LinkedIn Lead Generation (Are You Trying to Build Your Brand?)

Are you trying to use LinkedIn lead generation to fill up the top of your sales funnel for your B2B technology company?

If so, there is a dirty little secret that I need to let you in on:

You have two fundamental choices:

1. Generate leads from LinkedIn in a way that builds up your brand, positions you and your team as thought leaders, and tees up your sales team to have impactful, game-changing doctor/patient style consultative sessions with highly qualified prospects.
2. Hire a marginally-trained inexpensive offshore VA to spam your first-degree connections relentlessly and essentially beg for 15-minute meetings, literally destroying your brand equity.

Building Your Brand for the Modern Buyer's Journey

Now to be clear, when we’re talking about building your brand, this is way more than just your logo, fonts, color chart, and core elements of your brand guide.

Your brand is what people say about you and your team when you’re not in the room.

It’s your reputation, what you stand for, and what you want to be known for.

And in a world where upwards of 60% to 80% of a buyer’s journey is happening before a prospect is open to speaking with any salesperson, you can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines.

It’s critical for your company to have a way to get found by the right people, in the right places, at the right time (as early as possible), and most of all, in the right context -- as a thought leader.

Answer Their Top-of-Mind Questions to Educate and Build Trust

The way to do this all comes down to creating and distributing helpful educational content. Answer the questions your ideal prospects ask Google, LinkedIn, YouTube, Siri, Alexa, and others anywhere from days, weeks, or even months before they’re truly ready for a sales conversation.

When you do this right, you earn a seat at the table, on their side of the table. You’re seen as their de facto guru, advisor, and teacher on anything and everything having to do with their goals, plans, and challenges.

If you miss the chance to meet prospects early on in their journey, someone else will be helping those prospects compare their different options.

And there is still a chance your company may eventually get added to the shortlist before the purchase is finalized. However, when a prospect shows up this late in their journey, and you haven’t been the one that educated and built trust, the only card you have left to play is competing on price -- the race to the bottom that no one besides Amazon consistently wins at.

So if you’re serious about LinkedIn lead generation, think about whether you’re trying to build your brand or destroy it.

Prerequisites for LinkedIn Lead Generation Done Right

If you want to improve how your prospects perceive your brand, make sure you keep these six critical prerequisites in mind:

1. Do you have documented buyer personas and an ideal client profile (ICP)?
2. Do you have your buyer's journey mapped out for your core buyer personas?
3. Do you have premium content assets built out to support each of your core buyer personas and each of their buyer's journey stages?
4. Do you have lead generation-centric landing pages with forms created that transform anonymous website visitors into known leads that you can educate and build trust with over time?
5. Do you have a lead nurturing email marketing strategy, with marketing automation workflows, for each of your most important buyer personas and buyer’s journey stages?
6. Do you have other sales cycle accelerators in place, including an inbound sales development playbook, case studies, and a webinar program?

Are you using LinkedIn for lead generation? If so, what are you doing to position yourself and your team as experts and not just another vendor? Let me know in the comments box below.

And if you're serious about generating leads on LinkedIn while you build your brand, enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.