Article Contributed by Kristina Jaramillo
As a women business owner, we must stand out in order to compete for our market share. The question is: “how can you differentiate yourself from the competition on LinkedIn when there are over 200 million business professionals on LinkedIn – and thousands that are just like you?”
The first thing you must do is change your profile so it does not read like a resume – and so it doesn’t have the same boring, generic benefit language as everyone else in your industry. Your profile has to show decision makers or influencers why they should connect with you and exactly how you can help.
The second thing you must do is create unique content that is not the same regurgitated garbage that’s already all over the web. You need to share stories and case studies. And, you need to challenge how your prospects think and act.
Below, you’ll find 4 mini case studies on how 4 women business owners are standing out on LinkedIn – and profiting.
How the Founder of Wizard Media Gained Hundreds of Leads and $60,000 by Mixing Content Marketing with LinkedIn Marketing
If you look at the profile of Jimena Cortes, you’ll notice we’ve included case studies. For example, you’ll find a case study on how Jimena built a Neiman Marcus jewelry designer’s Facebook community to 45,000 members in nine months (something retailers would be very interested in.) Within that case study, Jimena shows why her strategies took the client from 600 fans to 45,000 fans, zero engagement to capturing 37% of her fans information and from zero sales to $12,000 in 3 days.
Because her profile has content that resonates with her targeted audiences – her targeted audiences are accepting her LinkedIn connection. They’re joining her LinkedIn groups where she offers more content. The profile attracted a prospect that was ready, willing and able to spend $36,000 per year on her services.
Plus, when Jimena completes an email lead generation campaign through LinkedIn (using LinkedIn groups) about an upcoming webinar – prospects are signing up because they see that she has value to offer just by looking at her profile. By mixing LinkedIn marketing with webinar marketing (a form of content marketing Jimena gained an additional $60,000 for her business last year.
IT Marketing Firm Gains 4 New Clients Fast By Challenging the Way Software and Technology Companies Market Their Solutions
Conversion Copywriting President Susan Tatum creates thought leadership content for her clients so they can attract more prospects. But she was creating the same old, boring topics on her own blog. She was writing about topics like “how to write an awesome white paper”, “why tech marketers must have a blog” and “5 signs you’re talking to the wrong content writer.” She was writing for the search engines – but she wasn’t writing content that would position her as an influencer within the different social media circles she belonged to including LinkedIn.
LinkedIn members are savvy, educated professionals who are constantly looking for new and original ideas and ways of conducting business. As there are thousands of LinkedIn groups with hundreds of discussions happening every single day, your content will get ignored if you are providing the same old, regurgitated content that’s already all over the web.
By creating thought provoking blog posts, special reports and discussions that literally open the eyes of technology marketers inside her own LinkedIn group and inside the 50 targeted groups she belongs to, Susan increased her website traffic by 300%. She went from 0 LinkedIn shares to 90+ LinkedIn shares. And, she was able to recently gain 4 new clients including a company that serves 86% of the Fortune 100.
International Coaching Firm Attracts More Women Business Owners By Telling Stories
While working with Zee Worstell, President of AccelerateHer, I discovered that she and her clients had amazing stories to tell. Zee’s expertise is in showing women business owners how to price themselves appropriately. She know first-hand how hard this because she came across this issue when she was growing her recruiting business. When she was starting out she would lower her prices in order to secure a client and wound up earning less than she was worth. This backfired because prospects would doubt her work because she was priced significantly lower than her competition. She was turning off prospects just by lowering her fees – and the clients she did get failed to show her respect.
So, we had Zee create blog posts that discussed the “good girl beliefs” that held her back as a women business owners. She discussed her own confidence issues within the articles and the mistakes she made. She also writes articles where she discusses the challenges her clients faced – and she tells their complete story and how they’ve become successful.
As on average women business owners make 45% less than male business owners, her target audience resonated with the discussions that were being created based on the blog posts. In fact, when she spoke too many of her LinkedIn connections on the phone (as she took the LinkedIn conversation offline) they felt like she was writing and speaking directly to them. As a result they signed up for her coaching program.
Now, offer real value, challenge your prospects, start thought provoking conversations, showcase your expertise by sharing case studies, demonstrate your relevance and connect with your audience with stories – and you will generate more leads with LinkedIn.
About the Author:
New York Times recognized social media expert Kristina Jaramillo helps women business owners and executives find, influence and convert prospects into clients using LinkedIn marketing and content marketing. To help readers further, she has interviewed a senior content marketing manager at LinkedIn and a top executive at Slideshare. You can get access to these recordings at http://www.freelinkedinmarketingtraining.com
