feat(skills): add marketing skills collection
This commit is contained in:
Julian lechner committed
1 parent
b3a19860b4
commit
71daa05071
280 files changed
+54006
No files matched your search
@@ -0,0 +1,287 @@
|
||||
# Prospecting Data Sources
|
||||
|
||||
Tool selection guide for prospecting across all three branches.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Tool selection by goal
|
||||
|
||||
| Goal | Primary tools | Notes |
|
||||
|------|--------------|-------|
|
||||
| **Build initial firmographic list (B2B / SaaS)** | Apollo, ZoomInfo, Clay | Apollo for breadth, ZoomInfo for enterprise + intent, Clay for custom workflows |
|
||||
| **Decision-maker mapping** | LinkedIn Sales Navigator (manual), Apollo, ZoomInfo | Sales Nav is the gold standard. Never bulk scrape it. |
|
||||
| **Tech stack qualification (SaaS)** | BuiltWith, Wappalyzer | BuiltWith has wider coverage + paid plans for bulk; Wappalyzer is lighter + free for small use |
|
||||
| **Funding signals (SaaS)** | Crunchbase, Pitchbook | Crunchbase free tier sufficient for early signals; Pitchbook for deeper investor data |
|
||||
| **Email pattern discovery** | Hunter, Snov, Apollo | Pattern guessing — followed by verification |
|
||||
| **Email deliverability verification** | Truelist, Hunter, NeverBounce, ZeroBounce | Always verify before adding to outreach lists |
|
||||
| **Visitor identification (warm intent)** | RB2B, Clearbit Reveal | Anonymous traffic → company identification |
|
||||
| **Intent data** | ZoomInfo Intent, 6sense, Bombora | Pre-warmed signals; mid-market+ pricing |
|
||||
| **Trigger event monitoring** | Google Alerts, Feedly, LinkedIn Sales Nav alerts | Free options are sufficient for most |
|
||||
| **Local business discovery** | Google Maps (manual), Yelp, Facebook Pages | Browser-assisted, not bulk-extracted |
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Apollo
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: General B2B / SaaS firmographic + contact data. Best starting point if you don't already have a list.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Large database (>200M contacts, >60M companies)
|
||||
- Strong filtering UI (industry, size, technologies, signals)
|
||||
- Integrated email + LinkedIn finder
|
||||
- Pay-as-you-go and tiered plans
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Data freshness varies — re-verify before scoring as "Hot"
|
||||
- Email accuracy ~60–80% — always validate
|
||||
- Bulk export limits apply
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [apollo.md](../../../tools/integrations/apollo.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Clay
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Multi-source enrichment, waterfall lookups, custom scoring logic. When list quality matters more than list size.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Waterfall logic: try Apollo first → fallback to ZoomInfo → fallback to Clearbit
|
||||
- 100+ data provider integrations
|
||||
- AI-powered enrichment (LLM-driven extraction from URLs)
|
||||
- Custom columns + scoring formulas
|
||||
- Native MCP server
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Per-credit pricing can spike on large lists
|
||||
- Complexity overhead — easy to over-engineer workflows
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [clay.md](../../../tools/integrations/clay.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## ZoomInfo
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Enterprise B2B + intent data. Mid-market+ buyer profiles.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Enterprise-grade firmographic depth
|
||||
- Intent signals (companies searching topics relevant to your offer)
|
||||
- Best-in-class for >$50K ACV B2B sales
|
||||
- Native MCP server
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Expensive ($15K+/yr starter)
|
||||
- Overkill for SMB prospecting
|
||||
- Locked into multi-year contracts typically
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [zoominfo.md](../../../tools/integrations/zoominfo.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Clearbit
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Email → company enrichment, anonymous visitor identification (Clearbit Reveal).
