Do you have a LinkedIn profile? If you don't, you may be missing one of the best and most targeted methods for building awareness for your business. Here are just a few ways small tech firms can use LinkedIn to marketing advantage. Some might take this as a shameless pitch for LinkedIn. I promise you there is not affiliation here - but I am a big fan of this "self-sustaining rolodex."
1. If you are looking to build your profile as an industry expert, build out and enhance your profile to the fullest extent, fleshing out content with links to blog postings and other thought leadership tools. Change it frequently and adapt the content to enhance and refresh it. Try googling on your own name - if you are building out your profile sufficiently you'll find your linkedin infomration will be right up there at the top.
2. Seeking to build relationships or prospect with buyers in a specific sector? Explore LinkedIn Groups. There are any number of targeted groups devoted to all forms of subject matter - joining these groups will give you visibility into other LinkedIn members with shared interest. The most challenging part of prospecting is finding people with specific and targeted interest in your products and services - LinkedIn groups can help point you to these individuals.
3. Do the upgrade - InMail, an upgraded form of LinkedIn gives you the ability to step outside of your "network" and reach members with whom you have no contact today. Great prospecting tool. But remember, lead with value - if you are cold calling (or cold emailing) the message should be about solving a problem -- not a blatant sales pitch.
4. Have a compelling article or whitepaper you think is of value to this community? Try posting a link to the piece to a relevant group for a bit of guerilla lead generation. One of my clients used this approach quite recently and drove hundreds of interested people back to their site and to their new paper.
5. Follow and respond to the discussion threads. Remember you are an expert in your field. Many of these groups have active discussion threads where members actively talk about their challenges and solicit answers. Providing insightful and rich responses will position you as a thought leader and your firm as a go-to expert in the industry.
Happy New Year All!
