Get More Clients via LinkedIn With These 5 No-bullshit Steps
Or; the article where I shoot myself in the foot and give you all my secrets
Freelancers, Startups and otherwise have all heard LinkedIn works for leads somehow, but don’t know how the hell to use it effectively.
Case in point:
I thought it was about time I shared the actual way to succeed on LinkedIn, since there are a lot of hot garbage guides on how to get ahead.
If you master these steps, or even just become adept at them, you’ll get leads.
If you find this guide doesn’t help you at all, I urge you to email me so I can figure out which part you screwed up on.
I’m offering a free 15 minute consultation on how to best use LinkedIn to anyone that asks for it. No joke.
I’m that serious about the effectiveness of this strategy.
Let’s not waste time. You need paying clients to make rent, and I want to help you:
1.) Be Better Than The Big Boys By Doing What Only You Can Do
Open up Google Docs or Word, or your word processor of choice.
Make a list of the following, and only put 1 thing total in each category:
What I’m Exceptional at:
What I’m Good at:
What I Suck at:
What (Competitor) Is Exceptional at:
What (Competitor) Is Good At:
What (Competitor) Sucks At:
Once you have done both, try to see a pattern between what you’re a fucking rockstar at, what you suck at, and your competitor‘s prospective list.
Know yourself, where you are, and where you can see your competitors are.
Perception is reality, remember that.
Here’s my current list:
What I’m Exceptional at: Using content marketing tactics to get niche clients.
What I’m Good at: Knowing and being able to execute a shitload of other creative tech disciplines solely by myself.
What I Suck at: Knowing when to shut up.
What Agencies Are Exceptional at: Impressing Big Clients.
What Agencies Are Good At: Driving results via a concerted effort of freelancers working in tandem.
What Agencies Suck At: Using normal human language to explain shit (I’m sorry you guys! I love you but I’m being real!)
Add one more point and fill it in. I’ll show you mine:
What I’m better at than the Big Boys (Agencies): Garnering attention by talking like a human, and getting a lot of no-bullshit, niche clients.
Seems pretty straightforward, right?
You now have a rough idea about what your USP (unique selling point) is.
If that seems super simplistic, it’s because it is.
Figuring out what makes you / your product / your business different takes a lot more than just a tiny-ass list, but it should give you at least some idea of where you stand.
Now that you know what you’re better at than the Big Boys, get the hell on LinkedIn.
Make your profile reflect what you’re good at. Do. Not. Try. To. Fit. In.
Talk boldly about what you know how to do. Confidence is an incredible trait that can attract others to you. Fake it till you make it.
Post something every day for a whole month about what you know. I’m serious. Try like hell to tie it back to your USP.
Post funny anecdotes. Post stories. Help people get to know you.
Gain friends and followers who feel the same way you do. Talk to them about the things you believe in, the things they believe in, and try to help them.
You’re out here to make friends and allies right now, not sell your services.
Treat LinkedIn like a social party where you need to go “find your tribe”. Find them, and connect.
Congratulations.
You now have leverage and a small network of people who like what you do.
2.) Distribution Is Literally Everything
At this point you probably have at least 5 people who are into what you’re posting. It’s obvious as to who they are, just check your notifications.
You should be tagging people with every status update, no exceptions unless you’re just posting something for shits and giggles.
Never tag people if you think it won’t add value for them.
Reply to their responses. They took the time to share their opinion and offer support, the least you can do is talk to them and continue the conversation.
Tag the Big Boys. Comment on status updates written by the Big Boys.
Make yourself a seemingly inescapable presence on LinkedIn, circling around your core modus operandi — your USP. Inject your expertise where you can.
Your key to success is to grow a following that is loyal to you, cares about you — that you care about, because they are your peers, your friends, allies, and supporters.
They will champion you on your behalf. You must champion them too, because it’s the right thing to do, and you’re not an ass.
If this seems Machiavellian and somehow shows that I’m a soulless draconian lizard-person who boils down my LinkedIn presence to a science in an effort to get ahead by way of emotional manipulation, know this:
What I am teaching you, I do naturally. I am this type of person. I yell a lot, and loudly. I enjoy talking to people immensely. I’m the class clown.
I like antagonizing people.
I am the quintessential annoying extrovert.
I didn’t go into LinkedIn networking or content marketing knowing this. So now I am teaching you how to do it, the way I do it.
Make friends, allies, and supporters. They will distribute your expertise for you by way of the LinkedIn algorithms, word of mouth, referrals, and clout.
Making friends is fun. If it’s not fun for you, you’re going to have a really hard time with this.
