Social selling, and the ability to create and maintain online brand awareness, is critical to your B2B success. Today, it is online where opinions are formed and where information is gathered to make purchasing decisions. If you want to seize a greater share of your B2B market, LinkedIn, with its nearly 350 million members, is the place you need to be. So, how to you make a huge impact at LinkedIn?
- Your profile is everything. It is your marketing tool for gaining recognition and credibility. No one wants a dry and dusty resume presentation. Your profile must show potential clients why you will bring value to them and help them succeed.
- Over half of those who venture out to LinkedIn do so to research vendor opportunities and over half of them will not even bother stopping if your profile is weak or incomplete.
- Research shows that over 90% of decision makers will never engage a cold call and that almost 60% of all purchasing decisions are made before you can even reach out to them with a sales rep.
- Content, as always, is everything. Nearly 80% of all buying decisions are influenced by the quality of content at a LinkedIn profile and at a company website. Establish yourself as an industry leader and expert and you are almost six times more likely to make the sale than a rival who is not perceived as such.
- Almost 80% of the B2B market is using Big Data and the social media sites to do their due diligence with regard to with whom to do business. Use the advanced search tools at LinkedIn whenever you can. Studies have concluded that a new decision maker at a company will be more than ten times more likely to pull the trigger than a decision maker who has been there for quite some time.
- B2B companies who are reaching out and securing connections are the ones who are gaining ground and market share. The success numbers are not even close. Your sales reps are targeting people, you, as the marketer, are targeting those businesses that fall into the category of your perfect profile for a future client.
- It will always remain a relationship focused endeavor. Know your prospects and know their business and how you can help them. Potential clients that are approached with knowledge of their business, and potential challenges, are nearly 80% more likely to engage you.
-Written by Kevin Sawyer
SearchPro Systems
2024