How To Make LinkedIn An Even More Powerful Platform For Your Business!
Standing out in a crowded marketplace (or dare I say it in a recession!) requires a new approach to marketing . . .
One that requires putting our potential clients first.
Walking in their shoes to understand the ‘touchpoints they take with us BEFORE and AFTER they buy from us.
Commonly known as customer journey marketing, it’s where we map the journey our clients take from not knowing who we are to becoming raving fans.
Of course, LinkedIn is itself a massive key touchpoint in the journey your prospects and clients have with you.
So I was delighted to be joined by Marianne Smith FCIM at Doo Marketing for this month’s LinkedIn LoveIn, to talk us through how we can use customer journey marketing to make our day-to-day LinkedIn activity even more effective.
Introducing The Doo Method To Attract The Customers You Want To Work with On LinkedIn
Marianne uses a 6-step process called the Doo Method to map customer journeys.
The Doo Method for mapping your customer journey
In this LoveIn, we looked at the first three stages of the Doo Method. This focuses on the ATTRACT side of the customer journey and how you can apply it to LinkedIn to attract the type of customers that you want to work with.
In the next LinkedIn LoveIn, we’re covering RETENTION – the steps AFTER your client has decided to work with you.
In summary the 3 stages of the Doo Method Marianne covered were:
➊ Awareness. How you put your brand in the right places to attract your ideal clients. LinkedIn is obviously a great place to be putting your brand and attracting your ideal clients as long as that’s where they hang out!
➋ Consideration. How do your prospects take notice of you, how do you get onto their radar and warm them up to buy from you. LinkedIn content is key here. What are you posting, who are you engaging with?
➌ Trial. The stepping stones that helps people sample what it’s like working with you. Want an example of a stepping stone? This LinkedIn LoveIn is a great example 😁
▶️ Watch the LinkedIn LoveIn here where Marianne & I dig deeper into each step.
Step 1: Awareness
This step is all about how your potential clients get to know you and like all good marketing, it starts with understanding who your ideal clients are and what their ‘pains and gains’ are. Questions to think about here are:
❓Where are they’re likely to hang out? Will they be on LinkedIn?
❓What do they need from you?
❓What are they struggling with that you can help them with?
Once you’re happy with who your dream clients are and that they’re on LinkedIn, the next step is showing up in the right way.
I bang on a lot about LinkedIn profiles and if you want to show up in the right way you have to know who it is you’re talking to so that you can tailor your profile to them, and in a way that’s authentic.
This includes:
✅ A good profile photo that represents you and resonates with your ideal clients.
✅ Using your headline to position what it is you do and how you help. Use what I call a benefit led to demonstrate you understand your audience and their challenges
✅ Use your About section to demonstrate your expertise and how you can help resolve their challenges
✅ Importantly make your profile easy to read. Short paragraphs, space out text and use bullets. 60% of traffic to LinkedIn is from the desktop so long paragraphs are just too difficult to read!
▶️▶️ For more tips on how to write your LinkedIn Profile download my free eBook ‘One Hour To A LinkedIn Profile That Gets You Found & Noticed’
The Awareness stage from a LinkedIn perspective also involves your network. Are you linking in with the right potential clients, or associates who can introduce you. Connecting and building your network is an essential part of your overall LinkedIn strategy and it also underpins the next step of the Doo Method, Consideration.
⭐ Awareness Action: Is your profile up to scratch? Is it positioning you in your brightest and best possible light? Is it time for a review and refresh of your profile?
Step 2: Consideration
We’re on LinkedIn, we’re looking the part and we’re connecting with the right people the next stage is Consideration.
Consideration is where your potential clients have identified a need and they are looking for solutions to their challenges.
From a LinkedIn perspective, this refers to the content we’re posting on LinkedIn. It’s about being the tallest poppy in the field as Marianne called it and being seen as the expert.
With your ideal client in mind then, ask yourself . . .
❓what content are they looking for?
❓what questions are they looking for answers to?
❓what content would demonstrate your expertise and show that you can help your dream clients resolve their challenges?
But first . . . look at your network
Because the Consideration stage is all about raising your visibility on LinkedIn so potential clients can find you when they’re doing their research, it’s essential you’re building a network of the right people, who are actually going to be interested in the content you post.
