So, what do I mean by clarifying your brand for LinkedIn?
In my humble opinion many people are disappointed with their results on LinkedIn. This could be caused by a number of factors, however the most common one is a lack of direction.
Before you even open up your laptop and fire up LinkedIn, you must have a clear understanding of what you are looking to achieve, then have a plan, the desire and consistency to see it through.
To help you get started work on these 3 fundamental areas first:
Who is my target audience?
In a few years LinkedIn will have 1bn members. This is essentially a massive database where you can gather intelligence and research. To avoid wasted efforts consider who is your target audience from a database perspective, I suggest you should have a very clear understanding on 4 key attributes:
- Job title (these can be varied and misleading so be careful, you may need to gather the most used ones).
- Sector: what sectors/industries are you most likely to find your potential audience.
- Company size: determine if company size helps you narrow your audience.
- Location: geographical locations are important too. Depending on your target audience what global locations are considered, think of time zones, on and offline activities.
Make sure you write this all down on a word document so you can refer to it.
You may have a large audience, if this is the case, can you prioritise sectors or specific job roles within the scope of your target audience?
The key is to break it down so you can work on manageable chunks at a time. I find it much easier to break the year into 4 quarters and then put particular focus and emphasis on certain sectors or roles. This makes your approach focused and tactical.
The other benefit of completing this exercise is that your profile will contain content that is searchable on LinkedIn. There are 5 specific places on your profile to have the appropriate searchable keywords so you are found on LinkedIn, above and beyond your competition.
Reverse engineered alignment
Most people are keen to tell their story and showcase their products and services. It’s great to have enthusiasm about what you do and the benefits. But you must put yourself in your audience’s shoes, usually scarce on time, skimming, scanning, and scrolling profiles as they research. The only way you’re going to get their attention is to talk about them.
What are their top challenges, what are they struggling with or the lost opportunities they are not leveraging? Try and think of 4 to 6. Then the key is to name the challenge and then support it with a couple of lines on why you’re the solution or part of the solution.
The key to LinkedIn is getting the messaging in the right order… The intuitive mind is looking for evidence you care and understand their needs… the rational mind comes second.
Benefits … the epic failure
It’s expected whilst demonstrating you understand your audience needs and wants, you need to educate them on how you deliver the transformation they are looking for. Most LinkedIn cadets fail miserably in this area.
Many I have observed will take a lot of time and space talking to the audience entirely about the history of the company, its products and service, or upload a CV… job description …really!!?!
Normally this would be about 80-90% of the content and very little on the benefits of their services. This is a lost opportunity but so easy to fix. Describe the service in the least number of words possible then focus 80-90% on the benefits. Again, let’s appeal to the intuitive mind first and the rational mind will catch up.
Whilst there is more to clarify your brand for LinkedIn. Working on these 3 areas will get off on the right foot.
If you would like a copy of our 8 Quick Fixes to your LinkedIn Profile come to our next free LinkedIn learning session
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Miles Duncan (founder)
https://www.b2bsuccesssystems.co.uk/
Large team LinkedIn training service – online and in-line programs
Creators of LinkedIn white label customised eLearning platforms (SaaS)
Training for individuals & small teams
Please connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/milesduncan/
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