LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    1/30

    LEVERAGING LINKEDIN

    FOR LEAD GENERATION

    THE ULTIMATE TOOL FOR FINDING PROSPECTS

    a guide from modern media

  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    2/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Contents

    Introduction 3

    About us 4

    Background 5

    Getting started 8

    1. Understand your market and your best customers 8

    2. Beginning searches 103. Using keywords 11

    4. Being thorough and logging searches 12

    5. What not to do 12

    Leveraging your network to access your target companies 13

    Not all connections are equal 15

    Finding target businesses 16

    How to use the data in this search 17

    Case study: 19Building a multi-million dollar sales pipeline from scratch

    Case study: 20Achieving 30% conversion to meeting on cold directmail campaigns

    Finding individuals 22

    Searching for people 23

    Case study: 25Telesales response increases ve-fold using LinkedIn data

    So now you have the data, what next? 26

    There are other ways to generate leads from LinkedIn 27

    LinkedIn Groups 27

    LinkedIn Ads 27

    SlideShare via LinkedIn 28

    Summary 29

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    3/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Introduction

    Leads, leads, leads: its what we all want. Leads are the lifeblood of B2Borganisations. Anyone can generate leads, but theyre of no value if theyarent high quality. A lead that turns into a high quality prospect as denedby their t with your target customer is often a challenge. We all know whatbought data lists are like and we all know the success rate of cold-calling.So nding a solution that delivers better quality data and converts wellwould be great, right?

    This guide is all about generating high quality prospect data from LinkedIn.LinkedIn is an amazing professional network and home to over 200,000,000registered users, many of which are business professionals. The wealth ofinformation is fantastic and at this time, free. This guide outlines how tosearch that network of business professionals to develop a list of your mostvaluable potential customers.

    From similar exercises weve done with our clients, weve be able to:

    increase the conversion rate dramatically on direct mail

    (up to 20% conversion rate)

    increase the response rate ve-fold for a telesales campaign

    create a multi-million dollar sales pipeline within a few weeks

    Weve also used the same exercises to determine the size and scale ofthe market for certain industries, whether internationally, locally orinternally within a business; the information you can glean from LinkedInis incredibly rich.

    As with all things related to business, the more you plan, the better theresults. It therefore pays to take the time to think about what youre goingto do and how youre going to do it. Having a purpose will make creatingthe output a lot easier. More importantly, the insights or campaigns off theback of the data will be a success.

    03

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    4/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    About us

    Modern Media is a digital marketing agency focusing on business-to-business (B2B) technology clients. Were experienced digital marketers andspecialise in generating demand using search, social media, PR and contentmarketing strategies. This guide has been created to share some of ourexperience of generating leads from LinkedIn with you. Wed welcome theopportunity to show you how you can really make LinkedIn work for yourbusiness. Why not give us a call?

    Nicola RayManaging Director0117 370 7795

    04

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    5/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Background

    We love LinkedIn. Its a fantastic tool to showcase who you are and whatyoure up to from a professional or company point-of-view. You can addpresentations, case studies, videos or tell the world about your products orservices. You can extend your network, nd old work colleagues or evennd your next role.

    LinkedIn is not just a broadcast media

    Many individuals and companies use LinkedIn as a broadcast media toshout about what theyre doing. Whilst that is one way you can useLinkedIn, it certainly creates a lot of noise. It can prove difcult to getstandout, however its not impossible. Using LinkedIn in this way is animportant part of a social media strategy for you and your company, but itsnot the only use for LinkedIn.

    There is plenty of information available that tells you how to optimise yourprole so it gets found both on LinkedIn and on the search engines. Thereis also plenty of information available on how to work the groups so thatyou can raise your prole. Likewise the ner point so ner points of socialmedia etiquette are well documented. Were not going to cover any ofthose things in this guide.

    This guide is about nding those hard-to-reach individuals that are yourideal customers. The data available within LinkedIn is rich and at themoment, there for the taking.

