The leads are users who have shown interest in your brand and you have made it known through a form or a subscription. In addition, they have provided you with some type of personal information such as your email or phone.
There are two types of leads: Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQL). Let’s talk a little about each of them to have more context.
Marketing Qualified Leads are right in the middle of the sales funnel and they have not yet made the final purchase decision. To transform them into Sales Qualified Leads, they must have passed the filters of the sales department and be eligible for purchase.
Let’s put this into practice, suppose Juan saw a digital marketing article and decided to subscribe to a blog for more information. With this, he provided some information about him and the marketing team will proceed to contact him or perhaps send him personalized information to know if he is really interested in buying.
If Juan downloads more content or provides more information about him by accepting a phone call or a direct visit, it would become an SQL and increase the probability of purchase.
With this strategy to get leads you will obtain an effective database and also the possibility of increasing your sales and your client portfolio.
On the other hand, it is they who can develop a multiplier effect if they are satisfied with your product or service, by attracting new potential customers to you, achieving the growth of your business organically.
Why do qualified leads matter ?
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A qualified lead is already a customer prospect for your business. You have their information, it went through your marketing and sales departments, in addition to it has a place in your sales funnel.
Qualified leads already meet the requirements that your brand needs to become a customer and in addition to this, it has let you know that it is interested in your product or service. I mean, you already have half the work done.
And what is sought with this process?
- Save time inside the funnel.
- That the sales team does not work on prospects that are not going to buy.
- Avoid frustrations for not being able to make sales.
- Do not waste time that you can invest in really potential clients.
- That there is no decrease in the return on investment.
So once we are clear about what leads are and why my brand needs them, let’s take it to the social context, particularly the LinkedIn platform.
LinkedIn, from the user’s point of view, is a professional social network where you can search for a job, be part of relevant groups for your area of work and create a kind of online curriculum that will serve as a cover letter for different companies.
In the case of companies, it is a platform that gives you the opportunity to connect with leads and potential clients for your organization. Especially, to find professionals who develop within your area of interest.
How to identify qualified leads on LinkedIn?
Currently, LinkedIn has more than 600 million members and is recognized as the largest professional network in the world, so you can imagine the number of leads and potential clients that you will find there.
Also, through LinkedIn you can communicate with them and qualify them according to your objectives and your sales funnel.
A study by HubSpot indicates that LinkedIn is 277% more effective than other social networks to capture leads and be able to qualify them. This is mainly because it is a business-oriented platform.
LinkedIn has some of its own tools that will help you in this process of attracting and qualifying leads; Below we will tell you a bit about the most popular ones.
It is focused on sales and allows you to gain, through interactions, the trust of users. In addition, it is based on stored data of each user, which will allow you to know if they are directly MQL or SQL and based on them, the specific actions for each stage of the funnel.
LinkedIn Lead Builder
It is like a sub-area of the sales navigator where you can create lists and segment each member, either demographically or geographically. On the other hand, you can obtain relevant data so that you can engage in beneficial interactions for your brand.
LinkedIn Ads
Like ads or paid advertising on other social networks, with this tool you can create ads for a specific audience, making your investment not diluted in the midst of a sea of people, but visible to users who really interest you.
LinkedIn Gen Forms
It allows you to create forms to capture leads and leads, helping you build a database of LinkedIn members specifically and do the process of separating them between those qualified for sales and those qualified for marketing.
These 4 tools are typical of LinkedIn as a platform; However, if you use other means or other strategies in your Inbound Marketing process , you can still adapt them to this social network.
The important thing is that you keep in mind that here you have an important niche of professionals who can be ideal prospects for the growth of your company.
Define your digital marketing strategy on LinkedIn in 5 steps
Define your goals
Every digital marketing strategy must start with the basics and this is the definition of objectives. A strategy without objectives is a ship without a rudder or heading. Think about what you want to achieve, in how long and what actions you are going to take to meet those goals.
Remember that your goals must be measurable and quantifiable so you know if they are really working or not, and to what extent. This will also help you to refocus your actions on time and not wait until the end of a campaign.
Establish your content marketing strategy
Once you have your clear objectives, you can start designing the path through which you will reach users and this will be through your content strategy.
In what way would you like to connect with the audience? What do you think are the solutions that you can give to their needs? These questions are key to developing content suitable for them.
Research the language, what they do, where they live, how old they are and gather all the information that can serve as a tool when writing for them.
Also consider the different formats through which you could generate interactions, which are ideal for LinkedIn and for your specific audience. This step is when you are going to give shape and meaning to everything you have to offer within this social network.
Prepare your sales funnel focused on LinkedIn
For this step you already have to know clearly what you want to achieve as a goal using LinkedIn and how you are going to achieve it; However, it is time to think about the path that your future clients will follow within your funnel.
Likewise, you must establish what the filters will be so that they go from being MQL to SQL, how long each lead should be in the different stages and what resources you will use for the lead nurturing.
