Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur looking to boost your lead generation opportunities, or you are just starting out in the business world, the importance of growing your brand is critical. Marketing strategies can be hugely expensive, but there are a number of tools and platforms that you can leverage that won’t cost you a dime. All that they will cost you is your time and effort.
Some experts would say you should invest large sums of money into your marketing strategy, as it will lead to bigger ROI. However, this isn’t always a realistic option when you are setting up, as you simply don’t have the capital to invest. You could take out start up business loans from companies such as LendGenius or you could simply try using the tools that are available at little or no cost at all.
Did you know that over 128 million people in the US are registered on LinkedIn? That gives you some serious power to reach a wide audience. More and more people are starting to use LinkedIn to promote their business. LinkedIn is a career networking site, so you can’t simply start trying to blatantly advertise your services. People don’t use it as a business directory. They use it to connect with people and discuss problems or ideas.
If you set up a LinkedIn account for your company, you will be able to create content that people need or are interested in. So say for example, you offer IT consultancy services. If you create a number of useful articles videos, infographics or any other type of engaging content on topics that are popular in the technology industry, you could start to build up a following of people. Every time someone likes or shares your post, your network is growing and your brand is getting free promotion.
Then when someone needs some IT consultancy work, they will look on their LinkedIn account and search or they will remember reading a good article that you published. That is when your free LinkedIn account drives customers to your door. Creating quality content for LinkedIn posts is the most important thing here, coupled with understanding exactly what your target audience will want to read about.
Think about the kinds of problems that they may be facing. Topics like cyber security will be hot on people’s minds at the moment and people might be worried about their business being targeted. If you created an article on five ways to make your website more secure or something similar, the people with these worries will search for content like yours. They will start to follow you, they will build trust in you and you will be an expert in their eyes. Any IT consultancy work that they need in the future, you are likely to be their first port of call.
The power of LinkedIn is unrivalled because the network is just so big. Start thinking about what LinkedIn can do for your business and see your brand reputation grow.