If you’re working with sales prospecting lists from Apollo, ZoomInfo, or similar platforms, you’ve got a hidden asset that can dramatically improve your LinkedIn Ads targeting.
These lists aren’t just good for email or cold outreach—they’re a shortcut to building high-quality, high-intent audiences on LinkedIn. And with a bit of strategy, you can transform static contact data into dynamic, insight-driven campaigns that connect with the right people.
Here’s how to do it—and why it works so well.
First, Make Sure Your List Represents Your Ideal Customers
Before we get into the how-to, here’s the golden rule:
📌 The people or companies in your list should represent the kind of customers you want more of.
It doesn’t matter if the list includes past buyers, high-quality leads, current clients, or even webinar attendees—as long as they’re valuable, they can help you reverse-engineer your ideal audience.
This tactic is especially useful since LinkedIn doesn’t offer traditional lookalike audiences, like Meta or Google do. But with a little creativity, this process gives you a data-backed way to build your own “lookalike” segments.
Step-by-Step: Uploading Your List and Building a Prospecting Audience
🔹 Step 1: Go to Plan > Audiences in LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Start by heading to the Plan section in LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and select Audiences.
From there, upload your contact or company list. Make sure your file is formatted correctly (CSV is recommended) and includes relevant fields such as company name, domain, or email address. LinkedIn will use this data to match users.
🔹 Step 2: Generate Audience Insights
Once your list has finished building and matching, click on “Generate insights.”
LinkedIn will analyze the audience and show you platform-specific attributes tied to your contacts, including:
- Company size
- Industry
- Job titles
- Job functions
- Seniority levels
- Interests
- Skills
- And more
These insights are incredibly valuable. You’re essentially taking raw data from your sales platform and mapping it to how people present themselves professionally on LinkedIn.
🔹 Step 3: Create a New Prospecting Audience Based on These Insights
Now that you know what makes your best customers tick (at least in LinkedIn’s eyes), build a new saved audience using the most relevant attributes.
I usually recommend combining:
- Company-level attributes: like industry and company size
- Member-level attributes: like job title, function, or seniority
This combination helps ensure you’re targeting decision-makers at the right types of companies.
Bonus: You can save this new audience and reuse it across campaigns for consistency and scaling.
🔹 Step 4: Double-Check the Insights for Accuracy
This step often gets skipped—but it’s crucial.
After building your new audience, go back and compare the audience insights against your original uploaded list. Look at:
- Which companies were matched
- Job roles and seniority levels
- Any unexpected industries or job functions that don’t make sense
Why? Because sometimes LinkedIn’s audience match can be a little funky. Validating ensures your targeting is aligned with the people you actually want to reach.
This also gives you a preview of the audience size, which is helpful when planning your campaign budget or estimating lead volume.
This Process Works for More Than Just Cold Prospect Lists
While this tactic works great with Apollo or ZoomInfo lists, it’s equally useful for:
- Your best-performing clients
- Closed-won opportunities
- High-quality leads
- Event registrants or attendees
- Free trial signups
Use it as a tool to understand the DNA of your most valuable contacts—and then build a campaign to find more people just like them.
Bonus Tip: Treat This Like a DIY Lookalike Engine
LinkedIn doesn’t provide automatic lookalike audiences, but this strategy is the next best thing. You’re using real-world business data to uncover behavioral and demographic patterns—then using those to shape targeting.
You’ll save time, improve your ad performance, and eliminate a lot of the guesswork that usually comes with cold audience building.
Hi There! I’m Scott, and I am the principal consultant behind Stratus Analytics. I’ve have been providing freelance digital marketing services for over 20 years. DISCLAIMER: Due to my work in the packaging industry, I unforunately cannot take on freelance clients within the packaging manufacturing space. I do not want to provide disservice to your vision or my employer. Thank you for understanding.