What is Prospecting?
Targeting people who have never heard of your brand. Prospecting campaigns have higher CPA than retargeting but are essential for growth. They fill the top of the funnel.
Prospecting vs. retargeting
Prospecting targets people who have never heard of your brand (cold traffic). Retargeting targets people who have already visited your site or engaged with your content (warm traffic). Prospecting has higher CPA (2-5x retargeting) but is essential for growth: it fills the top of the funnel. A brand that only retargets will see diminishing returns as the audience pool shrinks. Healthy budget split: 60-70% prospecting, 20-25% retargeting, 10-15% retention.
Prospecting creative that works
Cold audiences need different creative than warm audiences. Prospecting creative must: introduce your brand (do not assume awareness), communicate the value proposition in under 3 seconds, use a strong hook to earn attention, and provide enough proof (reviews, before/after, numbers) to overcome stranger skepticism. The biggest prospecting creative mistake: running the same creative to cold and warm audiences. Cold audiences need more context and more proof.
Scaling prospecting profitably
Start with a $30-50/day prospecting budget and 5-10 creative variants. Find your winning creative (below-target CPA after 1,000 impressions). Scale budget by 20-30% every 3 days on winners. When CPA rises above target, add new creative instead of increasing budget further. The cycle: test creative at low budget, find winners, scale winners, add new creative when performance plateaus. AI tools accelerate the "add new creative" step from days to minutes.