Outbound

Outbound to a niche B2B market: find the few people talking about the problem and group them by pain point

How to run outbound to a niche B2B market: find the few people posting about the problem, keep those who fit, group them by pain point and message each group.

By the traxy teamUpdated Nov 10, 202616 min read

TL;DR: To run outbound to a niche B2B market, find the few people who talk about the problem you solve on LinkedIn (or engage with those who do), keep only the ones who fit, group them by the pain point their activity shows, and send each group a message about that pain, with research on each lead when the message needs a fact the post doesn't show. In traxy that is one flow: social intent search, Tracking and single posts find the conversations, every lead needs a 50%+ ICP match and shows the post or comment behind it, and a campaign groups leads by signal, prepares a message variant for each group and sends over LinkedIn and email from your own connected accounts after you approve the launch.

We make traxy, the tool in the steps and the worked example, so read this as a vendor's guide. The method works with any outreach tool, and the grouping section includes a way to do it by hand. The worked example is an illustration, not a customer story. Last checked: November 10, 2026.

Why do big lists fail in a niche B2B market?

Because a niche market has few buyers, and a big list fills the gap with people who aren't buyers. In a narrow industry you can't make up for a weak message with volume.

Each wasted message costs a prospect. When the whole market is a few hundred companies, there is no next batch of thousands to try, and a buyer who ignores or blocks a generic first message may not give you a second chance.
Titles don't show the problem. Two operations directors at similar firms can have different problems. A message written for one misses the other.
Broad lists pull in the wrong people. Vendors, consultants, recruiters and job seekers comment on the same industry posts as buyers. A list built from titles and industry codes can't tell them apart.
The signal is thin. If only a handful of people post about the problem, you need to look in each place it shows up: their own posts, their comments under other people's posts, and their likes on posts about the topic.
Buyers often know each other. In a small industry a careless template gets noticed, and it can follow you to the next account.

Spend the effort on finding the right people and on what you say to each one. The five steps below cover both.

Step 1: How do you find the few people talking about the problem?

Search past LinkedIn activity for the problem in your buyers' words, track the handful of people and company pages your buyers follow, and pull the people who engage with single posts that drew your buyers. Many buyers in a niche don't post, but they comment on or like posts by the people they follow, so look at engagers as well as posters.

Before you search, write each pain point as its own line in your Signal Brief under Targeting > Signals, in the words your buyers use. Keep each line specific enough to recognize in a public post (Signals). Step 3 sorts leads by the same pains, so separate lines now make the grouping easier later.

traxy finds the conversations in four ways:

Social intent search. Describe the person and the need in plain English, for example "operations leaders at cold-storage warehouses talking about overtime during peak season", and traxy searches 71M+ scanned LinkedIn likes, posts and comments. Each person comes with the post or comment behind them (social intent search). You can run the same search from Claude or ChatGPT through the traxy MCP.
Tracking. Track the few profiles your buyers follow, such as industry consultants, analysts, trade press and competitors, and pick a relationship like competitor, influencer or custom. traxy qualifies the people who engage with their posts. For an active profile, ongoing monitoring follows the five most recent posts published after you added it (Tracking). You can also track a company page by domain, which finds people who engage with that company's posts, not every employee.
One post by URL. When a post in your niche draws a long comment thread, paste its URL under Targeting > Posts, or give it to trax, and traxy checks the engagers against your ICP. The candidate count is people to evaluate, not a promised number of leads. See how to extract comments from a LinkedIn post and keep only the commenters who fit.
Discovery runs and trax. Discovery runs look for people from your lead criteria and Signals. You can also ask trax for posts on a topic, or posts similar to one you paste, and then work with that post's audience (work with trax).

If people in your niche view your LinkedIn profile, the Profile views switch under Targeting > Signals > LinkedIn activity can turn those views into leads too. For consulting offers mapped to the LinkedIn situations behind them, see signal-based outbound for consulting firms.

Step 2: How do you qualify each person carefully?

Set lead criteria narrow enough to separate a buyer from the crowd, then read the evidence on each lead before you contact anyone. In a niche, the check on each person counts for more than the size of the list.

