The Gap Between Enrichment and Activation
Clay is the best tool for building audiences. You can enrich leads from 150+ data providers, score accounts, filter by intent signals, and produce a clean list of exactly who you want to reach.
Then what? You export a CSV. Upload it to Google. Upload it again to LinkedIn. Upload it again to Meta. Wait for the match rates. Build the campaigns manually. And when the list changes next week, you do it all over again.
Synter closes that gap. It connects directly to Clay as an MCP server, so Clay's AI can push audiences to ad platforms and launch campaigns in a single step.
How It Works, End to End
The integration uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Clay's Claygent and “Use AI” columns can call Synter tools directly. No middleware, no Zapier, no code.
1. Build in Clay
Enrich, score, and filter your leads using Clay's 150+ data providers. The output is a table of emails, company names, or domains.
2. Sync via Synter
Clay calls Synter's sync_audience tool to push the list to Google, Meta, LinkedIn, or Reddit as a matched audience.
3. Launch Campaigns
Clay calls Synter's create_campaign_for_audience tool to launch ads targeting that audience with your budget and creative.
Step 1: Connect Synter to Clay (5 Minutes)
You need three things before you start:
- A Clay account with access to the Beta Program (for custom MCP servers)
- A Synter API key from syntermedia.ai/developer
- At least one ad platform connected in Synter (Google, Meta, LinkedIn, or Reddit)
Get Your Synter API Key
- Go to syntermedia.ai/developer
- Click Generate API Key
- Copy the key (starts with
syn_)
Add Synter as a Custom MCP Server in Clay
- In Clay, go to Workspace > Connections
- Click Custom MCP Server > Add Connection
- Set the name to
Synter Ads - Set the MCP Server URL to
https://mcp.syntermedia.ai/mcp-sse/sse - Add the header:
X-Synter-Key: syn_your_api_key_here
Important: Use only plain ASCII characters in your MCP connection name. Non-ASCII characters (bullets, em-dashes, emojis) cause a ByteString error in Clay's MCP client.
Step 2: Build Your Audience in Clay
Create a Clay table with the leads you want to target. The minimum you need is one of these columns:
| Data Type | Meta | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Company Name | No | No | Yes | No |
| Domain | No | No | Yes | No |
Use Clay's enrichment providers to fill in missing emails. The more emails you have, the higher your match rate across platforms. LinkedIn also supports company-name matching, which is useful for ABM when you have account lists but not contact-level data.
Step 3: Sync the Audience to Ad Platforms
Add a “Use AI” column to your Clay table. Toggle the Synter Ads MCP connection on. Then prompt:
{Email column}
Synter hashes the emails before upload (SHA-256, as required by each platform) and creates the audience. It returns the audience ID so you can reference it in the next step.
Multi-Platform Sync
You can sync the same list to multiple platforms in one prompt:
Step 4: Launch Campaigns Against the Audience
Once the audience is synced, you can launch a campaign targeting it directly from Clay:
Synter handles the campaign creation, budget allocation, and ad creative setup. The campaign launches in a paused state so you can review it before it goes live.
Step 5: Keep It in Sync
The real value is that this workflow is repeatable. When your Clay table updates (new leads added, churned leads removed), you re-run the sync and the ad audience stays current.
Set up a recurring Clay workflow that:
- Pulls fresh leads from your CRM or enrichment pipeline
- Filters by your scoring criteria
- Calls Synter's
sync_audiencewith the updated list
No more stale CSV uploads. No more manual platform-hopping. The audience your ads target is always the same audience your sales team is working.
Use Cases
Account-Based Marketing
Build a target account list in Clay. Enrich with firmographics and technographics. Sync company names to LinkedIn for Sponsored Content and emails to Google for Customer Match. Run coordinated ads across both platforms against the same accounts your SDRs are prospecting.
Retarget Unconverted Inbound
Pull inbound leads from your CRM who filled out a form but didn't convert. Enrich in Clay to fill gaps. Sync to Meta and Google as custom audiences. Serve them ads with testimonials or case studies to bring them back.
Suppress Closed-Won
Sync your closed-won accounts from CRM into Clay. Push them to ad platforms as exclusion audiences. Stop wasting spend on companies that already bought.
Parallel Outbound + Paid
Use Clay for email outbound to your ICP. Simultaneously sync the same list to ad platforms via Synter. Prospects see your SDR email and your LinkedIn ad in the same week. Coordinated multi-touch without any manual work.
Available Synter Tools in Clay
Once connected, Clay's AI has access to these Synter tools:
| Tool | Credits | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| sync_audience | 10 | Create and populate a matched audience (email, company, or domain) |
| create_campaign_for_audience | 20 | Launch a campaign targeting a synced audience |
| list_audiences | 1 | List existing audiences on a platform |
| list_campaigns | 1 | List active campaigns across platforms |
| pull_google_ads_performance | 1 | Pull campaign metrics into a Clay column |
| execute | Varies | Run any of 100+ Synter actions (AI creatives, GTM tags, YouTube uploads, etc.) |
| get_credit_balance | Free | Check your remaining credits |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| “Custom MCP Server” not visible in Clay | Join Clay's Beta Program in Workspace Settings |
| ByteString error / SSE error | Rename your MCP connection to use only plain ASCII (no bullets, em-dashes, or emojis) |
| “Invalid API key” | Generate a new key at syntermedia.ai/developer |
| “No connected accounts” | Connect ad platforms at Settings > Credentials |
| “Insufficient credits” | Purchase credits at Billing |
Get Started
The Clay integration is live today. The setup takes about 5 minutes.
- Create a Synter account (free, includes 1,000 credits)
- Connect your ad platforms in Settings
- Generate an API key at /developer
- Add Synter as a Custom MCP Server in your Clay workspace
- Start syncing audiences and launching campaigns
Questions? Reach out at joel@synterai.com.