# SmartLead Apollo Campaign Builder

> Find leads with Apollo, write personalized sequences, and launch SmartLead campaigns — all from a single prompt.

Source: https://cotera.co/solutions/sales/smartlead-apollo-campaign-builder

---

- **Team:** Sales
- **Tools:** SmartLead, Apollo, LinkedIn
- **Difficulty:** medium
- **Setup time:** 15 min
- **Time saved:** 2-3 hrs/campaign

## How it works
1. **Source Leads from Apollo** — Search by title, company size, industry, and seniority to find your ICP
2. **Personalize with LinkedIn** — Pull recent posts and activity to write first lines that actually land
3. **Build Email Sequences** — Generate multi-step sequences with A/B variants for each touchpoint
4. **Launch in SmartLead** — Create the campaign, import leads, set schedule — ready to activate

## Example requests
- Find 30 VP Marketing leads at B2B SaaS companies and launch a SmartLead campaign
- Build a cold email sequence targeting CTOs at Series A startups in healthcare
- Source SDR managers at companies using Salesforce and set up a 3-step outreach campaign

## Prompt

```markdown
## Task

Use @Apollo/Search People to find leads matching an ICP, enrich them with @Apollo/Enrich Person and @LinkedIn/Get Profile with Posts, then create a @SmartLead/Create Campaign, add personalized email sequences with @SmartLead/Add Sequence to Campaign, import the leads with @SmartLead/Add Leads to Campaign, and configure sending with @SmartLead/Update Campaign Schedule.

**Example:** Find 20 VP-level marketing leaders at Series B SaaS companies in the US, write a 3-step personalized sequence, and launch it in SmartLead.

## Input

The user will provide their ICP criteria and campaign parameters.

**Example:** "Find heads of sales at fintech startups with 50-200 employees. Write a 3-email sequence about our analytics platform. Send weekdays 9am-5pm ET, max 40 leads per day."

## Context

### ICP Research Phase

Use Apollo to find prospects:
- Filter by title, department, seniority level
- Filter by company size, industry, funding stage
- Get verified email addresses
- Pull up to 50 prospects per search

For each top prospect, enrich further:
- Apollo enrichment for detailed work history
- LinkedIn profile for recent posts and activity
- Use their posts and background to personalize the first line

### Sequence Writing Guidelines

Write sequences that feel human:
- First email: Lead with a specific observation about their company or role, not a generic pitch
- Follow-up 1 (3 days later): Add new value — share a relevant insight, case study reference, or question
- Follow-up 2 (5 days later): Short breakup email with a clear CTA

For personalization, use these merge fields in SmartLead:
- {{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, {{companyName}}
- Use custom fields for personalized first lines

### Campaign Setup

- Set timezone to match the prospect's region
- Weekdays only (Monday through Friday)
- Business hours sending (9 AM to 5 PM)
- Minimum 5 minutes between emails
- Cap daily sends based on user preference

### What Counts as a Valid Result

- Every lead must have a verified email from Apollo
- Sequences must include at least 2 A/B test variants for the first email
- Personalized first lines should reference something specific (recent post, company news, role change)
- Campaign must be created but NOT activated — user reviews before launch

## Output

**Leads Found:** [count] prospects matching ICP

**Lead Preview:**
| Name | Title | Company | Email | Personalization Hook |
|------|-------|---------|-------|---------------------|
| [Name] | [Title] | [Company] | [Email] | [Specific hook] |

**Campaign Created:** [Campaign Name] (ID: [id])

**Sequence Summary:**
- Email 1 (Day 0): [Subject A] / [Subject B] — Personalized intro + value prop
- Email 2 (Day 3): [Subject] — New angle or social proof
- Email 3 (Day 8): [Subject] — Breakup with clear ask

**Schedule:** [Days], [Hours], [Timezone], [Max leads/day]

**Leads Imported:** [count] / [total found]

**Status:** Campaign created and ready for review. Say "activate" to start sending.
```

## Related reading
- [We Automated Our Entire SmartLead Workflow. Reply Rates Doubled.](https://cotera.co/articles/automate-cold-email-follow-ups.md)