    LinkedIns rich data

    Over the last few years, professionals have spent a lot of time creating theirproles for themselves and for their companies. Most large organisationsalready have an active company page, group and many employees arelisted on LinkedIn. Whilst its been well know that LinkedIn is a fantastictool for human resources, its equally as good a tool for lead generationand sales.

    For years, marketers spent thousands of pounds on buying lists of data thatwas often out of date or incomplete. Well, now LinkedIn gives it to you forfree and your prospect has made sure its up-to-date for you.

    05

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    6/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Better still, you get to know the person a little bit better. Knowing thepersons areas of expertise, experience and background can allow you tobe prepared when you talk to them. You can also put them into contextwithin the organisation and have a clear picture of who their line manager isand how big their team is. All of which is highly valuable information as partof the sales process.

    In the sales process, LinkedIn can enable to you to:

    Understand the size of your marketGet a clear picture of the size of a team and their level of expertisewithin an organisation

    Know the prospects colleagues by name

    Understand the level of experience of a prospect

    Identify if theyre the right person to talk to or if you need to goup or down the chain

    Know what they look like

    Know what theyre interested in on a personal levelDetermine how youre connected to an individual and whetherthere is a referral opportunity

    Once you know who it is youre targeting, its easy. Whats difculty isknowing how to extract data out of LinkedIn to create lists of suspects thatyou can then use within your own marketing.

    In this guide, well outline how to use LinkedIn to get that valuableinformation. Well look at:

    Identifying target companies

    Identifying individuals with a set criteria (a specic job title ora vertical specialism)

    How to leverage your network connections to gain easy introductions

    Case studies and results from campaigns using data extractedfrom LinkedIn

    Who will nd this guide useful

    06

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    7/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    This guide is ideal for any businesses that are looking for new clients.Typically, this is suitable for:

    Businesses that sell to other businesses

    Business selling complex products

    Businesses selling to niche markets

    Businesses that need to sell to the key stakeholders within the business

    Businesses looking to enter a new market or a new territory

    So rst off, lets get started.

    07

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    8/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Getting started

    LinkedIn is a versatile tool, but you can only reap what you sow. First of all,you need to really understand your business and more specically, whoyour target market is.

    For LinkedIn to work for you, you need a very clear picture with who buysyour product (the individual) and what sector theyre in. By knowing thesetwo things, you can slice and dice the data effectively.

    Its no good just stating that you target SMEs in the South West. Its toovague and its unlikely that youll be able to nd value in the search results.For LinkedIn to work, you need to be specic.

    1. Understand your market and your best customers

    If you do have a product that can genuinely be bought by any business,then we would suggest you cream off your best customers. Its commonknowledge that 20% of our customers generate 80% of our revenue, butwhich 20%? And if you could nd more like them, wouldnt you want to

    do business with more of these customers?

    Its worth spending some time working out who are your best customersand determining if those companies have any similarities between them.Are they in the same sector, for example, public sector, manufacturing ornance? Are they a particular size, for example, turnovers between 1mto 10m or perhaps they have between 150-300 employees?

    You could also look at the individual who buys your products, for example,the customer services director or the nance director. Chances are theres

    a particular type of person that you start engaging with that is ultimatelygoing to buy your product or service. By gathering this information youcan then be more specic and youll get more value from the LinkedInsearch results.

    08

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    9/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Here are some things to think about:

    Size of company (turnover)

    Number of employees

    Geography (where they are located)

    Sector (manufacturing, nance, engineering)

    Discipline or department (customer service, legal services, marketing)

    Job title of key contactAny relevant keywords (purchasing, risk, procurement, virtualisation)

    By drilling down to this granular level, you will be able to set the searchcriteria in LinkedIn to match so that it gives you back similar results. This iswhat we call look-a-likes.

    From there you can set your search criteria. For example:

    Company X sells software to energy providers and large agro businesses.

    Theyve adapted their software for a new sector mining, and want totarget mines in a new region Australia.