It’s not about having the biggest network but having an engaged network.
There’s no question we need to be connected on LinkedIn but it’s a fine line between quantity and quality.
I’ve seen so many people with thousands and thousands of connections who literally get no engagement on their posts. Because of the way LinkedIn works, if you have a network who aren’t interested in what you post, if it doesn’t grab or engage them, you will have next to no visibility or reach, and you may as well be talking to yourself.
Make sure when it comes to connecting, you set some criteria. When someone sends you a connection request check them out. Will they add value to your network? Could they be a potential client, or an associate? Is it someone you know? If not, then simply click ignore!
⭐ Consideration Action:
- Take a look at your content and have your best client in mind – what will you post and does it fit with what you want to be known for?
- Review your network, could you benefit from cleansing your network to improve the reach of your posts?
Step 3: Trial
Several people tell Marianne they get nothing from LinkedIn. They’ve done their profile, they’re connecting with the right people and they’re posting. So, what’s going wrong here?
From a customer journey perspective, Marianne believes that we’re trying to move our clients too far too soon. Expecting potential clients to want your ‘big’ thing – when actually your potential clients aren’t quite ready to sign up just yet.
When it comes to LinkedIn, the objective here is using LinkedIn to open the door to a conversation NOT sell our ‘big’ thing.
This is when the Trial stage comes into play. It’s about offering your potential clients a taster of what it’s like to work with you. Something that will solve a problem but leave the door open to more.
Examples include free offers or free audits, a giveaway guide, a discovery call or a 121. Others could be a link to a blog that answers common questions your audience has.
😁Did I mention I have a ‘free’ eBook with top tips on how to write your LinkedIn Profile?
😁 This is a perfect example of a trial, and you can download it here: ‘One Hour To A LinkedIn Profile That Gets You Found & Noticed.’
This is key because we don’t know WHO these potential clients are so until they take some form of action either by downloading your free offer for example or getting in touch in some way.
The other thing is we don’t know WHERE our potential clients are in the buying process. I’ve heard so many times people say someone got in touch with them only to find out they’d been following them for months but had never engaged on their posts.
So, it’s important to keep that visibility up there, keep posting and demonstrating you can solve your clients’ problems and be top of the supplier list for when your dream client is ready to buy.
⭐ Trial Action: Make sure you have a call to action to encourage potential clients to take some form of action whether that’s a free eBook or a discovery call.
In summary – To attract your dream clients to you on LinkedIn you need to:
- Position your profile the right the right way to attract them
- Post content that they will find valuable and useful, that solves problems or answers questions
- Have a call to action to encourage your potential clients to take some form of action because until they do you don’t know who they are whether that’s to sign up to your mailing where you can nurture them, or a discovery call
Recommended Reading
What Customers Crave by Nicholas J Webb: How well do you know your customers? What do they love? What do they hate? This book is all about how understanding your customers, as well as the type of clients you want to work with, and doing more of what they love.
What ONE thing will you commit to?
The key to success is to take action and Marianne laid down the challenge to do just one thing following this LoveIn, whether that’s to get a new profile photo, a branded header banner, to work on your profile or look at your connection strategy
Join us for Part Two! How To Use LinkedIn To Retain Clients & Create Raving Fans
We’ve looked at how LinkedIn, as a key touch point in your customers’ journey, can help you attract and nurture your potential clients until they reach the point they’re ready to buy from you.
Now you have a new client who is ready to buy from you, what next?
In this LinkedIn LoveIn we are going to look at RETENTION. The steps that come AFTER your client has decided to buy from you and why are they important.
The next 3 steps in the Doo Method are:
✅ Welcome – how to truly WOW your customers from day one
✅ Retention – how to create raving fans
✅ Advocacy – where your clients tell everyone else about you!
➡️➡️➡️ Join Us For Part Two Here ⬅️⬅️⬅️
Join the LinkedIn LoveIn Group and keep up to date with the latest LinkedIn tips and tricks!
💙 If LinkedIn isn’t working hard for you or you’re not sure where to start with using LinkedIn, email judy@judithparsons.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat about how I can help.
Or book a virtual brew here and let’s make LinkedIn work for you . . . ⭐
