Purpose:

The purpose of this SOP is to outline the steps necessary for efficiently building and managing targeted audience lists in Apollo.io, leveraging its robust database and filtering capabilities. This process is crucial for identifying and engaging potential business contacts effectively, thereby supporting marketing and sales strategies.

Scope:

This SOP applies to marketing and sales teams in organizations that use Apollo.io to create targeted lists for outreach or market research. It focuses on utilizing Apollo’s filtering tools to refine searches based on specific business and individual criteria, such as funding rounds, industry, and job roles.

Procedure:

1. Accessing Apollo.io and Starting a Search:

   Log into your Apollo.io account and navigate to the search section. Select whether to begin your search with company listings or people listings, depending on the focus of your outreach.

2. Filtering Companies:

   Apply filters such as funding round, amount raised, and the time frame of the last funding round to narrow down to relevant companies. For instance, filter for companies that have received seed funding within the last 12 months and raised between $5 million and $50 million.

3. Refining Company Lists:

   Add additional filters like location, number of employees, and industry to further refine your list. For example, focus on U.S.-based apparel and fashion companies or those in specific sectors relevant to your business needs.

4. Saving and Managing Company Lists:

• Once your filters are set and the list is refined, save the search criteria as a custom list or share the URL containing the filters with your team for easy access and repeatability.

1. Building Personal Lists from Company Lists:

• Utilize the company list to build a corresponding person list. Apply job role filters (e.g., CEO, marketing team) to target the right individuals within these companies. Adjust the filters based on company size to focus on roles like CEOs in companies with 1-10 employees.

1. Refining and Verifying Personal Contacts:

• Further refine your personal list by including only those with recently verified email addresses to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of outreach efforts.
• Save and label your refined personal lists appropriately, e.g., “CEOs at Recent Seed Round Businesses – Small Companies”.

1. Preparation for Outreach:

• Review the saved lists and prepare your outreach strategy, crafting personalized messages tailored to the audience’s profile and needs.