Introduction
Looking to use LinkedIn to generate more leads for your business? You’ve come to the right place. While there are many different ‘types’ of marketing available on LinkedIn, we’re going to focus on the two most profitable for startup and early-stage companies: Direct Lead Generation Form Campaigns and Founder Led Sales/Targeted Outreach.
Direct Lead Generation Form Campaigns
First, let’s design a high-quality lead generation form so you can capture leads directly in the platform without having to worry about a website landing page or manual setups for conversion tracking. Here’s a high-performing LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Example from one of our campaigns for you to follow:
Note a couple of key guidelines:
- Have as few mandatory fields as possible – this will ensure higher completion rates.
- Map the ‘vital’ fields to the fields in your CRM your salesperson will find most useful – this will vary by your industry.
- Always leave an open section for comments, notes, or general data – while not immediately sortable in your CRM for data crunching purposes, the qualitative edge this gives your salesperson can be significant.
- For budget, start small and scale up as you find success with one variant or another – campaigns tend to have lower CPL / CPA as time passes and you drill down on what’s working.
Once you have this form set, it’s time to set up the targeting for where your LinkedIn Ads will be served:
Define your ideal client persona – and include any geographic filters if necessary. Create at least three variants of the campaign – one targeting Job Titles,
the other Industry Verticals,
and the other based on Skills (e.g. ‘Construction Management’, ‘Accounts Payable’)
For creative, keep the headlines short, clear, granular, and focused on the keyways you add value, not abstractions.
Founder Led Sales
Like it or not, the first 500K-1MM ARR is nearly always made by founder-led sales, so a strong sales background is key for any business owner.
First, optimize your profile:
- Use a clear, concise, and keyword-rich headline that explains who you are and what you do, and use a high-quality, professional photo. First impressions matter a lot here – and the keyword usage in the title can be a key determinant in whether you show up in search results.
- Craft a compelling summary that highlights your expertise, value proposition, and includes a call-to-action (CTA).
- List relevant experiences and skills, ensuring they align with the type of leads you are targeting. Clients want to know you understand their industry – if you can, niche down to highlight industry specific roles, and choose wording that resonates with your ICP.
Then, once your profile is optimized as a ‘landing page’ use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to narrow the field for InMail:
- Drill down on your exact ICP, and try to contact first and second degree connections first: third degree connections can wait until much later, and usually should be contacted at scale with an email based solution.
- Try to ascertain demand signals using things like funding rounds (detectable via Crunchbase or news articles), open job listings (for example, a company trying to hire an SEO specialist unsuccessfully will likely be a good prospect for a digital marketing agency looking for clients – adapt to your industry accordingly).
- Then, start pitching! Linked In has some hidden/ ‘soft’ activity limits to avoid being marked as spam, so be sure to keep it to under 150 reach outs per day, per account (*if using multiple SDRs/ BDRs)
- For the pitch, don’t be spammy – go to add value first. It’s a lot less ‘give me your money’ and a lot more “hey, I’m offering this solution, do you know anyone who might need it?” or “I noticed you’re in the market for X, I can help with that”. Be direct and professional, but not aggressive, and include a link from an easy booking system like Calendly to save from the “when are you free?” back and forth.
General LinkedIn Best Practices
General Tips
- Stay Active: Regularly update your profile and engage with other content on LinkedIn.
- Follow Industry Leaders and Influencers: Engage with their content to increase your visibility and network.
- Professionalism is Key: Always maintain professionalism in your interactions and posts.
Personal Profile Optimization for Brand Consistency
- Professional Profile Picture: Use a high-quality, professional headshot that aligns with LIFTEX’s brand image, ideally the headshots taken in December
- Customize Your Banner: Utilize a LIFTEX-branded banner for your profile to reinforce brand identity. This is something we can happily create for you.
- Optimize Your Headline: Beyond your job title, include keywords related to LIFTEX’s industry and services.
- Update Your Summary: Clearly articulate your role at LIFTEX and how it contributes to the company’s mission and values. Feel free to pull direct quotes from the website bios we created.
- Experience Section: In the ‘Experience’ section, provide detailed information about your role and achievements at LIFTEX.
- Consistent Brand Messaging: Ensure the language and tone used in your profile align with LIFTEX’s brand voice.
- Recommendations and Endorsements: Seek endorsements for skills relevant to your role at LIFTEX and offer endorsements to colleagues.
- Showcase Your Work: Use the ‘Featured’ section to highlight projects, achievements, or initiatives you’ve been part of at LIFTEX.
Promoting Company Posts - Engage Regularly: Like, comment, and share company posts. Your engagement increases the post’s visibility.
- Timing Matters: Engage with company posts promptly, ideally within the first few hours of posting, to best leverage LinkedIn algorithms.
- Share with a Personal Touch: Add a personal comment or insight to make it more relatable to your network.
- Use Hashtags Wisely: Incorporate relevant hashtags (#LIFTEX, #RoofLIfting, #RaiseTheRoof, etc.) to broaden the reach.
- Encourage Discussions: Pose questions or thought-provoking comments to initiate conversations on company posts.
- Tag Wisely: When appropriate, tag individuals or organizations mentioned in the post to increase visibility.
Conclusion
These B2B LinkedIn Marketing Strategy tactics & best practices should have you well on your way to a successful campaign, but if you need help scaling up your company, don’t hesitate to reach out to Estes Media today.
