LinkedIn is a platform used by working professionals. So naturally, it makes sense to develop your company in a space utilised by an audience that could help your business grow. Whether you’re a small or large business, networking, marketing, and advertising on LinkedIn is essential to expanding your reach and positioning yourself in front of key industry figures – the ones who can really make a difference to your business.

Read to find out how you can use LinkedIn for business development with our five simple steps…

1. Develop a content marketing strategy

Creating a content marketing strategy is one way you can develop your business using LinkedIn. To do so, you’ll need to identify your target audience and understand their specific pain points. That way, you can create content that addresses these problems and provides a solution.

Better yet, you can highlight how your service/product can help, too. Just ensure you avoid being too commercial on user-focused content, as this can be off-putting to your audience.

2. Prioritise your network and expand your reach

Another way you can utilise LinkedIn for business development is by focusing on expanding your network. Increasing your connections ultimately extends the reach of your profile and content, allowing you to gain more exposure for your business and position yourself in front of a wider audience.

As a result, your brand could receive increased sales and collaboration opportunities, helping you to grow your business further.

3. Don’t just research your audience, empathise with them

Researching your audience and actually understanding them and their needs are two different things. When you’re aware of your audience’s setbacks, objectives, and viewpoint, you better understand how your marketing and advertising needs to be tailored to appeal to them.

Making your customers feel heard and seen is one way you can engage with them, so it’s important to really sit in their shoes and understand their perspective. Visit forums where your audience might frequent to get an idea of the issues they face, and then address these in your content with tangible solutions that attract their attention.

4. Define your goals and set your objectives

In any marketing activity you undertake for your business, ensure you first begin by defining your goals. This helps underline what you want your activity to achieve, so you can tailor your strategy to align with this.

For example, suppose you’re interested in increasing leads. In that case, you’ll need to use commercial messaging in your LinkedIn ads that your audience can relate to, so they can further engage with your content.

5. Utilise LinkedIn analytics and measure performance

When developing any marketing strategy on LinkedIn, you need to ensure you’re monitoring your campaigns and their performance. This way, you can better understand where your successes and setbacks lie, and ultimately adapt your strategy to prioritise the activities that work, and remove the activities that don’t (or rework them).

Having access to real-time metrics that inform what adjustments you should be making can help you gain better visibility and exposure, and ultimately result in better success and development for your business.

StraightIn’s top tips for business development on LinkedIn…

Set yourself up for success when growing your business on LinkedIn by following our founder, Zac Hancox’s, top three tips:

1. Stay consistent

“Staying consistent is essential to any LinkedIn marketing activity. This means consistent (but strategic) posting, regular insight sharing, and frequently reaching out to other industry leaders and prospects to bolster future collaboration and sales. If you fail to remain consistent, your brand will lose its position in the front of your audience’s mind, and ultimately decrease in visibility.”

2. Don’t take setbacks personally

“As a business owner, you’re bound to face rejection at one point or another. This might be prospects ignoring your messages, your ads not driving as many conversions as you like, or less engagement with the content you post. But, it’s important you don’t take this personally – it’s all a part of the job. Take rejections on board, understand why they might happen, and tailor your strategy to avoid them happening again.”

3. Replicate success and learn from mistakes

“There is no such thing as the perfect business owner. No matter how many years you’ve served as one, you’re going to make mistakes – it’s part and parcel of owning a company. However, making mistakes can be more help than a hindrance. They help you understand where you can perform better and what to avoid next time. Embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and you’ll go from strength to strength in your business. Just don’t make the same mistake twice!”

Reach out to the experts at StraightIn to reinvigorate your business’s LinkedIn marketing strategy. Get in touch today.

Business development on LinkedIn: FAQs

What are the best ways to grow your LinkedIn network authentically without coming across as overly promotional?

Whilst LinkedIn is a platform to present your professional self, authenticity is still key to your success on the website. Some ways you can grow your LinkedIn network authentically, without coming across as overly promotional, are:

  • Attend networking events: Attending networking events might seem like a chore, but it can be extremely beneficial in helping you connect with like-minded people. Individuals at these events are there for the same reasons as you – to build relationships with other business leaders. So, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation and suggest connecting on LinkedIn.
  • Share your insights: Whatever industry you work in, you’ve likely gained the knowledge and experience to help others in your position. You might be reluctant to share the secrets to your success, but even sharing small tips and tricks on LinkedIn can help you stand out as a trusted expert in your sector – and encourage people to connect with you to gain further insights.
  • Join LinkedIn groups: Join groups on LinkedIn to further reach out to people with similar mindsets and business goals. These connections can help you to get the word out about your business, but can also lead to collaboration in the future.

How can you research a potential connection before reaching out to ensure your message is relevant and valuable to them?

Before you message an individual asking to connect, it’s imperative that you dedicate some time to researching them. If you’re attempting to interact with leading industry figures, they probably get hundreds of InMail messages every day, so it’s important to make yours stand out.

As part of your research, ensure you:

  • Do a deep dive into their career history: Take time to research your prospective connection’s full career history. This will give you an idea of what industries they’ve worked in and where they are at present. Consider the challenges they may face in their business, and if your company can help solve them.
  • Take a look at the company website: Ensure you look at your prospective connection’s company website as well as their LinkedIn profile, to get a better understanding of their business ethos. If there is anything you specifically relate to, you can mention it in your message (as long as it’s relevant).

Speak with mutual connections: Interact with others who connect with the prospect you’re looking at and find out more about the individual from them. It might be helpful to mention that you know them in your message as well.