Write the criteria for your niche. Under Targeting > Lead criteria, set roles, departments, seniority and locations for people, and size, industry, revenue, funding and keywords for companies (lead criteria). The industry and keyword fields are where you describe the niche. Add exclusions for the people who crowd your buyers' posts, such as vendors and recruiters.
Treat 50% as the floor. A person becomes a qualified lead only with an ICP match of 50% or more. Filtering for a higher score narrows the leads you see without changing that threshold, so you can work the closest matches first (how qualification works). For how fit and evidence differ, see ICP match score vs signal strength.
Read the source. Each lead shows the post, comment, like or repost that put them on your list. Open the lead's Signals tab and check the source and its date before you use it. A comment that names the problem is stronger evidence than a like.
Read the label. Each lead is labeled Warm, Related, Activity or ICP match by how strong the evidence is. ICP match means fit without another recorded signal. The label is separate from the ICP match score.
Record your judgment. Mark a lead Good fit or Bad fit and add the reason. Feedback records your judgment and doesn't directly rewrite the score, so when several bad fits share a reason, change the lead criteria too. After you save new criteria, traxy can check your active leads and offer to move the ones that no longer match to Done.
Keep out the people you shouldn't contact. Add existing customers' domains to the Blocklist so they stay out of future discovery, and add people to Do not contact to stop outreach to them.

How do I group prospects by pain point so each group gets a relevant message?

Group prospects by the problem their own LinkedIn activity shows. Read the post or comment behind each lead, put the lead in the group for that pain, and give each group its own message about it. In traxy, a campaign groups leads by signal and prepares a personalized message variant for each group, and you can also split groups by what the research on each lead finds.

This is step 3, and it works the same way in any tool:

Name the groups before you sort. Use the pain points from your Signal Brief and keep the list short, starting with the two or three pains you see most often in the sources. Add one group for people who fit but show no clear pain.
Sort by evidence. Open each lead's Signals tab, read the post or comment, and tag the lead with its pain point. Lead tags group audiences, and you can filter by a tag and save that filter as a view (tags, notes and assignments).
Settle leads that show two pains. Put each one in the group with the strongest and most recent evidence. The same person can have several recorded signals without becoming several leads, and campaigns run in priority order, so one lead never gets two campaigns at once (manage campaigns).
Write one message per group. Open with the pain in the words the person used, connect it to one offer, and make one ask. Claim only what the source shows. A like on a post about a problem is context, and it doesn't prove the person has that problem.
Give the no-signal group a plain introduction. For people who fit but show no pain, use a factual introduction based on their role and company, and don't invent an interaction (use signals in outreach). You can also hold them until a signal shows up.

Within each pain group, the kind of evidence changes how direct the first line can be:

Evidence on the lead	What the first line can do	Avoid
Their own post about the pain	Respond to what they wrote	Inventing a project or a budget
A comment that names the pain	Refer to the comment and the post it was on	Quoting more than they wrote
A like or repost of a post about the pain	Use the topic as context	Saying they have the problem
Fit with no clear pain (ICP match label)	A factual introduction based on role and company	Pretending you saw something they did

Two ways to set up pain point groups in traxy

One campaign, several groups. Save one shared view for the niche audience and create one campaign for it. The campaign groups leads by signal and prepares a message variant for each group, personalized with the evidence. This fits when every pain leads to the same offer.
One campaign per pain point. Save a shared view for each pain tag and create a campaign for each view, with its own offer. Use this when each pain leads to a different offer. The agency playbook in the docs gives the same advice: one service and buyer segment per campaign (agency outreach).

If the difference between two groups is a fact the post doesn't show, such as which system a company uses, ask the campaign to research it and use the finding in the message. Step 4 covers when that research is worth it.

How to group prospects by pain point by hand

The same grouping works in a spreadsheet with any outreach tool. Add columns for the pain point, the source link, its date and the evidence type (post, comment or like). Read the source before you assign a group, write one template per group, and send each group as its own campaign. For opener patterns by signal type, see from a LinkedIn signal to a message you can back up.

