LinkedIn Marketing Strategy for Freelancers - 2022
LinkedIn is one of the best platforms for freelancers when it comes to getting clients and more importantly, getting high ticket clients.
So in this week's blog post, I'll walk you through a step-by-step, proven LinkedIn marketing strategy for freelancers that will help you get more reach, visibility, generate leads and convert them.
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Before you think this is me just giving you tips, this is the LinkedIn marketing strategy that I use, and what my clients equally use to book out their services to the point where they're actually ready to quit their 9-5 jobs.
#1: Know your audience
As always, any marketing campaign must always start with your customer. So you need to answer these questions;
- Who do you serve?
- What do they want?
- Why do you serve them?
- How and when do you step in to help them get to their desired outcome?
The way you do this is by doing research. And when you gather the data from your research, you are going to use that data to create your ideal client profile, based on data collected from your customers, research you've done on your own, and the skills you have to them get to their desired outcome.
#2: Optimize your LinkedIn profile
The next thing you want to do when developing your LinkedIn marketing strategy as a freelancer is to optimize your profile.
Your profile is a mini sales page. You do not need a website. You need to optimize your profile to serve as your sales page.
Mistake I see a lot of freelancers make is, they start their business by creating a website even before they understand who they serve.
Is a website important? Yes, but only after you've built your business to a certain stage and you know exactly who you serve.
And to be quite honest, you can't really know this person until you've actually worked with a couple of people, which will hep you put the pieces together.
So rather than wasting time trying to build a website that no one will actually visit, optimize your LinkedIn profile to address your ideal client. Watch this video to learn how to optimize your profile as a freelancer.
#3: Create a content strategy
The next thing you want to do is, start creating content. Don't over think it. You will get to understand better what your audience want to see from you as you start putting out content.
Even though people are beginning to populate LinkedIn, the amount of people putting out content is still under 3%, which leaves so much room and opportunity for you and I. So use that opportunity to put out content.
Educate, inspire and entertain your audience. Pick your poison, focus on your strength. If you're not a funny person, don't force it. Focus on educational and inspirational content and vice versa.
I go into details on the best kind of content to create on LinkedIn as a freelancer in this video. Make sure you watch it before you leave.
#4: Build brand awareness by engaging
One of the most effective ways to build brand awareness on LinkedIn is through engagement. And I'm talking about engaging with your ideal clients, bigger influencers in your niche, and leaving thoughtful, educational, relatable comments.
Leaving emojis, or comments like, "thanks for sharing", "great content", does not count as engagement when trying to build brand awareness on LinkedIn.
People read comments, and these conversations you have in the comment section in other communities on LinkedIn will help you grow your network, build authority in your space, generate content ideas, and even generate leads.
So take some time at least 4 times a week to engage on LinkedIn. You do not need all day. All you need is 15mins in the morning, and 15mins in the afternoon, and you're good to go.
#5: Develop an outbound outreach strategy
Most people hate outbound outreach. I get it, most of them are cringy. But outbound outreach doesn't have to be cringy. It's all about how it's done.
The fact is, as a new freelancer, you will not start getting inbound leads when you just start your business. You will need to start reaching out to potential leads in order to get clients. And then when you build authority and brand awareness, those inbound leads will come.
Outbound outreach doesn't mean you reach out to someone asking them if they want your services, and it doesn't mean they need to buy from your immediately. It's about building rapport, building relationships, providing value, and taking your potential client through a journey and up your pipeline to the point where they are ready to work with you.
And even when you build brand awareness and authority in your space, you will combine your outbound + inbound lead strategy to have a consistent flow of leads + sales in your business.
#6: Take your audience off of LinkedIn
You want to take your leads or prospects off of LinkedIn. Have a strategy where you can take people off the platform either to close the sale, or continue to nurture and build relationships with your leads.
This will either be a Facebook group, slack community, discord community or email list (which I recommend).
People are sold to everyday on LinkedIn, so invest the time and put in the effort to take things a little further by building a community of your most loyal fans off of LinkedIn. There are free email marketing platforms like mailchimp and systme.io you can use.
And as you grow, you can invest in an email marketing platform for more features. It's all about relationship building, and the one goes further is the one that is remembered, and people will remember you based on how you made them feel.
Let's continue the conversation below,
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Laura
Thanks for being here.
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