When I first started using LinkedIn back in 2011, I had just sold my previous business (door to door sales company) and moved back to Sydney to pursue my passion of becoming a business mentor.
By this stage in my business career, I had started over 6 businesses, four of which were complete failures (or should I say lessons) and two that I managed to successfully exit.
I thought this would be a perfect recipe for advising other business owners what to do and more importantly what not to do. As I started growing my business, I noticed more and more how the business landscape has changed.
The strategies I had used in the past few years to build my previous businesses were no longer as effective as they used to be. I found I was wasting a lot of time and money on:
- Telemarketing campaigns
- Radio advertising
- Direct Mail
- Attending networking functions
And the list goes on……..
Around about this time there was huge buzz around social media. Like most people I was very skeptical and maybe a little cynical. Back than it was estimated that around about 1.5 billion people used social media in their daily routine.
Logically it would seem that tapping into even a portion of those users would translate to more contacts and bigger sales revenue, so marketing specialists were urging businesses to jump into using social media for marketing and gaining brand recognition.
However, a lot of companies were still trying to get their head around it all and struggling to generate a good return on investment
Long story short I decided to look further into it and the more I found/studied those who were achieving some phenomenal results, the more excited I got about the possibilities. Some of these guys were adding $100k, $200k and even $300k to their bottom line!!
I spent the next 6-12 months studying social media to really discover which platform would work for my business and out of all the social media tools (god knows I tried all of them), there are 3 main reasons why I choose LinkedIn:
1) MEDIA
In today’s business world I think consumers buy more into people than they do in companies and products. Sure having a good company reputation is important and you have to have a great product/service but all of this can quickly become irrelevant if they don’t like the people behind the company.
This is why personal branding and online reputation is important. One great way to build your reputation and expertise in the market place is ‘Media Exposure” When I first started my advisory firm I found it difficulty to stand out in the market place. It seemed like every person on a street corner was now a business coach with 99.9999999% of them with no business experience.
Crazy right?
I knew that the only way I was going to stand out in the market place was to create a unique point of difference. A week later whilst driving home from the office I read an article which said:
“LinkedIn is the number one preferred professional network for journalist and editors with over 94.2% of them being on the platform”
This got me excited, so the very next day I started connecting with journalist and what started off as a connection hear and there quickly eventuated to a network of over 250 media contacts in less than 3 months.
I than spent the next 3 months building a relationship with those contacts and as a result I was able to get into 50 media publications without spending a cent on PR or sending out a single press release.
Task: Think about the top 5 publications your customers are regularly reading and start connecting and building relationships with journalist and editors within those media outlets.
Another way you can use LinkedIn to grow your business is through:
2) JOINT VENTURE PARTNERSHIPS
Whether you’re launching a new business or extending a product or service in your existing business, one of the toughest and most immediate priorities is finding new clients, but often you don’t have large marketing budgets or you simply don’t have the time to spend developing new customers.
So how will you find hundreds or thousands of qualified eager customers ready to start buying your products or services straight away, and how can you do this with very little time, money or effort on your behalf?
One of the most powerful and cost effective ways to market your business to potential buyers in the marketplace. Let’s face it the sales cycle is a lot longer today than it used to be 5-10 years ago. Why waste time and precious resources developing this trust when you can partner with someone else who has already established this trust.
Task: Answer the following two questions and than start searching, finding, connecting and developing a win-win deal with each and everyone of those partners you connect with
1) Where are your clients going before, during and after purchasing your service/product?
2) What companies out there already have access to this list?
2) What companies out there already have access to this list?
Why chase after one client when you can partner with a complimentary business who has already established trust and rapport with hundreds if not thousands of your target market. Using this strategy alone through LinkedIn, Using this strategy alone I managed to establish 16 partnerships with accounting firms growing my previous business by over 328%.
And finally I’ve left the best for last:
3) 1:1 CLIENTS
I have this fundamental belief that in business regardless of what product or service you sell, ultimately we are all in the business of Marketing with the sole objective of getting our message in front of key decision makers.
I also believe that marketing is 10% what you say, 90% how you say it. Therefore it’s hard to stand out if your marketing your business like every other competitor in your industry.
Last time I checked that’s the meaning of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a difference result.
Why spend thousands of dollars marketing your business using traditional marketing methods when you can access a network of 300 million people, especially as 49% of them are key decision makers.
Task: Write down your marketing objectives over the next 6-12 months, get really clear in terms of who you need to connect with to achieve those objectives and than start searching, finding, connecting and building your funnel of potential leads.
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