Looking back at the Sales Funnel, the first stage in creating a pipeline of opportunities is filling the funnel with leads. A key component of keeping it full is through systematic marketing. Where the GDBD can have real impact and complete control of their activity, is by leveraging the power of social media, and in particular, LinkedIn.
Although LinkedIn originally began as a tool for recruiters, it has firmly established itself as the social platform for business. As such it lends itself as the perfect tool to initiate business-to-business marketing. Marketing, NOT selling. I cannot emphasize this enough. The platform is there to grow and nurture a network of business connections, and the quickest way to lose these connections is to directly sell to them.
Utilizing LinkedIn systematically, day-to-day, is an excellent way to generate brand awareness, develop leads and position both the brand and the business developer as subject matter experts in their niche. Taking ten minutes a day on the platform and spending an hour crafting two posts a week, can begin to generate results relatively quickly.
There are many courses and experts pushing their LinkedIn expertise and charging a lot of money for the privilege. However, starting with the platform is not that difficult. Over the next three posts, I highlight a simple daily system that you can follow.
Your LinkedIN Mission
Before we start developing your LinkedIn system we need to consider what the aim of the campaign is going to be. In my opinion the overall objective should be:
Provide a steady source of leads to the top of the Sales Funnel.
This translates as the marketing effort adding opportunities and revenue into your sales pathway. The specific mission that supports the objective can be broken down into three tasks:
- Position the Business Developer and Company as a subject matter experts within the niche surrounding their offering.
- Generate regular touch points for the Company brand, building recognition over time.
- Develop a network of connections who are interested in your company offering.
The Three Ps of LinkedIn Marketing
The actions required to achieve this mission tasks can be divided into 3 Ps:
- Profile – create a great first impression for yourself and your company
- Propagate – develop a network of connections who are interested in your offering
- Promote – generate touch points and value-based content to produce interest, brand awareness and trust in your offering.
Profile is discussed further below. The second and third Ps will be examined in later posts.
Profile
If you have a quick scan through the LinkedIn profiles of your connections, it is obvious that most people have structured their profiles like an online resume. Seeing as LinkedIn was originally designed as a tool for recruiters this makes sense. However, the profile of a GDBD should focus on your offering.
Think of your profile as your customers’ first impression of your company and the opportunity to highlight the unique aspects about what your offering comprises. When redesigning your profile, use the following four points to guide you.
Stand out and be compelling. Highlight your company offering in your headline and make sure your photograph conveys professionalism.
Add detail around your company offering. In your ABOUT section make sure the reader can understand the key ways that you can help them, following a quick scan of your profile.
Use key words throughout your profile. Think of these as words that potential customers would type into Google if they were looking for your offering. For example, if your niche was flood modelling, you would include words and phrases like, flood modelling, flooding, flood specialist, flood mapping etc. Mention these a number of times throughout your profile.
Make it easy for the connection. The aim of using LinkedIn is to get a steady stream of leads entering the Sales Funnel. So, make it easy for interested connections to learn more. Put your contact details in the about section, phone number and email address and add a link to the relevant pages of your company website.
Further Action
Take time to look through your profile and adjust it to reflect what you offer your customers. Stop thinking of it as a resume. In part 2 we will look at systematic ways to use LinkedIn to assist your business development efforts.
Download my LinkedIn Mastery worksheet and other resources from the link below.
Let me know how do you set up LinkedIN to support your business development efforts?