Marketing & Paid Advertising

Prospecting

Targeting new potential customers who haven't yet interacted with your brand.

1 min readLast updated Apr 2026

Targeting new potential customers who haven't yet interacted with your brand.

Why It Matters

Prospecting is how you grow—it fills the top of your funnel with new potential customers. Without prospecting, you eventually exhaust your warm audiences and growth stalls. It has lower immediate ROAS than retargeting but is essential for sustainable business growth.

Practical Example

Scenario

A brand spending 80% on retargeting sees ROAS decline as retargeting pools shrink. They shift to 50% prospecting / 50% retargeting.

Result

Short-term blended ROAS drops 20%, but retargeting pools refill. Six months later, total conversions are up 40% and ROAS recovered.

Pro Tips

  • 1Expect 1/3 to 1/5 the ROAS of retargeting—that's normal. Value prospecting by how it feeds downstream funnel
  • 2Use creative that introduces the brand and addresses cold audience objections, not product-focused retargeting creative
  • 3Track prospecting success by new customer acquisition rate, not just ROAS

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Judging prospecting by retargeting standards—expecting 5x ROAS from cold traffic is unrealistic
Not allocating enough budget—you can't scale on retargeting alone

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Terms

Retargeting

Showing ads to people who have previously visited your website or engaged with your content.

Lookalike Audience
LAL

A targeting feature reaching new people who share characteristics similar to your existing customers.