Once you have completed all this internal work, it is time to put everything together in action so that you join LinkedIn on the right foot and you can see great results in a short time.
It is important that you consider that all these previous steps are a fundamental investment for the success of your marketing strategy.
Complete your profile on the platform
Before just filling out information, it would be good to go through the LinkedIn Business section to see the recommendations and advice they have for you, this way you will be following the tips that LinkedIn itself has to succeed as a company.
The more information you place on yourself, the more security you will give users who reach your profile. There are key elements such as the description, the image of your company and the contact information that are essential.
Keep in mind that in order to attract the largest number of users, you must share valuable information for them, taking into account the different formats, as well as interact organically through comments or recommendations.
Take advantage of LinkedIn tools
Join groups of the same category.
This will allow you to share directly with users who are interested in what you do and will give you an insight into what businesses that may be your competition are doing.
The more members the groups have, the more visibility your content will have and the more interactions you can generate. All this in order to attract as many leads as possible.
On the other hand, do not forget that this space is for interacting and that they know all the valuable things you have to offer, do not focus on just promoting your company.
Start following everyone who is relevant.
Following companies in your area will help you appear in searches organically. Since being away from your competition was left behind, it’s time to take advantage of every click and every second that the user dedicates to LinkedIn.
Measure the performance of your campaigns.
In this way you will be able to know what works for your company and what does not, which of your content generates more leads and which should improve. This will be a strategy that will help you reduce your conversion times and increase the quality of the leads you get.
Create a professional profile and maximize the use of this platform
Just as you can be part of LinkedIn with a user profile and interact personally to be more accessible, you can also create the professional profile of your company, thus generating leads from two different approaches and increasing the results of your strategy on LinkedIn.
You may be keeping your company profile and CEO profile active, for example. This way you will cover more areas within LinkedIn and you will be able to segment users differently.
Remember that these actions must be aligned with the objectives that you established from the beginning.
Research your qualified leads on LinkedIn
When you start generating content and monitoring their results, you can see which hooks are best for leads and provide them with more information on those specific topics. This is one of the easiest ways you can start getting to know your leads.
Another resource you can use are recommendations and referrals, with each content you post, you should establish a call to action. Since we are looking for leads, the ideal would be that you ask them to leave some means of contact or that they subscribe to your newsletters, for example.
During this process you can choose a couple of questions, never too many, in order to know a little more about your leads. Try to be as focused as possible so that they only provide information of your interest.
Share quality content and be sure to form community / groups
Either from your company profile or as its representative, it is important that all content is 100% focused on the needs of the audience and that they are the perfect hook to connect with.
The more value you share through your content, the stronger your online reputation will be and this will allow you to create a professional community within LinkedIn.
Mention influencers and create strategic alliances
Having the support of people or other companies that have already built their online reputation on LinkedIn can serve as a springboard to boost you. However, it is essential that you take into account the quality of these alliances and not the quantity.
You want to be associated with successful brands that are even an example for you to follow. Professionally, each recommendation counts and within LinkedIn you can find the most influential companies and characters in the business world.
Know your options and design strategies focused exclusively on those you are interested in having as allies, look for how, from your company, you can add value and recognition to them so they can build win-win projects.
Make reward engagement your best ally
Reward engagement is the strategy with which you are going to generate a deeper connection with your leads and clients through recognition or some types of “awards” that can help you develop loyalty.
In turn, the reward engagement can be used as a resource so that those who are already part of your funnel or your client portfolio, feel motivated to recommend you with their acquaintances.
In a way you could generate a word of mouth effect that, although it is no longer so recognized, is still effective because in this way you will not have to go through the process of gaining trust and falling in love with a new prospect, but it will come already recommended by someone known to them.
In addition, with this strategy you can increase your positive references, thus increasing your online reputation. If you can get the most out of reward engagement, you will see excellent results for your company.
Connect with your leads on and off the platform
Once your strategies and content pay off on LinkedIn, it’s time to go further. Generating interactions online can be simple, but depending on each stage of your funnel, you will need to advance your leads to convert them into customers.
However, it is important that so that they are not one-time customers, you create a connection outside of the digital so that they always see you as their first option.
Use strategies that help you strengthen your customer service and provide the best service at every stage of your journey, even after sales. Being present in your mind with more valuable content after they have completed their entire journey, will be key for the client to return to you.
After all this information, we are sure that you are eager to start attracting all those leads on LinkedIn and start using the wonderful tools that this professional social network has for you.
Stay tuned for updates and new strategies that you can implement in a new way to make users fall in love and thus achieve a successful lead qualification process.
This is the time to get down to work and start defining your objectives, strategies and actions that will lead you to fulfill your goals on LinkedIn and in any marketing campaign.
Don’t forget to share this valuable information with your team and from here, start creating the contents that will change the lives of your followers.
