DRAFT / UNLISTED — 43 Personalization Tactics

#1 — Personalize your LinkedIn connection request with a message that only says “just sent you an email/just gave you a call/just sent you a video.”

Example Subject Line: Just sent you a video (31 seconds) on Linkedin, Joe

Video Messaging Platfoms: Wistia, Drift, BombBomb, Loom, Vidyard

# 2 — Share internal relevant articles or content that you think the recipient would find valuable.

Example Subject Line: Saw this Business Insider article on CTOs priorities, Jane

Business News Locations to source: Business Insider, Forbes, Crunchbase, Google alerts, LinkedIn

#3 — View prospect’s activity on LinkedIn — “like”, share, comment where applicable

Example Subject Line: Saw your LinkedIn post about DevOps leadership, Sam

How-to Search Recent Activity on LinkedIn — step by step guide (source: @joseph rou

#4 — Choose a customer case study/success story that is either the same industry, same problem, or somehow is specifically relevant to this person’s company.

Example Email Subject Line: How manufacturing Companies Cut 25% of Supply Chain costs

#5 — Custom video thumbnail & subject line for top tier prospect at top tier company

Example Email Subject Line: Question for Joe re: your Engineering team at Company Name (video)

Photo Editing Platforms: Canva, Animaker Inc., Adobe Creative Cloud Illustrator, Fotor, Rocketium, Marq

#6 — Name drop a colleague of theirs in the email subject line, the LinkedIn message, the email body or on a call.

Example Email Subject Line: Discussing onboarding improvements with yourself & CMO Jane Smith

# 7 — Recent podcast appearance by the prospect

Example Email Subject Line: Saw your episode of SecurityWeekly Podcast last month, Joe

Aggregate All Industry Podcasts with Feedly or Feedspot; Search for Podcasts & Episodes with Podchaser, Spotify, PodSearch, Inc.

#8 — Recent blog published by the prospect

Example Email Subject Line: Jane — your blog “What 2023 looks like for AI” Aggregate All Industry/Target Company Blogs with FeedlyExample Email Subject Line: Per Joe Smith or Feedspot Example Email Subject Line: RE: Joe Smith & Your Company

#9 — Referral — your coworker is connected with a prospect directly

View Mutual Connections on LinkedIn & LinkedIn Sales Navigator

#10 — Referral Type A — Known Co-worker 1st Connection — your coworker is connected with a 2nd degree connection, or is directly connected with someone not quite within ideal prospect profile.

View Mutual Connections on LinkedIn & LinkedIn Sales Navigator

#11 — Referral Type B — Unknown 1st Connection — you’re connected with someone who is connected with a prospect, but you have no idea how you connected with this person originally.

Example Email Subject Line: Our shared colleague Joe Smith

View Mutual Connections on LinkedIn & LinkedIn Sales Navigator

#12 — Following your company on LinkedIn

Example Email Subject Line: Per your 2019 employment @Google (our current customer)

Example Email Subject Line: Thanks for following us on LinkedIn, Jane

View your company’s followers — here

Example Email Subject Line: reconnecting re: discussion at Reddit

#13 — Find former employees of current customers

How to find former employers on LinkedIn — here

#14 — Old contact from a previous opportunity is now at a new company (example: spoke with prospect when at Reddit last year, now works at Slack)

Build a list of all opportunities & their associated contacts, then cross-reference — CRM Platforms: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, monday.com, Zendesk, Zoho

#15 — Old closed lost opportunity wanted a feature that wasn’t available, but now that feature is available

Example Email Subject Line: Saw your recommendation from Jane Smith

Example Email Subject Line: Good news, Joe — per your request, we now offer a GitHub integration

Build a list of all opportunities & their associated contacts, then cross-reference — More CRM Platforms: Insightly, SugarCRM, Keap, Freshsales

Example Email Subject Line: expertise in Technology, Networking & Automation (per your top LinkedIn Skills, Joe)

#16 — LinkedIn Personal Recommendations — use the person who wrote them a recommendation in your outreach and subject line

Example Email Subject Line: Question from fellow Boston College alum (Go Eagles!)

View Recommendation examples & where to find — here

# 17 — LinkedIn Skills — use the top relevant skills they’ve been endorsed for in your outreach and subject line

#18 — Alma Mater College — use your own alma mater as a filter to reach out to fellow alumni; repeat the process with the alma maters of your colleagues and teammates

How to view your college alumni on LinkedIn; Look for unique Alumni networks on your personal university homepage; Connect on open jobs through Handshake

#19 — Following someone specific on LinkedIn — if the person follows a particular page or influence, mention that in your outreach

Example Email Subject Line: Just gave you a call @ 123–456–8910

Example Email Subject Line: from a fellow Ted Talks enthusiast

How to View a Company’s or Pages Followers — here

Example Email Subject Line: Blog Interview request for Jane Smith, CIO @ CompanyName (time sensitive)

#20 — Drop their cell phone # in the email subject line, message or LI message

Lead Contact Information Sources: ZoomInfo, RevenueBase, Lusha, SalesIntel.io, Clearbit, Swordfish.ai, Lead411, UpLead

#21 — The Blog Interview Request — reach out to a prospect saying that you are collecting answers about your industry from subject matter experts — ask if they’d answer questions on a call

#22 — The Podcast Interview Request — reach out to a prospect saying that you are inviting guests on your company’s Podcast — send questions about your industry from subject matter experts — ask if they’d answer questions on a call

Example Email Subject Line: Per your opening for HR Analysts in Austin

Example Email Subject Line: Podcast Interview request for Jane Smith, CIO @ CompanyName (time sensitive)

View your company’s podcast as an RSS feed — here

Example Email Subject Line: coffee in your neighborhood (Boulder, Colorado)

#23 — Company is hiring for specific roles — find a specific line in the job description, and include it in your email, relating how typically when companies are hiring for that skill, they face problems you can help with.

