If you are reading this newsletter, you have probably not yet figured out how to achieve LinkedIn success. You are quite possibly still lurking in the shadows promising yourself that one day you’ll start posting regularly but as yet, the perfect day hasn’t happened.
Well, instead of me copying all the usual shite you read on social media about how someone went from a shack in Timbuktu to a penthouse in Mayfair just from posting carousels about the art of carousels… I’ll tell you the truth.
Content is vital in your quest to become the major authority in your space, drive awareness and ultimately, inbound enquiries. But to maximise your content effectiveness, there are a couple of other factors.
People Need a Push
Every day, your content (once you nail that strategy) does the job of putting you on your ideal buyer’s radar. If you’re really good, your cleverly executed jumble of words may even raise a smile. All great things for distracting them from their otherwise very boring and predictable work day.
Winning.
Do this for long enough, and you start to become influential in your field. This cements you at the top of their preferred supplier list for your particular service and attracts the eyes of people who had previously never heard of you. Once this happens, your content has well and truly done its job.
The problem is, whilst your target buyer knows they would benefit from your service and would certainly choose you when their time comes. They are always going to prioritise something more urgent because that’s what we humans do. Especially when left to our own devices with no one holding us accountable or pushing us into action.
This means you need additional steps in your sales and marketing process. Otherwise, you will be forever known as the person who brightens up their feed, but never asks for the business. Which if your goal is to have lots of friends and no money, then crack on.
Automated DMs are not the Answer
You might be thinking a strategy involving a wall, loads of shit and a good throwing arm is the answer. You might even think that instead of putting in any effort to understand a little bit about the person you’re messaging, an automation tool is the answer.
It isn’t.
Think about how you feel when you receive a daily dose of automated spam from the ‘Hi Dear’ brigade. Folk who are more often than not based somewhere further east in the world offering you a completely irrelevant service.
How do you feel?
Unless you are very odd, I can almost guarantee that after the second of what is undeniably a 58-message thread programmed into a piece of software, said person is getting blocked. Only to pop up again 2 weeks later under a different name offering the same bullshit service.
Which you still don’t need.
Do you really want to be associated with what I’ve just described?
DMs Done Properly
If the last segment of this newsletter hasn’t put you off sending a DM for life, then you should continue reading. This powerful tool has a very important place in the sales process.
Spend too long listening to the gurus who couldn’t make their bullshit work on TikTok so have headed over to LinkedIn to brainwash unsuspecting desperados in need of a quick fix, and you’ll fail. Having triple-figure likes is lovely, but when it comes at the cost of your bank balance (which it often does) then it doesn’t have any value.
When direct messaging is used well, it changes the conversation from you speaking in an arena, to speaking over a coffee. One on one. Yes, your content can reach thousands of people each day, but so can the other countless posts people see in their feeds.
Building a value-based messaging strategy that works in conjunction with the content they see from you each day has an incredible impact on your pipeline. Checking in with your target buyers once a month and offering them the value they are not getting elsewhere means that instead of them feeling like a number in an automated system, they feel important.
You are not trying to hard sell here. You are merely offering nuggets of priceless information. Reinforcing your content and helping them improve their business. Of course, the goal is always to encourage a response, allowing you to slowly open up the conversation and earn your buyer’s trust over time.
Remember, your messaging must always be about them and the value they get from reading it. At this early stage, no one cares about your business.
Filling Your Sales Funnel
I’ve lost count of the amount of small business owners I speak to who are bringing their drivel to LinkedIn on the daily expecting it to do all the work.
No DMs, blogs, newsletters, emails or even events. Just a soggy dog post and a carousel no one reads.
When this strategy (if you can call it that) is deployed, you are relying on the right people to see your content at exactly the right time. You are also relying on them prioritising the task of reaching out and asking for a price when they are balls-deep in a million other things.
And let’s not forget, the second they scroll past your post and onto the next one… Your influence for that day starts to fade.
As well as a carefully executed messaging strategy, an email newsletter subscription is a great way to offer extreme value to those who don’t spend all day on social media. Which in fairness, is probably 99% of the people you are trying to attract.
As with any social media post, this long-form piece of extreme value isn’t a direct sales tool. It is not designed to have people queuing around the block to hand you money for services and selfies. What this very effective process does is place people well and truly at the top of your sales funnel.
Now you have a lovely 3-way going on.
Your content is driving awareness, with new audiences joining the party all the time.
Your DMs are providing small snippets of gold, reminding people of your existence. They are standing you out from your competitors who are scared of human communication.
A newsletter allows you to build a list of people who have committed to hearing from you at regular intervals. This shows a level of intent beyond a simple like on a LinkedIn post.
Oh, and these people are also now in your sales funnel. In case that wasn’t clear.
The Complete Solution
Please don’t for a second think that great content doesn’t win you business. It can, and it will.
As an exercise in building your influence in your space and ensuring the eyes of the people you want to attract start taking notice, it’s an absolute must for all businesses in 2024.
To complete the solution, however, and turn eyeballs into clients, you must build a system that compliments your content, working with it to push people into the action they really need to take.
Action that will help to grow their business.
If you’d like to speak with us about providing the complete solution for your business, hit me in the DMs and let’s have a chat.
Stay Unconventionall.