With over 15 million small business professionals on LinkedIn, can LinkedIn help a new business win more clients?
I asked myself this question four years ago when I was looking at more effective ways to market my business. Back in 2008, I didn’t have a big fancy marketing budget. Much like any other business, I had to figure out how to market my company to win more clients in the most productive way.
So I turned to a couple of marketing tools in my toolbox to get my name out there in a bigger way. First, I created a list of people in my network who I thought could benefit from my services and called or emailed them to tell them how I could help solve their marketing challenges. This was a slow and manual process. I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be a dream come true if my ideal clients would just call or email me instead?”
The other tool in my marketing toolbox was (at the time) a “new” way of marketing using social media to connect with ideal clients. My target clients are business owners and entrepreneurs and I knew that I was most likely to connect with them on LinkedIn. So I focused on building my visibility on LinkedIn above any other social network in my social media marketing efforts. Here are the three steps I took:
1. Create an Irresistible LinkedIn Profile
I made sure my LinkedIn profile that would stand out and get noticed. I thought about the information my ideal clients would like to see on my LinkedIn profile and created compelling content that aimed to engage them. I added an irresistible headline with a strong call to action. When potential clients came through my LinkedIn profile, I didn’t have to spend time convincing them I was a company that could help them.
2. Participate in LinkedIn Groups
I also joined the maximum of 50 groups where other business owners and entrepreneurs congregated, participated in and posted discussions, so that each time I commented on discussion posts with my opinion or helpful marketing tips, ChristineHueber.com was becoming more credible in the eyes of my target market on LinkedIn. And … whenever I posted, everyone also saw my irresistible headline that automatically builds my list!
3. Start your own LinkedIn Group
After participating in other groups for a while, I started a group called Social Media & Marketing Results (SMMR) with the vision of creating a place where business owners and entrepreneurs could connect and discuss marketing and social media trends. Creating SMMR meant providing an excellent place to connect business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide with one another as well as giving ChristineHueber.com a public forum to answer the overwhelming amount of social media questions that were pouring in from potential clients. I was aiming to be helpful to business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide and in doing so, ChristineHueber.com was becoming more credible and visible to our target market—a win-win scenario.
So, back to my original question, did my efforts on LinkedIn help me win more clients? I went from being barely active on LinkedIn in 2008 to now doing business with clients around the world. When I asked my most recent client how he found us, he replied, “I found you on LinkedIn and sent you a message.” Am I dreaming?! Because of a little hard work to get my name out there on LinkedIn, my ideal clients were now contacting me. LinkedIn definitely has helped my company win ideal clients. Using the steps above, I hope it does the same for yours.
If you want to learn more about LinkedIn, you’ll love my LinkedIn Secrets eBook. You’ll learn how to use this popular social media site to find your target clients, share your brand, post for profits, and more! Learn more and get it here.
QUESTION: Have you joined LinkedIn yet? How do you use it to promote your business? Please share your tips–and where we can find YOUR profile–below!
==========
© 2012 ChristineHueber.com
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR NEWSLETTER OR WEBSITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
“Marketing mentor Christine Hueber teaches business owners and entrepreneurs around the world how to create and grow profitable marketing that gets them more clients easily. Get her FREE Report “Top 10 LinkedIn Success Secrets for Entrepreneurs” at www.ChristineHueber.com”