Level: Beginner
These two campaign types serve fundamentally different purposes, and confusing their goals — or their budgets — is a common early mistake.
Prospecting Reaches People Who Don't Know You Yet
This audience needs more context, more trust-building, and generally a stronger initial hook before they'll take any action at all.
Retargeting Reaches People Already Familiar With You
This warmer audience already has some awareness or interest, which means the messaging can move faster toward a direct offer or a specific objection.
Budget and Expectations Should Differ Between Them
Retargeting typically converts at a meaningfully higher rate than prospecting, but only reaches a much smaller pool of already-engaged people — both numbers should be judged against different benchmarks.
Next step: Use the Sales Letter Writer to write genuinely distinct copy for each campaign type rather than reusing the same prospecting ad for your retargeting audience — a warm audience deserves a different message than a cold one.