    They have a clear sector (mining) and clear geographical region (Australia).They also know that the companies need to be selling a large amountcommodity; therefore they will have a large number of employees,probably 500 at least.

    Therefore, they can specify their target companies as mines, in Australia,with 500+ employees and from there they can match the search criteria inLinkedIn and nd all those companies that match that criteria.

    09

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    10/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    2. Beginning searches

    LinkedIn is by no means a perfect tool, but it does provide really valuableinformation for marketing and sales. Searching is a very iterative process.Its best to try to get results in the low hundreds, that way, the searchis manageable.

    Free accounts show limited results, therefore if the results volumes are high,you run the risk of not being able to view all the results. In addition, it is

    unlikely that youll be able to analyse all the companies in one sitting as ittakes time to review the results. In this case, tighten the search criteria bysearching using the bands.

    For example, if you searched all companies, narrow the search by selectingcompanies of a certain size, or select only one industry.

    If the results volumes are quite low (30-40), wed recommended broadeningthe search criteria to include more potential results.

    The optimum number of results in a search is around 100 as itsmanageable, can be seen by free accounts and be reviewed in one sitting.It also reduces the need to replicate the search.

    10

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    11/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    3. Using keywords

    Where possible, we try not to use keywords. Using the tick boxes and jobtitles is usually enough to get the required results. Sometimes though, youmay want to be more specic and therefore youll need to use keywords.Using keywords really narrows the results, so consider using them only ifyou have to.

    When using keywords, be careful how you write them. If youre using

    phrases such as risk management, then make sure you use speech marksaround the word. This ensures that LinkedIn will include both words as aphrase together. Without the speech marks, LinkedIn will return results thatcontain risk and results that contain management. This increases yourresults and muddies them.

    For example, we have used keywords in a few instances. One was where wewere looking for specic types of mines, e.g. iron ore, platinum, gold. Wewerent interested in general stone mines or quarries. A keyword helped tolter the results.

    In another example, we used keywords to understand the size of adepartment within an organisation. We were seeking out large corporateswith over 10,000 employees and needed to establish the size of the legalteam within the company. By using a keyword related to the department,we would lter the search to only show those that worked in the legal team.The keyword we chose was counsel as the in-house legal team are referredto legal counsel. Searching by using the keyword legal would showanyone who deals with the legal department or legal issues and they maynot actually be in the legal department.

    11

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    12/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    4. Being thorough and logging searches

    Its really important to log all the searches you do. You may get calledaway, or have to go to a meeting, in which case youll want to be able toduplicate the search again. By keeping a clear log of the search criteria youcan always come back to that search. (You can always do this by saving thesearch in LinkedIn too).

    This will help you to keep track of what youve done and how far youve

    got. For example, with Company X above, they needed to extend theirsearch using keywords and so each keyword formed a different search.

    Dont just keep track of your search criteria. Keep track of your results too.Log the volume of results and all those companies or individuals that hitthe mark in a spreadsheet. If you repeat the search at a later date, youllknow if the results have increased or decreased and youll know who youvealready identied.

    Keeping the results in a spreadsheet can then allow you to sort, rank and

    prioritise the data as you need.

    5. What not to do

    When we talk about this process, many of our clients ask if they shouldconnect with the people they nd. We recommend that you dont. Its alltoo tempting to connect to someone youve identied, but, realistically,how often do you connect with a stranger? Its unlikely to work and youlljust get marked as a spammer.

    Likewise with InMail. Its too easy to send an InMail to someone (although

    the cost does become prohibitive). Theres too much unsolicited email onLinkedIn and if the individual doesnt know you, its likely youre not goingto get cut-through. Think long and hard before sending any InMails having a creative strategy where InMail is part of a wider plan is a great wayto get traction with those individuals instead.

    Okay, lets get going with showing the searches.

    12

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    13/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Leveraging your network to access yourtarget companies

    The quickest and easiest way to get good leads from LinkedIn is toleverage your existing network. It may be that you have connections intoyour target clients that you werent even aware of. By leveraging yourconnections, you can literally be walked in the door with no cold-calling.

