crafting personalized emails becomes easy.

It creates unique subject lines, greetings, and openers to make your cold emails stand out. You can also add images and personalized videos to create engaging experiences. In this Reply’s video tutorial, Michel Lieben, CEO and Founder at ColdIQ, shares how to write less boring cold emails with Reply.

Pricing

Reply’s pricing starts at $99 per month.

5. Clay

Source: Clay

Our final option on the list is Clay. The sales intelligence is renowned for its TAM sourcing feature that lets you find qualified leads from multiple data providers. On top of that, you can leverage its waterfall enrichment solution to find your prospect’s valid email addresses and phone numbers and reach them.

Aside from these features, you can personalize your messages with custom variables, ensuring each messaging resonates with prospects. However, some features can be quite complex to use. G2 reviewers mentioned a steep learning curve that makes adoption quite challenging.

How to measure and optimize your cold outreach campaigns?

Let's understand what’s working and where your cold outreach campaigns can be fine-tuned for better results with the right metrics.

Key metrics to track

There are different key metrics you can use to track the effectiveness of your cold outreach campaigns. They include:

• Open rate: This is the percentage of recipients who open your emails. High open rates indicate strong subject lines or headlines that spark curiosity or relevance. Meanwhile, low open rates suggest testing different subject lines or improving sender credibility.

• Reply rate: This is the percentage of people who responded to your emails. A good reply rate indicates that your content resonates well with your audience. Cold emailers should aim for a reply rate of at least 15%.

• Conversion rate: An email conversion rate is the percentage of people who perform the desired action, such as purchasing products or signing up, after interacting with your cold emails. Cold emails should aim for a conversion rate of 1-5%.

A/B testing

A/B testing involves sending alternate versions to subsets of your audience and comparing metrics to identify better-performing variants. Doing this systematically informs data-driven optimizations.

Test variations in length, tone, personalization, and value hints. For example, test more formal versus conversational tones, longer vs. shorter messages, or various personalization strategies. Also, try sending messages on different days of the week and times to discover when your audience is most responsive.

Iterating based on data to improve results

Keep testing iteratively rather than settling on a single approach to stay agile and competitive. Replies are great, but are they leading to booked calls or closed deals? If not, you revisit your call-to-action or follow-up strategy. Perhaps you need a clear question or a better sequence that nurtures instead of pressures. Continuously adapt to changing prospect behaviors and market feedback by updating templates, personalizations, and strategies.

What common mistakes should to avoid in cold outreach?

Here are some common mistakes to avoid during cold outreach.

Generic messages and lack of personalization

Think about it. Would you reply to an email that looks like it was sent to a thousand people at once? Of course not. Like Michel Lieben, CEO and Founder at ColdIQ, says, “If you're sending a copy/pasted template to everyone, chances are it'll be completely irrelevant.”

So, what do you do? Include a line about their company, role, or even a recent win to add a personal touch and make your email feel human. Lack of personalization will lead to less attention.

Ignoring unsubscribe requests

Nobody likes that person who won’t stop knocking at the door. Bombarding inboxes daily or refusing to respect unsubscribe is the fastest way to land in spam. That is because it burns bridges before you even build them. Keep your cold outreach respectful and compliant.

Neglecting follow-ups or failing to track responses

Bad timing costs opportunities. Follow-up emails can boost reply rates by over 50%, yet 48% of reps don’t send a second message. In other words, you’re ghosting opportunities. Tal Baker-Philips, Customer Success Lead at Lemlist, advises, “Follow up once or twice and move on.” Follow-ups show persistence, which you shouldn’t ignore.

How can ColdIQ help you get digital marketing clients?

ColdIQ doesn’t hand you a tool and leave you guessing. They handle the tech setup, the strategy, the message, the automation, and the ongoing health of your inboxes so you can focus on what matters: turning conversations into clients. Here is an overview of our process on how to get clients for digital marketing.

