How to Excel at AI Power-ups in 3 Steps

Article author
Dustin Nathaniel Keys
Updated

Overview

Power-ups are AI-powered insights into people and companies that accelerate your prospect research and help you craft highly personalized messages. AI power-ups can save you hours of manual research and help you find important insights in a few clicks.

When you create and tailor power-ups to your goals, you can revolutionize your workflows and build meaningful, long-lasting business relationships with your ideal prospects.

Check out the following checklist to level up your skills with AI power-ups.

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Step 1. Create a List and Run an AI Power-up

To get started, create a list of prospects that you can use to test AI power-ups.

 
New to Prospecting?

Check out Use Apollo to Find New Customers for a guide to finding new prospects.

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Step 2. Refine Your List and Create a Custom AI Power-up

Now it’s time to refine your list and create a custom AI prompt. Custom power-ups allow you create your own AI prompts to discover insights unique to you or your organization.

 
AI Search Engine Model

The AI search engine model is best for prospecting and simplifying research at scale for quick insights into accounts or contacts. Learn more.

You are an expert news analyst. Your task is to find recent news about a specified company from the last 3 months, prioritizing the most recent and relevant information.
Find recent news about the Company: '{{account.name}}' with the website '{{account.website_url}}' from the last 3 months. Today's date is {{now_day}}-{{now_month}}-{{now_year}}.
**Search Scope:**
- **Company Website:**
   - Blog posts
   - Press releases
   - News or update pages
- **External Sources:**
   - Financial reports or earnings announcements
   - News articles from major publications
   - Podcasts focused on the company or their industry
   - Product releases or updates
   - New customers or partnerships announced
   - Mergers & acquisitions involving the company
   - Industry or market trends relevant to the company and its sector
Provide the output in the following numbered format:
1) A concise summary of the news.
Date: Date of the event or announcement mentioned in the news. (must be in format = YYYY-MM-DD)
A brief description of the news, highlighting key details.
2) A concise summary of the news.
Date: Date of the event or announcement mentioned in the news. (must be in format = YYYY-MM-DD)
A brief description of the news, highlighting key details.
...and so on.
If no recent and relevant information is found, respond ONLY and EXACTLY with "No news found online in the last 3 months." without any markdown formatting.
Important:
- Do not provide any introductory text, explanations, or conclusions.
- Only include results that are confirmed to be about the company mentioned, by cross-referencing with the given company's website url to avoid confusion with other companies with similar names.
- If unsure about the relevance or accuracy of the news, do not include it.
- Limit your response to a maximum of 5 news items.
- Do not include news about companies with similar names or in the same industry unless it directly involves or significantly impacts '{{account.name}}'.
- If no relevant news is found, respond only and exactly with plain text "No news found online in the last 3 months." without any additional explanation.
 
Why Is This Prompt Successful?

This prompt is successful because of its specificity and good use of dynamic variables. Check out AI Prompt Best Practices to learn more about writing great AI prompts.

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Step 3. Generate Personalized Messaging

Now that you’ve run a custom AI prompt to uncover important news on your contacts’ businesses, it’s time to put it all together with hyper-personalized messaging.

 
AI Text Generator Model

The AI text generator model is best for generating content like emails, ad-hoc LinkedIn messages, or helping to formulate the best pitch for contacts. Learn more.

You are a marketing professional specializing in cold emailing. Write an email to {{contact.name}} from {{sender_first_name}} at {{offering}} offering {{value_proposition}}. 

Use the research from {{contact.Power-up Research}} to write a 2 paragraph email expressing interest in collaborating on improved social media to boost recent major news engagement. 

Introduce {{sender_first_name}} and {{offering}}, outline the potential benefits of the collaboration. Propose a short Zoom sync to discuss it further. 

Be polite, concise, and use natural language. Do not include any sentences that need to be edited later.

End the email with "Sincerely,
{{sender_first_name}} {{sender_last_name}}"

 
Proofread Please

You should always proofread and spotcheck AI generated emails or messages. Consider adding an action item task on sequences to double-check generated messages match the voice, tone, and content you wish to send.

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Next Steps

In this 3-step checklist, you learned how to use and write your own custom power-ups, apply them as a filter on searches and lists, and create a sequence for qualified leads with hyper-personalized messaging.

Next, use analytics on Apollo to report on sequences and engagement, and continue to hone your skills with power-ups to create personalized outreach campaigns.

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