    To do this, search for companies that t your target company prole andlook at 2nd connections within that company.

    Step-by-step:

    Go to companies search page.

    Use the search criteria on the left hand side of the page. Select thecriteria that t with your target company. For us, this would be:

    Location: UK

    Industry: Computer Software

    Relationship: 2nd ConnectionsCompany Size: 51 -200

    The default search result is Relevance, but you can change thisto Relationship and the companies that you have most connections toappear at the top of the list.

    Its then possible to click on the company and nd out who youreconnected to in that company. The more connections, the greater thelikelihood you can be recommended.

    A 1st connection is someone you know directly that works

    in that companyA 2nd connection is connected to one of your 1st connections

    13

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    14/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    What this result shows:

    Companies where you have a good number of connections suggest thatit will be easier to get an introduction into the organisation. Carefullylook at who your connections are and decide whether there are anygood connections. This is the simplest and easiest way to get into yourtarget company.

    14

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    15/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Not all connections are equal

    Just because you have a 2nd connection in the company, doesnt meanthat the connection is any good. Not that Im trying to rain on your parade,but some connections are actually very weak.2nd connections rely on a connection going both ways. For example, itmight be that your 1st connection (the person that connects you) is a verygood colleague, business partner or friend. This is a great connection.

    However, some of your 1st connections could be quite weak. They couldbe someone you met at a networking event two years ago and you hardlyknow them.

    Even if your 1st connection is a very good connection and you have astrong relationship. You dont know whether their relationship to theintended 2nd connection is strong. It could be that they dont know themthat well.If the connection is strong both ways, you could get a good introduction.

    If the connection is weak at any point, you could still benet as you cannd out more information and gain insights about the prospect and thecompany. Both are highly valuable.

    15

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    16/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Finding target businesses

    Sometimes, you just want to know the number of businesses in a givenlocation that t with your target company prole. This is a great way toidentify potential businesses that may buy your product or service, or tounderstand how big your market is.

    Whilst not all companies are on LinkedIn, its growing every day andmore and more companies are adding company pages. Its a really good

    indicative measure for the size of the market, and best of all its free.

    This search is similar to the one before, but you dont add criteria for yourconnections. You simply search by the criteria that t your target company.Remember, keep your searches simple and dont select multiple boxeswithin a category.

    Step-by-step:

    Go to companies search page

    Use the search criteria on the left hand side of the pageSelect the criteria that t with your target company.For us this would be:

    Location: UK

    Industry: Computer Software

    Company Size: 51 -200

    This search result brings back 717 results, which will be far too many to siftthrough. Its better to try and narrow the search. This could be done by

    searching via a city, for example, London. The results then reduce to 172 a more manageable amount.

    16

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    17/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    If the sector youre in still has too many results, try a keyword to limit theresults. This might work well if youre looking for a specialist services thatyou supply to. Only you know what these are, but if youre going to use

    keywords, try to keep them to one word or use inverted commas. If youuse two words such as saas software, youll get back results for everythingwith saas in and everything with software. So be careful.

    Its also worth noting that LinkedIn limits the number of results you can seedepending on the type of account you have. So less, in this case, is more.

    What this result shows:

    This result shows the number of companies on LinkedIn that form yourpotential target market. Its great for understanding the market size and

    getting visibility of the companies within it.

    How to use the data in this search:

    Once youve got this data, you now need to understand if its any good.To do this, you need to manually check each company page (anotherreason why low search results are better). Ask yourself:

    What products or services do they sell?

    What type of team members do they have?

    Are any of those individuals connected to you?

    17

    Tip!

    We target the south and M4corridor, so would search usingcities along that route. Searchingon the UK would be too broad.

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    18/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    You can also nd out more insights by clicking on the Insights tab. This tellsyou a little bit more about whos new, whos left the company and anyonewith new job titles. On this screen you can also see similar companies.

