📖 FAQ’s And A Common Sense Approach.
🎯 Targeting & Messaging
What type of target customer details should I provide?
Please share the job titles, industries, locations, and regions you’d like us to target. The more precise you are, the more accurate our outreach will be.
Do I need to share a tone of voice?
Yes — let us know how you’d like your messages to sound (for example, formal, friendly, or consultative). This helps ensure the communication feels natural and on-brand. Sharing case studies and testimonials can help although please consider that we can (depending on the project) be reaching out as the company and/or an individual and therefore the voice is not always the same.
What should I include in my USPs?
Your unique selling points (USPs) should be clear, simple, and focused — for example: speed of service, your specialist expertise, or your pricing model. Please keep your humanity. It’s likely that your target market know what a red and green widget are, they want to know if they like and trust you and that you can deliver on time and for a fair cost, not the tech spec at this stage.
People buy from people unless they operate in a fully monopolised market, so personality is important.
Do I need to mention seasonality?
Yes — if your service or product has peak periods (such as summer, financial year-end, or Christmas), we can adjust campaigns to suit. This will also be influenced by your sales cycle, typically B2B sales cycles are long affairs. It is very rare that we get replies saying that the timing is perfect, quote me now. It happens but outreach is a more nuanced exercise so if you want to be busy in 9 months, start now!
Can I provide case studies or testimonials?
Yes — sharing approved case studies, brochures, or testimonials helps us understand your business and the tone of voice.
Can I specify keywords or phrases to include/avoid?
Yes — we can include must-have product names or avoid sensitive terms to ensure your messaging is aligned.
Which LinkedIn profile details should I share with Digital State?
We’ll need your full profile URL, the account email, and login details (shared securely).
How do I find my LinkedIn profile URL?
- Click Me (top-right).
- Select View Profile.
- Copy the link from the browser bar NB : Keep only https://www.linkedin.com/in/yourname/ not the full URL extension
Do I need LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
Yes, Sales Navigator gives us stronger filtering options such as company size, seniority, and location, which means higher-quality targeting. You also retain significant amounts of data within your Sales Nav portal, which is highly beneficial.
Can you use my Company LinkedIn Page?
Yes — if you have one, we can support it. Premium and active pages often perform better. This can be quoted separately by request and would be a standalone but connected project.
Who should update my LinkedIn profile/page?
You should post regularly on LinkedIn with relevant updates, insights, or personal content. People buy from people — consistent posting builds credibility and directly supports the outreach campaigns.
Simply reposting company page updates is not normally enough to garner true engagement.
Post content on LinkedIn (via company and personal profiles) to support outreach visibility and credibility.
📧 Domains & Email
Do I need outreach-only domains?
Yes — we advise setting up separate domains, so your main business domain isn’t at risk of being flagged for outreach activity.
What if I don’t have outreach domains or mailboxes?
We can set these up for you, extra charges apply for setup, domains, and Microsoft 365 accounts but they are not onerous.
Do new outreach domains need warming up?
Yes — new domains cannot be used at full scale immediately. They must be “warmed up” gradually over a few months by sending small volumes first and building trust with mail servers. We can help with this warm-up process, so your outreach domains reach full deliverability without being flagged.
Which provider would be good for the outreach email?
We recommend using Outlook (Microsoft 365). It offers strong deliverability, reliable infrastructure, and is more forgiving for B2B campaigns compared to free providers such as Yahoo or other free mail which we will not use. G Suite for business can also be used but we prefer 365.
Do my outreach domains need SPF, DKIM, and DMARC?
SPF (Sender Policy Framework), DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), and DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance) are email authentication methods that verify the legitimacy of an email sender to prevent spoofing, phishing, and spam, and to improve email deliverability.
Yes — these are security and authentication settings. In simple terms, they help your emails land in inboxes rather than spam. Again, this takes time and needs to be set up correctly.
Can you help set up email authentication?
Yes — if you’re unsure, we can check and configure these records for you and bill accordingly. Often, we can simply speak with your IT department or if you don’t have one do it ourselves.
📊 CRM & Data
Which CRM systems can you connect to?
We work with most common CRMs, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive, and Monday.com. If you use another, let us know.
Do I need to give CRM access?
No, but we prefer it to be the case — this allows leads to sync automatically instead of being manually uploaded. This is far easier for the customer to chase up and make follow-up calls to the target and to generally track activity, rather than a spreadsheet.
If you can only work with a sheet and do not have a CRM we can quote to build you one or you can indeed use spreadsheets.
Can I provide my own target data?
Yes — data can be shared in Excel, CSV, or CRM exports. The client accepts responsibility for this data being compliant.
What if I don’t have target data?
No problem — we can source this for you. We’ll agree the options and costs in advance.
Do you clean or enrich data?
Yes — we can verify information and add missing details (such as email addresses or job titles).
🚫 Blacklists & Exclusions
Do I need to provide a competitor list?
Yes — so we don’t contact them during outreach. If you choose not to and a client or someone you don’t want approached, is approached, then we accept no responsibility
Do I need to provide an existing client list?
Yes — this prevents us from approaching your current customers unnecessarily and gives us valuable insight into your target market and customer profile.
Can I exclude industries, locations, or job titles?
Yes — just tell us what to avoid, and we’ll filter accordingly. Be aware that outreach is scientific but not an exact science. We are dependent upon how other people describe themselves and their companies, not necessarily how you or we would and/or the actual SIC codes or industry classification. These can be very different from companies’ house SIC code V’s how someone presents on social media or to the world at large.
What about confusing job titles?
Some roles vary by industry. For example, “Head of Risk” could mean different things. If there are any titles like this in your sector, let us know.
Targeting By title.
Be realistic, if your target audience is FTSE 250 companies, we are unlikely, in reality, to want the MD, unless your service is aligned to significant organisational change or macro transformation projects.
📈 Follow-Up & Results
How long does it take to start seeing results?
The first month to 6 weeks is always a warm-up stage. LinkedIn monitors account activity, so we gradually build connections and messaging. Too much, too soon, risks being flagged as suspicious. Expect initial warm conversations in month one, with stronger momentum from month two onwards.
Anything you have seen online “results from day one!” and all that nonsense is exactly that, nonsense, unless you’re selling double glazing. If you’re B2B, it can take some time.
We have had occasions where we have had immediate results, good targeting and good timing, immediate results have been found but that is rare. There is a process, and we follow that process.
Do you handle lead nurturing?
Yes — we can. We offer a calls-based package that follows up with leads and moves them further through your pipeline. This service can be quoted separately if it isn’t already included in your package.
What do I need to do on my side?
There are a few essentials we’ll agree with you during onboarding:
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator – recommended for advanced targeting and filtering.
- Active LinkedIn content – posting regularly builds trust and supports outreach messages.
- Clear follow-up process – your team should be ready to respond to, and nurture leads once they show interest (calls, demos, proposals).
Where is my pipeline growth reported?
Our work is focused on growing your pipeline through targeted outreach and creating opportunities with the right prospects. All responses and opportunities are passed directly into your CRM or shared via spreadsheets for full visibility. The ongoing follow-up (calls, emails, or meetings) is then carried out by your team unless we have an agreement in place.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.