1. Email setup

ColdIQ doesn’t just hit send. They set up fresh domains, configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC records, and warm them gradually so your emails actually land in inboxes, not spam. Every domain is protected, every inbox optimized, and every campaign starts on trustworthy ground.

2. Targeting

Generic lists won’t cut it. ColdIQ digs deep to define and refine your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), segment prospects, and build targeted lists that match your goals. Instead of shouting into the void, your emails land in the inboxes of the people most likely to say yes.

3. Copywriting

What good is a perfectly delivered email if no one cares to read it? ColdIQ writes persuasive, human-first copy that speaks to pain points, builds curiosity, and invites conversation. It’s not salesy spam, rather, it’s personalized outreach that feels like it was written just for them.

4. Automation

Once the foundation and message are set, ColdIQ plugs everything into smart automation. Sequences go out at the right time, follow-ups are handled without you lifting a finger, and personalization stays intact even at scale. You reach hundreds without sounding like a robot.

5. Inbox management

Finally, ColdIQ keeps your inboxes healthy long after launch. From monitoring placement (Inbox vs. Spam) to limiting send volumes and rotating domains, they make sure your campaigns don’t burn out. Your emails keep reaching prospects consistently, keeping the pipeline flowing.

Examples or case studies of success with ColdIQ

Here are some examples of some success stories we have had at ColdIQ for our clients via cold outreach.

Case study 1: How ColdIQ generated 250 leads and booked 100 meetings per month for PeopleLogic

PeopleLogic, a performance management platform, was having a tough time. They didn’t have a clear picture of their ideal client, struggled to keep clients on board, and found it hard to generate revenue. Before partnering with any agency, they had one big question: “Can we get a 4x return on this investment?”

Upon partnering with ColdIQ, things turn around very quickly. Austin Evans, VP of Sales, explains, “The leads started coming in very quickly. The conversion from booking to meeting was very strong, somewhere around 30 - 40%.”

When asked about the number of leads generated, Austin replied, “On average, we had 250 leads per month, and the appointment set was about 100 per month.”

Case study 2: How ColdIQ drove 77 leads for Puzzle.

Puzzle, a visual platform for process innovation, was new to the cold email game. Their ICP wasn’t clearly defined and their messaging needed shaping.

On top of that, they had no experience using the AI sales tools — everything from researching leads to sending messages was done manually, one by one. It became clear that their approach was unsustainable and needed a partner to level up their cold email campaign.

Upon partnering with ColdIQ, they understood the tools, how they work, and how to best use them. We helped them lay the groundwork by defining their ICP and creating the tight messaging for them. We targeted agencies that partnered with platforms like HubSpot, Make, Salesforce, and Zapier. The result? We went from zero leads to 77 within a few months.

What are the next steps to start your cold outreach journey?

There are several essential steps you should never skip to find your first client if you want to create and implement a cold email campaign that actually works!

• Define your Ideal Client (ICP): Paint a clear picture of the perfect customer for your product or service. To do this, consider the characteristics that make a company or individual an ideal fit, such as their industries, location, annual revenue, pain points, and more.

• Build list: Use tools like LinkedIn’s advanced search filters, curated industry directories, and specialized databases such as Kaspr, Lemlist, or Apollo to find contacts that match your ICP criteria. Employ Boolean searches on Google for broader discovery as well.

• Craft message: Crafting your cold outreach message hinges on personalization and clarity. Directly reference your prospect’s name, role, or company, establishing relevance and capturing attention. Follow this with a clear value proposition that highlights the benefits your product or service offers specifically to them, rather than focusing on features.

If you struggle with these steps on your cold outreach journey, we recommend partnering with ColdIQ

How to contact ColdIQ for a consultation or demo

Struggling to get clients via cold outreach? We recommend partnering with ColdIQ. Our sales experts leverage AI sales tools and implement unique strategies to flood your pipeline with qualified sales opportunities. Book a GTM strategy call with us today!

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