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Strong company enrichment (industry, size, funding, tech stack)
|
||||
- Email lookup by domain
|
||||
- Reveal: identify anonymous site visitors at company level
|
||||
- API-first
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- HubSpot acquisition (2023) — bundled into HubSpot Breeze Intelligence now
|
||||
- Standalone API still available but pricing/access depends on tier
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [clearbit.md](../../../tools/integrations/clearbit.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Hunter / Snov
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Email pattern discovery + lightweight verification on small lists.
|
||||
|
||||
**Hunter strengths**:
|
||||
- Domain-based email discovery
|
||||
- Built-in deliverability verification
|
||||
- Free tier reasonable for occasional use
|
||||
|
||||
**Snov strengths**:
|
||||
- Email finder + drip campaigns (overlap with outreach tooling)
|
||||
- Bulk verification
|
||||
- Cheaper than Hunter at scale
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Both are pattern-guessing tools — accuracy depends on the target company's email pattern being inferable
|
||||
- Always run results through a dedicated validator (Truelist or similar) before outreach
|
||||
|
||||
**Integrations**: see [hunter.md](../../../tools/integrations/hunter.md), [snov.md](../../../tools/integrations/snov.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Truelist
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Email deliverability validation before adding contacts to outreach lists. Critical safety step.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Single-email sync verification (`/api/v1/verify_inline`) + bulk async (`/api/v1/verify`)
|
||||
- Returns `email_state` (ok / email_invalid / risky / unknown / accept_all) + `email_sub_state` (email_ok / is_disposable / is_role / unknown_error / failed_smtp_check) + did-you-mean typo suggestions
|
||||
- Catches catch-all domains, role accounts, spam traps, disposable providers
|
||||
- Official MCP server for agent-driven workflows (Claude, Cursor, VS Code)
|
||||
- Official SDKs in 7 languages + framework integrations (Django, Laravel, Next.js, Rails, React, Svelte, Vue, WordPress)
|
||||
- Native integrations with Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, Zapier, Make, n8n, Clay, Salesforce, more
|
||||
- Pay-per-email pricing
|
||||
|
||||
**Why this matters**: Cold email reputation craters when bounce rates exceed 2%. Validating before sending is non-negotiable. Apollo/ZoomInfo/Hunter data is often 60–80% accurate — Truelist catches the rest.
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [truelist.md](../../../tools/integrations/truelist.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## LinkedIn Sales Navigator
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Manual decision-maker discovery. The gold standard for B2B / SaaS prospecting but only when used as a research tool.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Most accurate decision-maker data in the industry
|
||||
- Real-time job changes, posts, signals
|
||||
- Lead lists, alerts, saved searches
|
||||
- Inmail credits (separate channel from cold email)
|
||||
|
||||
**Hard rules**:
|
||||
- **Never bulk scrape**. LinkedIn aggressively bans scrapers. Account ban risk is real and permanent.
|
||||
- Use Sales Nav as a research interface — open profiles, read, take notes, capture key data manually.
|
||||
- Apollo and other tools claim LinkedIn data via partnerships / public mirroring — verify the source legitimacy before assuming compliance.
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: no MCP or API access at consumer level. Manual research only.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## BuiltWith / Wappalyzer
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Tech stack qualification (SaaS branch).
|
||||
|
||||
**BuiltWith**:
|
||||
- ~50K+ technologies tracked
|
||||
- API + bulk lookups (paid)
|
||||
- Historical data (when stack changed)
|
||||
|
||||
**Wappalyzer**:
|
||||
- Free browser extension; paid API
|
||||
- Lighter coverage than BuiltWith
|
||||
- Faster for one-off lookups
|
||||
|
||||
Cross-reference both for high-confidence tech stack signals.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Crunchbase
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Funding signals (SaaS branch).
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Free tier shows recent funding events
|
||||
- Paid (Pro / Enterprise) unlocks alerts and deep history
|
||||
- API access for paid users
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Coverage is best for VC-backed companies; bootstrapped + small businesses underrepresented
|
||||
- Self-reported data — verify funding amounts independently
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## GitHub (stargazers / forks / watchers)
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Developer-intent prospecting. Especially powerful for dev-tool SaaS — stargazers of competitor or category-defining repos are in-market signal.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Public API, no scraping concerns
|
||||
- High signal quality (a starred repo = explicit interest)
|
||||
- Forks are an even stronger signal (intent to modify, not just bookmark)
|
||||
- Bundled `github-prospects.js` CLI handles pagination + enrichment + CSV output
|
||||
- Free with 5,000 req/hr authenticated rate limit
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Only ~5–20% of users publish email — pair with Apollo/Clay/Hunter for enrichment
|
||||
- Very-popular repos (100K+ stars) are mostly noise; smaller targeted repos (5K–25K) give better signal density
|
||||
- Most prospects are individuals, not company contacts directly — need to figure out their company from `company` field or LinkedIn
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [github.md](../../../tools/integrations/github.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Firecrawl / Browserbase (single-target site research)
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Programmatically extracting content from a **prospect's own website** that you already found via discovery on platforms like Google Maps, Yelp, or LinkedIn. Not for scraping those platforms themselves.