    18

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    19/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Case study:Building a multi-million dollar sales pipeline from scratch

    Eka sell commodities trading software to large agricultural businesses.Having been successful in the agri-sector, they wanted to growinto other commodities. They adapted the software to work withthe mining and minerals sector based on the knowledge that the

    Asia-Pacic region was about to explode.

    Once the software had been developed and tested, they decidedto drive sales in their new market and new territory. Eka placedone sales director in Australia to manage the whole region. Thesales director had no knowledge of the sector or the territory andso asked us to help him gain a picture of the marketplace.Modern Media carried out the LinkedIn research using theManaging Directors LinkedIn account. The remit was to identifymining companies in Australia with 500+ employees. In addition,he wanted to know the CFOs and CEOs of mining organisations inAustralia that dealt with metals and minerals.

    Given that mining is a global business, Modern Media specicallylooked for businesses with headquarters in Australia (which youcan specify in the search criteria) and used keywords that wererelevant to the sector such as coal, steel, gold, iron oreor platinum.

    From the results, we found over 800 potential companies, however

    on further analysis of those companies, it was found that somewere owned by the same parent company. After ltering out theduplicates, over 100 mining companies that had headquarters inAustralia and matched Ekas requirements were found.

    The remit was to also nd named individuals within companies. Thesewere separate searches and identied additional companies which hadntappeared on the company results. (Often people are on LinkedIn, but theircompany has not created a page yet). The search resulted in over 75 namedindividuals at C-level working in mines in Australia. Over 50% of these were

    previously unknown to EKA and within 3 weeks, they had created a $2msales pipeline with one of the contacts identied in the search.

    19

    Key facts:

    LinkedIn was used to:

    understand size ofmarket

    understandrelationshipsbetween mines

    see connections tokey individuals inthe market

    seek out CFOs andCEOs of miningcompanies

    Specic search criteriawere used, including:

    headquarters onlyin Australia

    using relevantkeywords for bothcompany andpeople searches

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    20/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    www.modern-media.co.uk

    Case study:Achieving 30% conversion to meeting on cold direct

    mail campaigns

    It wouldnt be right if we didnt practice what we preached. Well we do andwe get fantastic results.In our rst year of trading, we had to start from scratch to get clients.

    Cold calling is painful and I dont like talking blind to prospects. I like tobe armed with as much knowledge about their company as possible, sothe conversation can be informative. First though, its important to doyour research.Using LinkedIn allowed us to scope out ideal clients and understandthe market better. Having visibility of the number and size of market allowsyou to make clear business decisions about who youre going to target.It also shows you who their competitors are, which is useful if you work inmarketing like us.

    As a B2B marketing agency that works with software and hardwarecompanies, its difcult to source good lists of companies. Most are basedon SIC codes, which are expensive and not as targeted as we need.By using LinkedIn to search for companies based on their size and sector,we could quickly identify if they were right for us and if wed be able tohelp them. With information on their company page and with links directlyto their website, assessing the companies was easy.

    We select companies we want to work with based on whether they area good t with our target company prole. We then determine the mostappropriate people to talk to in that business.We work in marketing, so its likely that the Marketing Director is the bestperson for us to engage with. If there is no Marketing Director, then itslikely the Sales Director or the Managing Director is the next best person.Either way, weve got a named individual, a picture of them, detailedbackground information and in some cases we can see what they like todo at the weekends using the interests section. What more could a salesperson want to know?

    M

    20

    Key facts:

    LinkedIn was used to:

    understand size ofmarket

    create a list ofprospect names

    research companies

    follow-up with anInMail

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    21/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    This information coupled with the company information makes for fantasticpersonalised communications. We dont connect with them on LinkedInand we dont cold call them (not yet anyway).

    First of all we send them a highly tailored letter. We demonstrate that weknow their industry and typical pains. We also demonstrate that weveresearched their company by talking about specic colleagues. We theninvite them for a coffee.