3.) He Who Screams Loudest Gets Seen First
At the top of every post, you want an enticing “Headline”. Use Coschedule’s headine analyzer to do this.
When I say enticing, I basically mean persuasive.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a full sentence. I don’t care what copy editors tell you about writing copy. They know what they know, and I know LinkedIn.
Sometimes the most effective copy isn’t grammatically correct, pro tip.
Go for the “feels”. Go for the negative. Go for the positive. Go for something — anything — other than Boring.
Boring is bad.
Be annoying. Yes. I’m dead serious. Annoy people.
You’re also going to do something that everyone on LinkedIn hates:
I am now purposefully putting a bunch of line breaks in between each of these sentences
To show you now how your LinkedIn posts should look.
It helps people read your status updates more easily on mobile.
And even though everyone complains about it.
It’s easier on the eyes.
And it actually works.
Make sure to have your “Headline” above the fold.
By.
Hitting.
Enter.
Twice.
After.
The.
First.
Sentence.
You need to be loud as hell, and put yourself out there in ways you’re probably not comfortable with.
4.) Know Your Niche. Spray and Pray Doesn’t Work.
I’m a weirdo. I feel comfortable being a weirdo.
I feel comfortable writing gaming articles, anime articles, crypto articles, snarky marketing articles, scathing op-eds about the hiring process, political satire, and sarcastic exposes all-the-live-long-damned-day.
It just so happens that people who like my niche interests are exactly the type of clients I want to attract.
I love rebels like Joe Shepherd of ZenLeap who is trying to fix the absolutely bonkers and broken hiring process once and for all.
I love other rebels I can’t name because I’m working for them on a ghost-content-marketer-writer-person level, but I love them, and they are rebellious.
This is not hard for me. I like stirring shit up.
I’m never really off-brand. Ever. And you shouldn’t be either.
But to really know your niche, you actually really have to know yourself. You need to know your product. Your business. Your brand voice.
You need to know if your product actually serves your niche.
You need to know what your niche responds to. You need to be able to see data about that and act accordingly to optimize responses and support your KPIs.
That’s content marketing right there.
LinkedIn has the ability, when you click on your post, to show you some pretty slick data. Remember that, and make sure to click it often, to see who is most interested in what you’re doing, from which locations, and which industries.
If you’ve gotten this far into the article, and you’ve thrown your hands up in defeat, it’s time to get a consultation from me. You may need more than 15 minutes, and I charge for that — fair warning.
Because at this point, it has nothing to do with LinkedIn and everything to do with you.
This is how I get leads without a functional website. It’s been down for god-knows-how-long, and I still get interest in my inbox and LinkedIn messages several times a week and often multiple times a day. No joke.
If you’re still asking yourself right now how all of this lines up to getting leads and clients on LinkedIn, see the next point.
5.) People hate being sold to. So don’t sell to them.
This entire 5 point process is a way to position yourself on LinkedIn as a leader in your niche, supporting your unique selling point.
You will get people messaging you, asking if they can pick your brain. Let them pick at it a bit, but then ease into the slow rolling soft sell.
Once you get them into that meeting, they already have been warmed up to you via your profile, and you win.
If they aren’t interested, do not push the matter. It’s their loss — you know it, they know it.
Do not put your rates on the table until they can’t say no. Get them to commit to a number first.
Know industry standard rates. Do not devalue your services unless you are feeling charitable (I do this sometimes for companies I really like).
Ask me if you have any questions on pricing your stuff.
If you are interested in reaching out directly, do so, but do it with the intent of reaching out to them as someone you want to get to know.
Not as someone you are trying to make a sale to.
I close 9/10 deals, and I never majored in sales or business, and have a liberal arts degree. I shit you not.
You, too, can excel on LinkedIn and get clients. You can. I believe in you.
You’ve done the work to let them know just what you know, what kind of person you are, and what you can offer.
All the hard work you put into LinkedIn is better than any online portfolio could ever be.
Because it’s easy to connect on LinkedIn. SEO for your site, not so much.
Social sales and content marketing works, period.
If you have questions about all this, ask me in the comments.
If you want to complain that this is too hard, hire me to do it for you.
But I’m going to be real here: it’s not too hard.
You just aren’t ready to get serious. Simple as that.
Special thanks to Renato P. dos Santos for his continued support.
Kira Leigh is a writer, gamer and game enthusiast, digital creative, and small business owner.
Send her a line or catch her on LinkedIn if you want to work with her.
Or join her on Discord like the giant nerd you are: windows95toasteroven#3745