Step 4: When should you research each lead, and when is the signal enough?

Research each lead when the message depends on a fact the post or comment doesn't show, and skip it when the source already names the pain you'll write about. In traxy, research on each lead is optional, and you decide per campaign.

A campaign researches each lead for the facts you ask for before any message is prepared, for example which warehouse management system a company uses or whether it is hiring for a role your work affects (create a campaign). A research-only campaign records findings without sending. Signals outside LinkedIn, such as a job change, a funding round, hiring for a role or a tool switch, come from this research on each lead, not from a live event feed.

Research when the groups are split by a fact the post doesn't show, when the offer depends on company details, or when the only evidence is a like and you need a second reason to write.
Skip research when the person posted or commented about the pain and the message only refers to that.
Say what happens when research finds nothing. Tell the campaign to skip the lead or leave the line out, then check those leads in the test.

For what a research brief should establish, and when to skip a lead, see AI research agents for B2B sales.

Step 5: How do you test, launch and send to each group?

Test the campaign on sample leads from every group, check the launch review, choose whether to approve each message, then send over LinkedIn and email from your own connected accounts. In a small market, each mistake you catch in the test is one a prospect never sees.

Test. Ask trax to test the plan. The test prepares research and message previews on sample leads and sends nothing. Pick the sample so each pain group has a few leads in it, and check that each lead got its group's variant (review and launch). The guide on how to test an outbound campaign on a few leads has the full checklist.
Review the launch. Before launch you see who joins, who is skipped because another unfinished campaign holds them or a completed campaign contacted them before, the sender, the message steps and the delivery mode. Confirming Launch is the campaign approval, and nothing sends before it.
Choose the delivery mode. Approve each message in the campaign's review queue, or let the approved campaign send on its own. With few buyers, approval mode puts a person's eyes on each message before it goes out.
Send from your own accounts. Sending needs connected sender accounts. Connect LinkedIn accounts and mailboxes under Settings > Sender accounts, each with its own limits, active hours and ramp-up, which a campaign does not bypass. A sequence with LinkedIn and email steps needs a sender name with both channels connected (sender accounts).
Let replies stop it. Replies, unsubscribe requests and hard bounces stop the sequence for that lead, and each lead's LinkedIn and email conversation sits in one Inbox (sequences).

For how campaigns run from lead to sent message, see LinkedIn outbound with traxy. The signal-based outbound playbook walks the same path in seven steps.

Worked example: a consultancy for cold-storage warehouse operators (illustration)

This example is an illustration. The firm, its criteria, the posts, the people and the messages are invented to show the steps. It is not a customer story, and it shows no results.

The firm is a four-person operations consultancy that works only with independent cold-storage warehouse operators in the United States and Canada. Few people in that industry post on LinkedIn about operations problems, so the partners need every conversation they can find.

Criteria and signals in the example

People. Owner, general manager, director or VP of operations.
Companies. Cold-storage or temperature-controlled warehousing, 20 to 500 employees, United States and Canada.
Exclusions. Refrigeration contractors, equipment vendors and recruiters.
Signal Brief, one line per pain. (1) Peak-season labor, meaning overtime, temp staff and shift scheduling in the busy months. (2) Energy costs for freezer and cooler rooms. (3) Customer stock reports, meaning customers asking for daily inventory reports and a move off spreadsheets to a warehouse management system (WMS).

Where the example leads came from

A social intent search for "operations leaders at cold-storage warehouses talking about overtime during peak season".
Tracking for five profiles (two consultants and a trade-press editor who write about cold-chain operations, plus the firm's two partners) and two company pages from the industry.
One post by URL, a consultant's post asking operators about their worst week of the last peak season, which drew a long comment thread.

Reading the sources, the partners marked several refrigeration contractors Bad fit with the reason "vendor, not an operator" and added that exclusion to the lead criteria. They filtered the view to the higher ICP match band and kept leads labeled Warm or Related for the first campaigns.

