Automating Lead Generation and Outreach: Scraping Google Maps and Creating Personalized Newsletters

Lead generation and outreach campaigns can be time-consuming tasks for businesses. However, with the right automation tools, these processes can be streamlined significantly. This article explores how to create an automated workflow that scrapes leads from Google Maps, generates personalized outreach content, and manages email campaigns.

Scraping Leads from Google Maps with Apify

The first step in this automated lead generation process involves using Apify, a powerful web scraping tool that can extract data from virtually any website. For Google Maps specifically, Apify offers numerous specialized tools that can scrape business information including:

• Business names
• Contact details (phone numbers and email addresses)
• Websites
• Social media profiles
• Location information
• Reviews and ratings

To begin the scraping process, you simply need to specify your search parameters, such as the business type (e.g., “SEO agencies”) and location (e.g., “New York” or “Miami”). The tool then automatically collects the relevant data.

Creating an Automated Workflow in Make

Once you have the ability to scrape leads, the next step is creating an automated workflow in Make (formerly Integromat) to process this data and take action. The workflow includes several key components:

1. Triggering the Google Maps Scraper

The workflow begins by connecting to Apify’s API to run the Google Maps scraper actor with the specified search parameters. This is done by importing the appropriate cURL command and configuring the actor ID, token, and input JSON.

2. Filtering Leads with Email Addresses

Not all scraped leads will have email addresses available. The workflow includes a filter that retains only those leads with valid email addresses, ensuring that your outreach efforts focus on contacts you can actually reach.

3. Generating Personalized First Lines

Using OpenAI’s GPT models, the workflow generates highly personalized first lines for each lead based on information scraped from their website. This personalization helps increase engagement rates by making the outreach feel tailored to the recipient.

4. Scraping and Analyzing Website Data

The workflow scrapes the lead’s website, converts the HTML to markdown for better readability, and then uses AI to analyze the content. This analysis generates a summary of the business and identifies unique angles that can be used for content creation.

5. Creating Value-Added Content

Based on the website analysis, the workflow uses AI to generate a customized newsletter that serves as a lead magnet. This newsletter provides genuine value to the prospect, increasing the likelihood of a positive response. The content is automatically saved as a Google Doc for easy sharing.

6. Storing Lead Data

All lead information, including contact details, personalized first lines, and newsletter document IDs, is stored in a Google Sheet for easy reference and tracking.

7. Adding Leads to Outreach Campaign

The final step involves adding the leads to Lemlist, an email outreach platform. The workflow automatically creates leads in a designated campaign and populates the necessary fields such as email, company name, personalized icebreaker, and other relevant information.

Email Campaign Structure

The outreach campaign in Lemlist typically follows a two-email sequence:

1. The initial email introduces the sender, includes the personalized first line, and offers the value-added newsletter content generated specifically for the lead.
2. A follow-up email is sent one day later, gently checking if the recipient has had a chance to review the newsletter and inviting feedback.

This approach focuses on providing value before asking for anything in return, which tends to generate higher response rates than traditional cold outreach methods.

Benefits of Automated Lead Generation and Outreach

This automated workflow offers several significant advantages:

• Efficiency: The entire process from lead scraping to personalized outreach can be completed with minimal manual intervention.
• Scalability: The workflow can be run repeatedly for different locations or business types without additional effort.
• Personalization: Despite being automated, each outreach contains highly personalized elements based on the lead’s actual business data.
• Value-First Approach: By generating useful content for prospects before asking for their time, the approach builds goodwill and increases response rates.

Implementing this type of workflow can dramatically increase the efficiency of lead generation efforts while maintaining—or even improving—the quality of outreach. By combining web scraping, artificial intelligence, and email automation, businesses can create systematic approaches to finding and engaging potential clients with personalized, value-driven communication.