    Rarely do we get a phone call off the back off it. But when we follow upwith an InMail through LinkedIn that references the letter, we get a 30%conversion to meeting.Typical response rates for direct mail are 2-3%, if youre lucky. So werethrilled with 30%. We couldnt do that without LinkedIn.

    It works because the data is good and the message is specically targeted.If you can get good data, then youre onto a winner.

    21

    Tip!

    Think about how youll use the data. If youregood at cold calling, then dive straight in. Ourclients have typically had 5x the response usingdata sourced from LinkedIn than buying list data.Thats because the data is hand selected and

    checked so that it ts with your target audience.

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    22/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Finding individuals

    Weve talked a little bit above about nding companies and ndingindividuals within those companies. Those searches were based on aparticular type of company driving the query and work particularly wellwhen you have a very tight niche or a particular vertical.

    Sometimes though, you need to nd certain types of individuals acrossvarious different sectors. For example, a company that offers customer

    service software may target enterprise organisations with a call centre.It doesnt matter if theyre in utilities (water companies), retail, travel andtourism or nancial services.

    In this case, the common element is the job title. The customer servicesoftware company would then search for contact centre managers inorganisations that would be big enough to have a large call centre(5000+ employees).

    The search results supplied back show the companies that they should be

    targeting. From there, they can then identify the correct person to contact.In this example, the Contact Centre Manager is not usually the individualwho makes purchasing decisions for customer service software. Instead,the appropriate person would be the Customer Service Director, Head ofMarketing or Head of Customer Experience.

    This is where knowing who buys your product becomes very important.

    22

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    23/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Searching for people

    In comparison to company searches, people searches offer more options.LinkedIn have set it up so that its easy to nd old colleagues, people withspecic skills, people with specic job titles or in specic industries.

    Most of the features are available to everyone, however if you have a paidaccount, there are additional search criteria which are worth paying for.These include being able to search on seniority level (C-level, Owner, VP,

    etc), groups and company size. These become very useful when searchingby people and wed recommend upgrading if you intend to use LinkedIn aswe outline here.

    Typical searches for people would include:

    Job title (current)

    Seniority level

    Location

    Company size

    23

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    24/30

    M

    Heres what the advanced people search looks like with a paid account:

    24

    www.modern-media.co.uk

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    25/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Case study:Telesales response increases ve-fold usingLinkedIn data

    Cubik Innovation specialise in electronic design and manufacture for smallruns and prototypes. Cubik Innovation provide services to manufacturing,automotive, aerospace and entrepreneurs as well as a wide range of otherindustry sectors.

    Historically, Cubik Innovation had bought in data with varying results, butthey wanted to get smarter, mainly because they were nding the data wastoo vague or they didnt have access to the decision maker.

    Providing specialist services meant that they needed to reach out to theright person the key stakeholder in their target organisations. For CubikInnovation this was the Electronic Engineer or Product Engineers.By using a search on specic job titles within LinkedIn, we could identify

    organisations across verticals and get a clear understanding of whatthose organisations do. From the initial research, it was apparent thatCubik Innovations services were particularly relevant to niche sectors ofmanufacturing, such as chemical processing, food production, machineryor industrial engineering. With LinkedIn it was possible to actually selectbased on these niche industry sectors.

    Cubik Innovation then went on to expand the data with telephonenumbers and added them to a telemarketing campaign. From the list of 92individuals they developed 6 strong leads with an imminent need for their

    services within 6 months. Typically they would expect 1 strong lead fromeach batch of telemarketing activity using 100 prospect names.The telemarketer also commented on how much better the data was.Virtually all the leads were the right person; those leads understood whathe was trying to offer and were willing to engage with him. Fundamentally,the leads were relevant and therefore delivered a better response rate.

    25

    Key facts:

    LinkedIn was used to:

    create a list ofprospect names fortele-marketing

    nd people basedon job title withincertain industries

    follow-up with atelesales call

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    26/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    So now you have the data, what next?

