Targets · Tofu Help Center

What are Targets?

Targets are how Tofu segments and personalizes content. Think of this as your audience segmentation.

Core principle for email campaigns

Critical rule If you need to export into an email/CRM platform (HubSpot, Marketo, or Salesforce):

Use an imported target list from that platform (i.e., targets come from the integration)
Do not use a manually-created or CSV list

Otherwise, your emails won’t export back into that system correctly — Tofu needs the record IDs to match.

Practical rule: any campaign whose final step is “export emails to HubSpot / Marketo / Salesforce” should use targets pulled from that platform — contacts for email sends, or companies/accounts if you’re doing account-level motions.

Field mapping best practices

When importing a list from HubSpot or Salesforce, map as many relevant fields as possible. The more fields Tofu can see, the more personalization levers you unlock.

Essential fields

Email, Name, Company Domain – auto-selected
Job Title – enables persona personalization
Industry / Vertical – enables vertical personalization
Company Name, Company Size – enables firmographic personalization
Tech Stack fields – enables competitor and signal-based personalization

Heads up — account-level fields Anything on the account level needs to also be created on the contact level so that Tofu can read it. When you pull a contact list, Tofu can only read contact-level fields.

If critical data (like Industry, Company Size, or Tech Stack) lives on the Account object, you have two options:

Duplicate key account fields to contact level (recommended for most teams)
Use account-level lists when running account-level campaigns (e.g., one landing page per account)

Tofu Insights

When you upload any list (via CSV or integration), Tofu automatically runs research agents on each target. Click the ⚡ lightning bolt under any target name to view:

Account / Contact Summary – who they are and what they do
Pain Points – specific to your solution, informed by your Playbook
Value Propositions – tailored messaging angles for this target

Where Tofu Insights are used:

By Tofu – to create better personalized content in campaigns
By your team – can be exported back to HubSpot or Salesforce as custom fields, so sales has instant research at their fingertips

Research Assistant

Use the Research Assistant when you need specific intel beyond standard Tofu Insights. Examples of research queries:

Recent executive hires (C-level only)
Funding announcements or M&A activity
Tech stack or competitor intel
Industry-specific compliance changes
Recent news or press releases

Limitations

600 targets maximum for research queries (starting list)
You can add more targets via autopilot after the initial research runs
Only accesses publicly available information — not proprietary data

Pro tip Use Tofu Chat to help you build comprehensive research prompts. Try: “We want to research prospects migrating from on-premise to cloud. Give me a comprehensive research prompt that helps us create strong messaging for this audience.”

Target list types framework

Decision tree: which target list type should I use?

Start with these questions — the first “yes” points you to the right list type:

Does the message change based on the recipient’s role or job? → Persona
Does the message change based on their industry? → Industry / Vertical
Is this triggered by a behavior or signal? → Keyword / Intent / Signal
Is this about promoting a specific solution or use case to everyone? → General
Is this 1:1 personalization at the contact level? → Contact
Is this about the account itself (web personalization, one version per account)? → Company

Target type reference

Target type	When to use	Practical rule
Company	Landing pages / web personalization (not dependent on CRM export) Best when personalization is primarily “about the account” — one version per account or segment, not per individual contact	“1 page per account” ABM landing page campaign When you only have domains and not clean contact data yet, start here
Contact	1:1 email / sequence style personalization Best when copy needs to change based on the individual recipient (role, seniority, pain points), not just the company	SDR outreach, event follow-up, persona-specific nurture — ideally pulled from your MAP/CRM list if exporting
Persona	Role-based or job-function-based personalization across multiple accounts Best when messaging / pain points / value prop changes based on who they are (their job), not which company they work for Use when you have consistent buyer personas but need different messaging for each	Persona-specific nurture campaigns (e.g., VP Sales vs. Marketing Ops vs. CSM) Content that speaks to the job-to-be-done by role
Industry	Vertical or industry-specific personalization Best when the persona is consistent across industries but use cases, compliance needs, or messaging need to be verticalized Use when you sell into multiple industries with different needs	Industry-specific landing pages, case studies, or campaigns Sub-segment content within a broad vertical (e.g., within “fintech”: BNPL, credit cards, and digital payments each get different messaging)
Keyword	Campaigns triggered by behavioral signals, product usage, or intent data Best for automations triggered by “what someone did,” not “who they are” Use for PQL follow-up, engagement-based nurture, or intent-driven outreach	PQL campaigns: account hits product usage threshold → trigger personalized campaign Intent-based outreach: buying signals → customize messaging Event / webinar follow-up: attended a session → send relevant resources
General	Broad campaigns around a specific solution, use case, or product area Best when content is about “the thing” (a feature, solution, use case) rather than tailored to the audience Use for product launches, feature announcements, or use-case campaigns where the same message goes to everyone interested	Solution-specific campaigns: all accounts interested in X feature get the same campaign Use-case marketing: creating content for specific use cases regardless of persona or industry Product launches: announcing something new to your entire ICP

Combination patterns (handling multiple criteria)

You don’t create “combined” target list types in Tofu. Instead, choose one primary target list type and layer the other criteria through fields and prompts.

Combination pattern	Primary list type	How to layer the second dimension
Persona + Industry	Contact (one campaign per industry) or Contact (with industry field mapped)	Map job title field + attach persona messaging docs, or create separate campaigns per industry
Company + Persona	Contact (for outreach) or Company (for landing pages)	Map company fields (name, domain, size) or map job title field
Keyword / Signal → Contact	Contact (static list)	HubSpot workflow triggers enrollment based on signal → adds to static list → Tofu personalizes
Industry + Use Case	Contact (filtered by industry) or Industry list	Campaign instructions + attach use-case-specific content
Persona + Tech Stack	Contact	Map job title + tech stack fields → use research prompts to reference competitors

Golden rule Pick the primary dimension that drives the biggest messaging difference — make that your list type, then layer everything else through fields and prompts.