|
||||
|
||||
### Firecrawl
|
||||
|
||||
- **Best for**: "Just give me the page as markdown" — Local SMB website status checks, B2B company about/team page extraction, structured field extraction
|
||||
- **Strengths**: Low overhead, returns clean LLM-ready markdown, handles most JS-rendered sites, has an MCP server
|
||||
- **API + MCP + SDKs**: Node, Python, Go, Rust
|
||||
|
||||
### Browserbase
|
||||
|
||||
- **Best for**: When you need real Chromium — JS-heavy pages, cookie consent dialogs, form submission to reach a contact page, session state
|
||||
- **Strengths**: Full browser control via Playwright/Puppeteer; Stagehand provides AI-friendly natural-language extraction; session recordings for debugging
|
||||
- **API + MCP (Stagehand) + SDKs**: Node, Python
|
||||
|
||||
### Critical compliance line
|
||||
|
||||
Both tools can technically point at any URL. The hard rule:
|
||||
|
||||
- ✓ **OK**: extracting content from a single business's own website (`joescoffeeshop.com`) that you found through manual discovery
|
||||
- ✗ **NOT OK**: pointing them at `google.com/maps`, LinkedIn search results, Yelp listings, or any platform whose ToS prohibits bulk extraction
|
||||
|
||||
Discovery happens on platforms (manual browser-assisted research). Extraction happens on individual public business sites.
|
||||
|
||||
**Integrations**: see [firecrawl.md](../../../tools/integrations/firecrawl.md), [browserbase.md](../../../tools/integrations/browserbase.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## RB2B / Clearbit Reveal
|
||||
|
||||
**Use for**: Identifying anonymous site visitors as warm intent signals.
|
||||
|
||||
**Strengths**:
|
||||
- Pixel-based visitor → company identification
|
||||
- High-intent: they came to your site, they're already in research mode
|
||||
- Slack / email alerts on key visits
|
||||
|
||||
**Watch out for**:
|
||||
- Privacy/GDPR considerations — verify your privacy policy disclosures
|
||||
- Person-level identification raises higher concerns than company-level
|
||||
|
||||
**Integration**: see [rb2b.md](../../../tools/integrations/rb2b.md)
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Free / browser-only fallbacks
|
||||
|
||||
When the user has no paid tools, lean on:
|
||||
|
||||
- **Google Search** — exact business name + city + role searches
|
||||
- **LinkedIn** (manual, no scraping) — company pages, employee lookups
|
||||
- **Crunchbase free tier** — funding events
|
||||
- **Wappalyzer browser extension** — tech stack at a glance
|
||||
- **Hunter.io free tier** — 25 lookups/month
|
||||
- **Google Maps** — for Local SMB discovery
|
||||
- **Business websites + About pages** — primary source for any claim
|
||||
- **News sites + press releases** — trigger event monitoring via Google Alerts
|
||||
|
||||
Slower than tooled-up workflows, but produces high-quality smaller lists if the user is willing to do the work.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## Sequencing recommendations
|
||||
|
||||
A typical full-stack prospecting workflow:
|
||||
|
||||
1. **Define ICP** from product-marketing context (no tools needed)
|
||||
2. **Initial list** from Apollo or ZoomInfo (firmographic filter)
|
||||
3. **Enrich** with Clay (waterfall: tech stack, funding, trigger events)
|
||||
4. **Decision-maker mapping** in LinkedIn Sales Nav (manual)
|
||||
5. **Email pattern discovery** with Hunter or Apollo's built-in
|
||||
6. **Email validation** with Truelist before final list
|
||||
7. **Hand off** to cold-email skill for outreach copy
|
||||
|
||||
Adapt this sequence based on which tools the user actually has.
|
||||
Reference in new issue
Block a user