If your time and budget are limited, you cannot afford to build a brand on social media or wait months for your website to rank in Google. It takes too long and comes with too much uncertainty. Cold outreach through email or LinkedIn is faster.

But most startups do it wrong.

The trust problem

With cold outreach, you have the least amount of trust and connection. The recipient does not know you, your company, or your product. In that situation, you cannot just ask them to sign up, book a call, or even spend 15 minutes on a demo. Those are big asks for a stranger.

Even if your product is free, asking someone to invest their time is asking for something valuable. Most cold messages fail because they ask too much too soon.

A better approach: build trust step by step

Start with a small, relevant ask. Instead of pitching your product, ask a question about their situation. "Are you currently handling [specific problem] manually, or have you found a tool that works?" A question is easy to answer. A pitch is easy to ignore.

Give value before asking for anything. Share a useful insight, a relevant article, or a specific observation about their company. Show that you understand their world before asking them to enter yours.

Increase the ask gradually. First a reply. Then a short conversation. Then a product demo or a free trial. Each step earns enough trust to make the next one feel reasonable.

Where to do cold outreach

Email. You can reach 30 to 50 people per day with personalized messages. Use a separate domain for outreach (not your main company domain). Keep emails under 80 words. One specific observation, one relevant question. Follow up 2 to 3 times, spaced 3 to 5 days apart.

LinkedIn. More visible than email because the recipient can see your profile, posts, and connections. Engage with their content first (like a post, leave a thoughtful comment) before sending a connection request. That small effort makes you familiar instead of completely cold.

Both channels work best when combined: warm up on LinkedIn, follow up by email. The combination produces more responses than either one alone.

Dive deeper with our free course

You now understand the five steps to marketing a SaaS. But when you sit down to work on your positioning, channel strategy, or landing page, questions will come up that a summary cannot answer.

The free email course answers those questions. One lesson per week, each focused on a single problem, with a video and clear steps.

It is the same process we walk our clients through: just delivered to your inbox so you can work through it at your own pace.