    Once youve spent time working out your target company prole and/or who your key stakeholders are, youve done a number of searches andyouve compiled a list of really hot leads what do you do next?

    Its too tempting to simply connect with them. Wed strongly advise not to.

    Its also too tempting to send them an InMail. Wed also strongly advise

    not to.

    Wed recommend thinking carefully about how youre going to use thatdata. It might be that it simply informs your current lead generation activity.It might be that its the basis of market research and understanding the sizeof a market. Or it might be to get deep background information on yourlead and their business.

    However you decide to use the data, make sure you think it through sothat you get the best response. As youve seen from the case studies

    here, not one of them asked to connect with the leads in their list. Theythought about how they could use the data effectively and tailored theircommunications to those individuals.

    26

    Tip!

    A good plan about what you do next is essential.Think about the best way to reach out to those

    leads and how best to communicate to them.

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    27/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    There are other ways to generate leads from LinkedIn

    Weve only covered using the LinkedIn search tool to generate lists ofpotential leads. There are other ways in which you can use LinkedIn togenerate leads though. Heres a quick overview:

    LinkedIn Groups

    The groups allow you interact with like-minded people, or with people

    who may need your services. By following whats happening in certaingroups, you can offer up your services when someone is looking foryour expertise. Its a slow, but opportunistic way of nding leads, butnevertheless, it can work.

    LinkedIn Ads

    LinkedIn advertising is a great way to reach out to your target buyers. Thetargeting criteria is fantastic as you can target based on pretty much all ofLinkedIns search criteria, including geography, industry, gender, job title,size of company, groups, seniority etc.

    The advertising is based on a cost-per-click model, which means you onlypay when your ad gets clicked. Additionally, you can collect leads with theirLead Collection service very useful indeed. Dont forget youll need agood company page or landing pages to support any advertising activity.

    27

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    28/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    28

    SlideShare via LinkedIn

    LinkedIn recently bought SlideShare, a social networking website whereyou can post and share presentations and other documents. Slides fromSlideShare can be pulled into your prole which is a great way to showcaseyour latest work, your case studies or your most recent presentation.

    SlideShare also has the ability to tell you who downloaded or viewedyour content. By creating an account, you can get notied of those

    hot prospects that take notice of your work and slowly get a nice streamof leads.

    Generating leads off the back of your own work or credibility is one of thebest ways to identify potential buyers of your products or services. This kindof lead generation should be closely tied to your social media strategy andcontent marketing strategy.

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    29/30

    Lead Generation from LinkedIn

    Mwww.modern-media.co.uk

    Summary

    LinkedIn is a highly valuable tool for generating rich prospect lists ofindividuals or companies that are highly relevant to your sector. The keythough is to know who youre targeting, who your best customers are andhow to nd more like them in LinkedIn.

    We hope youve found this guide useful and ultimately managed to create alist of prospects for your business. Wed love to hear how youve got on, so

    get in touch.

    Likewise, if you found this guide helpful, please pass it on and share itsocially, maybe even on LinkedIn.

    29

    http://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttps://plus.google.com/share?url=bit.ly/10B2CTShttp://www.linkedin.com/cws/share?url=bit.ly/10B2CTShttps://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=bit.ly/10B2CTShttps://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Just+discovered+how+to+maximise+LinkedIn+for+lead+generation.+Find+out+how+you+can+too%3A+bit.ly%2F10B2CTS+%23B2B+%23Leadgenhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedin
  • 7/29/2019 LinkedIn Lead Generation - Modern Media

    30/30

    LEVERAGING LINKEDIN

    FOR LEAD GENERATION

    THE ULTIMATE TOOL FOR FINDING PROSPECTS

    a guide from modern media

    [email protected]

    www.modern-media.co.uk

    0117 370 7795

    mailto:[email protected]://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinhttp://www.modern-media.co.uk/?utm_source=pdfdownload&utm_medium=contentdownload&utm_campaign=leveraginglinkedinmailto:[email protected]