Marketing on LinkedIn: Cost-Effective Strategies

'LinkedIn has consciously avoided making it easy to do peer-to-peer sales on the platform. And their commercial offerings are more relevant for larger ticket size sales. So while it can be a fantastic profile for the right product, it is not suitable for everyone. It’s best value is as a low-cost, brand building platform for those with a well-defined target audience " - Jessie Paul, Marketing Strategist, and Author.

LinkedIn has constantly evolved and adapted to the new world's ways, concerning with respect to interface and flexibility. This purely professional network doubles up as a content platform too, allowing people outside your second and third-degree degree connections to connect with you. My first encounter with LinkedIn revealed a great facilitator in setting up a custom-knit network luring people inclined to an aligned work theory. This eventually led to an expanded well-woven network of multiple people. 

A clear, content-rich LinkedIn page helps cut down the need for an extravagant website. Your primary focus should be to channel information about what you do and where you are in the world as succinctly as possible. Employ the same creativity and thought to your company’s page as you would a personal profile using a good picture or two. Additionally, ensure that all your employees in the startup have a similarly up-to-date and well maintained LinkedIn page as your employees are the basic assets that help you market your products and services.

The authenticity and reach of a LinkedIn profile thrive on contacts, referrals, and reviews. A first step would be to make a few crucial connections that hold the potential to slingshot your page to their connections and revert back to you. Interaction with these relevant connections helps you assert credibility for your page and provides them an impetus to share your page with their said contacts. This cost-effective, passive method of advertising is organic network amplification. From the CEO/ founder level onwards this needs to happen at every following level as you may not always be selling your service or product into the top tier but into an operation/finance level. Hence, make sure that your company URL is on your company's LinkedIn page and on all your employee pages as well. Present your page well in a way that people irrefutably land on that URL and know more about your company. 

Most companies have a penchant to portray themselves as the fastest, cheapest, etc. in the market. As a result, people have conditioned themselves to filter out only the necessary information. I think it's important that when you put up content regarding your product/service that you address how it has helped somebody. Place actual cases on record of a grateful customer or a small company. Be as authentic as possible; real stories get you real engagement. When you have real stories from real people to validate you, you will have tangible results on display. 

"It was in the latter half of 2015 when I realised the power of organic. The market seemed cluttered with paid media which neither confirmed the longevity of customer acquisition nor justified ROI. As a startup, in the initial days, we abstained from making marketing spends for lead generation, and the closest alternative to this was having a great presence on LinkedIn where I could directly prospect Market Leaders and publish my company’s content as a Thought Leader "  - Aditi Syal, Partner, IncrementumX & Founder, Vocabberry.

As a startup founder or a member of a startup, you need to have an immediate plan for at least 3-4 months to keep the momentum going. Consistency is key to building a rapport with your audience. Look for trends making circles in Google, LinkedIn, and other social media pages that are related to your product/service and write your opinions or articles related to it. Frequent and relevant publications maintain the pulse of your page. Also, note that writing about it is the least you can do. People are drawn to interactive content in the forms of video, audio, podcasts, and other multimedia-driven channels. 

Keep in mind that whatever content you put up on LinkedIn need not be optimization SEO(Search engine optimization) friendly. Put thought to customize the same content for different platforms. A 2000 word long blog post can be converted into an infographic that serves the same purpose.  Also ensure you follow influencers, opinion leaders, thought leaders, prospective customers, and alliance partners within your space. If you have 4-5 people who are going to be active on LinkedIn, then equally divide the number of people that you will be actively chasing. 

LinkedIn is the best platform by a long shot to be doing business to business selling. The more visibility and engagement you establish, the more credibility your company earns. This creates an image of you being knowledgeable in your line of work and thereby raising your company's chance at a fair shot with the big guns. Visibility and relevancy are always your start-up's best friend.