Marketing your freelance writing business is one of the most critical parts of running and growing it to success. There are many ways to do that. In my own experience, LinkedIn has been a lucrative channel for me to find ideal clients and help my ideal clients find me.
To ensure both of those things happen, you need to know the buyer’s journey on LinkedIn. LinkedIn now has over 810 million members, and its unique business-oriented environment makes it a useful tool for B2B business owners, including freelance writers.
Just as there is a science to businesses becoming visible on Google, there is a science to becoming visible on LinkedIn. Let’s start by understanding the buyer’s journey on LinkedIn before comprehending how it shapes your marketing.
Lead-Gen Pipeline on LinkedIn
Here are two possible pipelines leading your ideal prospects to you on LinkedIn:
- A prospect searches the term “freelance technology writer” on LinkedIn and lands on your profile.
- A prospect comes across your content and lands on your profile.
These two pipelines lead prospects to you, so there are steps you can take to ensure the right kind of prospects land on your profile and take further action. Let’s see how.
When a Prospect Finds You Through LinkedIn Search
When a prospect searches for a freelance writer on LinkedIn, they land on a page full of results. Try this: Search your niche + “freelance writer” on LinkedIn and see how many names pop up. When I conducted that search for “freelance technology writer,” I got 75,000 results!
Now, this doesn’t mean I have that much competition to beat, but just that I need to appear as the most suitable and credible option for my prospects. I also want prospects to qualify or disqualify themselves through my profile before reaching out. That saves me time!
But first, let’s understand what a prospect does with the list of search results, all 75,000 of whom are freelance technology writers. They glance at it, shortlist 5-10 names and visit LinkedIn profiles for further qualification.
Based on that knowledge, what can you do to improve your chances of attracting your ideal prospect’s attention?
- Make your profile visible in relevant search results by adding the right keywords in your headline, summary, experiences, and skills. This basic tactic ensures that your profile is optimized for search and that it pops up for the relevant key phrases. You can check your Search Appearances on the Dashboard section of your profile to know what keywords you are being found for right now.
- Get LinkedIn Premium, or at least put it in your budget to add it when you can. Besides all the debate about how LinkedIn Premium may or may not benefit your marketing on LinkedIn, it does add that beautiful golden badge on your profile, which, in my opinion, boosts credibility and perceived value. Premium profiles stand out clearly in LinkedIn search results.
- Build credibility on your profile. Once a prospect lands on your profile, it’s in your control to convert them. Make sure you’ve laid down all the right elements for them to qualify or disqualify themselves AND take action if they see the right fit. Remember, we’re all skimmers. We don’t read lengthy paragraphs but skim through them. What stands out when you scan your profile? Check: are you making these eight LinkedIn profile mistakes?
When a Prospect Comes Across Your Content
This pipeline starts when a prospect comes across your content on LinkedIn and decides to reach out. We all like to consume content on LinkedIn. What does or does not resonate depends on many factors, which is why your content must align with your marketing objectives and your ideal clients’ interests, pains, and desires.
If you’re still timidly scrolling LinkedIn without posting any content of your own, learn from my experience. Here are five fears I faced and beat to create content on LinkedIn.
When something you post resonates with your ideal clients, they may reach out to you. This could happen over a period of time or at once with a stroke of luck.
Based on this knowledge, what can you do?
- First, to appear on your ideal clients’ feeds, you need to be connected with them or at least be in their 2nd-degree network. So, keep on expanding your LinkedIn network by connecting with prospects in your industry.
Pro Tip: This can also help with the first pipeline we discussed. Someone searching for freelance technology writer seeing 75,000 results can choose to only see those from their 1st level connections.
- Post relevant content consistently. Now that you are actively expanding your network, you need to get the right eyes on your profile and through the pipeline. To do that, you need engaging and interesting content to attract your ideal prospects. Build your content strategy for LinkedIn in five easy steps.
- Engage with others’ content to maximize your visibility. Posting your own content isn’t enough anymore. To get more people to come to your party, attend other people’s parties. That’s just a cheeky attempt at saying, engage with others’ content.
- Build credibility through content. There are unsaid underlying messages in every piece of content. After writing a post, see what the indirect messages are. For instance, if my post mentions working with international clients or implies that in some way, it tells my ideal client I work internationally. Always be mindful of the indirect messages you send to your ideal clients through your content, as they may be hurting or building your credibility.
Now that you know your buyer’s journey on LinkedIn, you are better equipped to take the necessary steps to attract your ideal clients. Build a sustainable marketing strategy for your business and start acting on it now. You’ve got this!
