Successful B2B demand generation on LinkedIn requires a good-sized network, but you don’t want to grow your connections just for the sake of numbers. The key is to link with qualified prospects who fit your ideal customer profile (ICP) and personas.
The good thing is that LinkedIn makes this relatively easy compared to other platforms. With the right tools and approach, you can target specific companies and potential buyers. General searches will take you so far, but the real power of the platform is unleashed when you leverage its Sales Navigator tool.
Sales Navigator provides data and insights to find and prioritize prospects. There are more than 14 filters, from company name and size to industry, job title and seniority. Here are a few tricks I’ve learned for working with all the variables to build a list that’s right for you.
Filtering by company name, size or industry
For some campaigns, building a lead list can be as simple as adding your ICP criteria into the appropriate Sales Navigator filters. If you are running an account-based marketing (ABM) campaign, this might be a list of top accounts. Or you may want to target companies in a certain industry or with a certain number of employees. All of these are straightforward searches.
But some target accounts may not be as easy to find on LinkedIn using the existing filters because the companies are smaller or in the public or non-profit sectors. One trick I’ve used is to figure out if the types of organizations always have similar terms in their names (e.g., ‘city’, ‘department’ or ‘association’, etc.). If that’s the case, enter that as your generic company name and Sales Navigator will pull in all the ‘companies’ with that term in their name.
One trick I’ve used is to figure out if the types of organizations always have similar terms in their names (e.g., ‘city’, ‘department’ or ‘association’, etc.).
Filtering by job function, title or seniority
A search based on role and responsibility is often combined with the one above to target a specific persona at your target accounts. Using job function as the filter is fairly straightforward and there are many options already included that you can choose from. However, this can quite often be too broad, which is why you may want to combine job function with seniority to reach more specific targets, whether those are senior decision makers or hands-on influencers.
A tip here is to check out the pile of business cards you have on your desk that you have collected at events or other ways and make a list of the most relevant titles. Then use those as your criteria for this part of the search. Enter each title manually into Sales Navigator. And don’t just limit your search to only the titles of people you’ve met. Ask other people in your company who they talk to and the titles those contacts hold, and add them as well.
A tip here is to check out the pile of business cards you have on your desk that you have collected at events or other ways and make a list of the most relevant titles.
Filtering by similar profiles
Building a target list using the criteria above or combining them can be highly effective. However, I’ve seen people struggle to identify the right criteria to use for each filter or their search is so broad that the list is too big to reach out to in timely manner.
Rest assured, there is one last trick that can help you get over this hurdle and really keep your list focused. Simply go and grab two or three profiles of the people you want to work with. These could be existing customers, recent engagements or just people you know would benefit from connecting. See what titles they have, look at the industry their company has been mapped to, the size of company, the geography and other key criteria. Take those elements to build your search. You may not end up with the largest list but I guarantee you will have an extremely qualified list. You can always add more later but this is an ideal starting point.
Simply go and grab two or three profiles of the people you want to work with… See what titles they have, look at the industry their company has been mapped to, the size of company, the geography and other key criteria. Take those elements to build your search.
Check the results and refine
Regardless of the approach you use take, the best part of using Sales Navigator is that it lets you review all the potential leads that match the criteria you have entered. Review this list and see if the individuals who come up represent your target audience. If they do, you’re ready to start engaging! If some don’t fit, look for criteria that may be similar cross them and remove that filter or add an exclusion. If you feel like some profiles are missing, figure out the best filter to add them.
Once you have started to use the list, track who responds and engages when you reach out. Double down on prospects who fit those profiles by tweaking your criteria to match them even better. Remember, finding prospects is only part of the journey here. You need to message them using language that talks to their pain points and problems — and is not about you. You want to respond quickly when they message back and share valuable content consistently as I’ve explained in other recent blogs and LinkedIn Insight videos.
If you want even more tips on how to leverage LinkedIn for B2B demand generation, we are hosting a webinar on April 11 at 11am ET. Register now for Amplify Your LinkedIn.
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