Example Email Subject Line: How Monday.com is improving email campaigns

Where to Collect Job Alerts from: LinkedIn Jobs, Indeed.com, Monster, Google Job Posting Search, ZipRecruiter, Dice, Hired, SimplyHired, cord, CareerBuilder, Snagajob

Example Email Subject Line: Question re: Your Company CEO, Jane Smith

#24 — Use specific location of the company and/or the prospect to stick out/show you did your homework

#25 — Find & list the top 3–5 competitors of the target company; use storytelling to catch their attention. Example company — Pipedrive

#26 — Name drop their CEO or CMO in the subject line, tie it to current events & your value proposition

Find C-Suite Interviews on Google News, Insider Business, The Verge, Bloomberg, CNBC

#27 — Use a quote from their leadership from a recent news article or press release where a member of the C-Suite was quoted

Example Email Subject Line: Saw that YourCompany’s IT team grew by 50% in the past year, Jane

Example Email Subject Line: “Our priority now is biotechnology” — Joe Smith’s recent interview

Example Email Subject Line: Jane — saw YourCompany’s Engineering team is now 100+ members?

Search Podcast Transcripts Listen Notes, Inc.; Find C-Suite Interviews on Google News, Insider Business, The Verge, Bloomberg, CNBC

#28 — Use LinkedIn Company Information to ask about growth and mention how much has happened

Example Email Subject Line: Give us 30 minutes, & we’ll give $100 to the charity of your choice

#29 — Use LinkedIn Company Info to determine department sizes

Find department growth with LinkedIn Sales Nav — here

#30 — Offer a charitable donation for a meeting

Find a charity of your choice, prospect’s choice or prospect company’s choice at Charity Navigator — here

#31 — Offer a gift card for a meeting

Example Email Subject Line: Bought your team Starbucks, Jane ($25 gift card enclosed for you, Joe)

Example Email Subject Line: Give us 30 minutes, & we’ll give you $100 to UberEats

Example Email Subject LIne: 1, 2 or 3?

Sales Gifting Platforms — Sendoso, Alyce, Reachdesk, Postal, Enthusem by Prospect Smarter, Inc.

Example Email Subject Line: Saw you were at President’s Club in 2020 Jane

#32 — Proactively send a gift card with no stakes/expectations to a higher-up to congratulate someone else you’ve talked to

Example Email Subject Line: I’d like to buy your marketing team lunch, Joe

#33 — Survey — 1, 2, or 3 — reach out to the prospect under the guise of a quick survey where they can simply respond 1, 2 or 3 — make each option a value driver you can solve for

#34 — Use their LinkedIn accomplishments to personalize and make more relevant

Example Email Subject Line: Meeting @ CoffeJoe by South Station in Boston?

#35 — Lunch and Learn — offer up a paid lunch for their larger team in exchange for joining a demo call with your company

Use an interactive Video Platform, like: ON24, GoTo, Livestorm, Hubilo

Example Email Subject Line: Joe, gonna be in San Francisco in 2nd week of June

#36 — In Person Coffee, Type A: Local — if a prospect lives near your location, reach out to them and alert them that you’re nearby, and you’d love to grab coffee sometime next week. Use unique coffee shop, not a chain

Email should contain: Unique Coffee Shop, Address

#37 — In Person Coffee/Lunch, Type B: Far away — if a prospect lives far away, reach out to them and alert them that you’re actually going to be in their area in the next month or so, and since you’re already there, you’d love to grab coffee sometime next week

Email should contain: Unique Coffee Shop, Address

#38 — Suggesting meeting at upcoming event

Example Email Subject Line: Before you leave for Detroit / MarketCon 2023, Joe

Example Email Subject Line: Saw you’ll be at ConnectCon, Jane

Find relevant industry events: Industry Events, Skift, Industry Calendar

Example Email Subject Line: Saw you were promoted up to VP of Finance — congrats Jane!

#39 — Suggesting a potential meeting before an event

Find relevant industry events: Industry Events, Skift, Industry Calendar

Example Email Subject Line: Saw the Series A news for YourCompany, Joe

#40 Title: Congratulating on Promotion

Use LinkedIn Sales Nav filters — here

Example Email Subject Line: Partnership with a fellow ABC Investments company, Jane

#41 — Use public data, such as company funding or revenue, to tailor your value proposition and mention in your outreach.

Stay Up to Date with Funding Alerts: Crunchbase, The Motley Fool, Latest Funding Alerts on Twitter

#42 — Use the venture backing companies that you have in common with this company to make a connection

Comprehensive List of Software Companies, Categorized by VC/Investor Company — here

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.