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LinkedIn marketing for small businesses

LinkedIn is for when your customers are other businesses.

If you sell to businesses or professionals, such as bookkeeping, IT, commercial cleaning, insurance or consulting, this is your Facebook. People here buy from a person, so your own profile matters more than a company page.

Time:
About 1 hour a week
Cost:
Free
Pat MillerBookkeeping for contractorsDayton, OhioConnectMessageRECOMMENDATIONSDana R.“Saved us at tax time.”Luis G.“Books I finally trust.”+ 3 real contacts

Is it worth your time?

Worth it if

  • Your customers are business owners, managers or professionals.
  • Your work comes from referrals and relationships.
  • You are hiring. Candidates will look you up here before they apply.

Skip it for now if

  • You sell to households. Restaurants, salons, most shops and home services get more from Google, Facebook and Instagram.
  • You were planning to post only from a company page. On LinkedIn that reaches very few people.

Step one

Set it up once

Do these in order, in one sitting if you can. After that, the only work is the weekly rhythm further down.

  1. Step 1: Fix your own profile first

    Use a clear photo of your face and a headline that says who you help and how: “Bookkeeping for contractors in Dayton” rather than “Owner.”

  2. Step 2: Rewrite the About section for customers

    Three short paragraphs: who you work with, the problem you solve and how to reach you. It is not a résumé.

  3. Step 3: Create a simple company page

    It takes ten minutes: logo, one-line description, website and location. It makes your business show up properly on your profile and gives employees something to link to. You don't need to post there much.

  4. Step 4: Connect with people you actually know

    Customers, suppliers, the people you met at the chamber breakfast. Add a line reminding them how you know each other.

  5. Step 5: Ask two clients for a recommendation

    A recommendation on your profile is LinkedIn's version of a review. Ask a happy client directly, and make it easy by reminding them what you worked on together.

What to post

Write the way you would explain it across a desk. Post from your own profile, not the company page.

  1. 01

    A lesson from this week's work

    Something a client ran into and how it was fixed. Leave the names out.

    “A client nearly missed a filing deadline this week. Here is the one calendar reminder that would have saved them.”

  2. 02

    The question every new client asks

    Answer it once, in plain words, where future clients can find it.

  3. 03

    A client win, with permission

    What they came to you with, what changed, and in their words if they will give you a sentence.

  4. 04

    A comment on someone else's post

    A thoughtful comment on a customer's or local leader's post puts your name in front of their contacts, often further than your own posts travel.

Referral templates →

A rhythm you can keep

About 1 hour a week
Once a week
One post from your own profile
Three days a week
Ten minutes commenting on customers' and local contacts' posts
After every finished job
Connect with the people you worked with

Mistakes to skip

  • Posting only from the company page. People follow people.
  • Pitching in your first message to a new connection.
  • Corporate language. Say it the way you would say it out loud.
  • Connecting with hundreds of strangers. A small network of real contacts is worth more.

Do this today

Rewrite your headline so a stranger knows who you help and where. Then send a connection request to the last three customers you finished work for.

Businesses that get the most from LinkedIn

Each page ranks every channel for that kind of business and gives you the first jobs to do.

Read next

Getting Started

Turn happy customers into referrals

Word of mouth is still the best marketing a small business has. Here is how to get more of it on purpose instead of by luck.

· 2 min read

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