The pain point groups in the example

Group	Evidence on the lead (invented)	Research	First line (invented)
Peak-season labor	A general manager commented "we ran six-day weeks all of December" under the tracked post	None, the comment says enough	"You mentioned six-day weeks all December under {author}'s post. We help cold-storage operators plan peak shifts before the busy months start. Want the one-page plan we use?"
Energy costs	A director of operations posted about the summer power bill for the freezer rooms	None	"Saw your post about this summer's freezer-room power bill. We run energy reviews for cold-storage operators, starting with the rooms that cost the most to cool. Want the checklist we start with?"
Customer stock reports	An owner liked a post about moving off spreadsheets	Check whether the company is hiring for inventory or WMS roles; leave the line out if nothing is found	"Noticed you're hiring an inventory coordinator. When customers start asking for daily stock reports, that role can end up rebuilding spreadsheets. We help operators pick and set up a WMS. Worth a look?"
Fit, no clear pain	ICP match label only	None	"Hi {first_name}, we work only with independent cold-storage operators, on peak staffing, energy and stock reporting. If one of those is on your list this year, happy to share what we see."

The stock reports group shows why a like is weak evidence on its own. The message refers to the hire the research found, not to the like.

The campaigns in the example

Each pain led to a different offer, so the partners saved a shared view per tag and created one campaign per view: a peak-shift planning sprint, an energy review and help choosing a WMS. The no-signal group waited for a signal. The ask to trax for the first campaign read:

"Use the shared view 'Cold storage: peak labor, Warm'. No research needed. Prepare a LinkedIn connection request, a message after they accept, and an email if there's no reply, all about peak-season staffing. Refer only to what each lead wrote. Test on a few leads and show me the previews."

They read every preview in the test, checked the launch review for anyone held by another campaign, and chose approval mode, so each message waited in the review queue before it went out from the partners' own LinkedIn accounts and mailboxes.

What mistakes waste a niche market?

Messaging everyone who liked a post. A like is weak evidence. Check fit and read the source first.
Sending one message for every pain. A buyer with an energy problem skips a message about staffing.
Contacting the same person from two campaigns. Check overlapping views and campaign priority before launch.
Claiming more than the source shows. "I saw you're looking for help" after a like reads as false.
Skipping the test. With few buyers, a broken merge field reaches a big part of your market at once.

FAQ

How do you do outbound when only a few people in your market post on LinkedIn?

Look in more places and keep the ICP narrow. Besides posts, collect people who comment on or like posts by the few voices in your industry, people who engage with company pages in your niche, and the engagers on single posts that drew your buyers. Then keep only the people who fit and show the problem.

Is a 50% ICP match enough for careful qualification?

It is the floor for a person to count as a lead in traxy, and you can work from a higher bar. Filter for a higher match to narrow the list, read the post or comment behind each lead, and mark Good fit or Bad fit with a reason.

How many pain point groups should a niche campaign have?

Start with the two or three pains that show up most often in your leads' sources, plus a group for people who fit but show no clear pain. Add a group when a new pain appears often enough that you can write a message you would stand behind.

Does traxy send the messages, or only find the leads?

Both. traxy finds high intent leads from LinkedIn activity and runs LinkedIn and email outreach to them from your own connected sender accounts. trax prepares the messages from your campaign plan, nothing sends until you approve the launch, and you can approve each message in a review queue.

Can traxy find signals outside LinkedIn for a niche market?

Yes. traxy finds LinkedIn activity natively, and hiring, funding, job changes, tool switches and custom signals you describe come from research on each lead in a campaign, not from a live event feed. Check what the research found in the test before you launch.

Do I need to research every lead?

No. Research on each lead is optional. Use it when the message depends on a fact the source doesn't show, and skip it when the person's post or comment already names the pain.

Is traxy a fit if my buyers are not on LinkedIn?

No. traxy finds leads from LinkedIn activity and doesn't find leads on Instagram or Facebook today. If your niche doesn't discuss its problems on LinkedIn, start with the channels where it does.

Want to see who in your niche is talking about the problem? Search social intent, or put traxy to work.

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