Best LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies To Get Clients

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for generating all kinds of leads, whether B2C or B2B.

However, not all LinkedIn lead strategies are the same.

Some LinkedIn strategies work much better than others.

After helping hundreds of clients generate leads on LinkedIn, here are my best B2C & B2B LinkedIn lead-generation strategies for attracting clients.

Let’s jump straight in.

Quick Summary

In a rush? Here is a quick summary of the best B2C & B2B LinkedIn lead-generation strategies:

Use a video sales letter as a lead magnet
Target ACTIVE people on LinkedIn
Target people based on company size
Automate LinkedIn Lead Generation
Optimize your profile to attract your ideal clients

Learn more about generating leads on LinkedIn by watching my free masterclass.

What is the best LinkedIn lead generation strategy?

Here are my top lead generation strategies for using LinkedIn to get clients:

1. Offer a helpful lead magnet

The most effective way to generate qualified leads on LinkedIn is by using a video sales letter (VSL) as a lead magnet.

You can offer a lead magnet on LinkedIn in the following ways:

By direct messaging potential clients (best way)
Posting links to your lead magnet in your news feed
Running LinkedIn ads

The biggest downfall I see with LinkedIn lead generation strategies lies within their outreach. They connect with their potential lead and immediately send a message that goes straight into the sales pitch.

This simply doesn’t work.

Your potential clients must first get to know and trust you. They need a chance to understand who you are and how you can help them.

So what can you do instead?

The only thing you need to do differently is, instead of asking people to jump on a phone call or sending them a lengthy sales pitch, give them some free educational content first in the form of a short video presentation (VSL).

In this VSL, you will want to include the following:

Big problems of your dream client (pain points)
A solution(s) to such pain points
What your solution is, and how you’re different
How they can schedule a call with you

Using a VSL, your leads can qualify themselves, build trust with you, and determine whether or not your business will be a good fit for them. The benefit is that you will not waste time on leads that are not a good fit for you.

Watch my free masterclass training for an example of what a VSL looks like and for other must-knows when it comes to lead generation.

2. Exclude the wrong types of leads

One way to find the right leads and clients when searching LinkedIn is to use the keyword “NOT” in the search box. This will exclude the wrong types of leads for your business.

For example, if you want to target accountants, you can search for “Accountant, NOT marketing.” LinkedIn will find people who only have the keyword “Accountant” and exclude anyone with the keyword “Marketing.”

This will improve the chances that your search results will only include accountants and exclude marketing companies that help accountants.

Here’s an example of how I did this in LinkedIn Sales Navigator:

When searching on LinkedIn for leads, it’s essential to filter out the wrong kind of people to get high-quality leads.

Using the keyword NOT is just one of many keywords you can use to get better quality search results. You can also use Boolean search using keywords such as “OR” and “AND” to improve your search results even further.

Here’s a screenshot from LinkedIn’s support article, which goes through all of the Boolean search phrases you can use to help you get more accurate search results:

Experiment with different search queries and see if it helps you get better results.

3. Target ACTIVE people on LinkedIn

A great way to get leads to respond to you on LinkedIn is to target only active users of LinkedIn. Surprisingly a lot of people who use LinkedIn are not active.

They don’t use LinkedIn daily as they would with other social media lead-generation channels such as Facebook or Instagram.

Fortunately, LinkedIn allows you to search for only active people using LinkedIn based on those who have posted recently in the last 30 days.

Targeting active people on LinkedIn increases the chances of getting people who connect back to you and respond to your LinkedIn message.

If you search for potential clients and your search results are in the thousands, then it’s a good idea to filter down these search results by targeting active people only. On the other hand, if your search results are already relatively small, there’s no need to filter them down and target active LinkedIn users only.

4. Target people based on company size

To find the right kind of leads on LinkedIn, targeting people by company size is important. In the LinkedIn basic search results, you can target people by industry without paying LinkedIn any money for a premium account.

Still, many of our clients get much better results if they target people by company size.

This allows you to target business owners with higher revenue. It also allows you to exclude self-employed people which may not have the budget to work with you.

See also: How to target business owners on Facebook ads

5. Automate LinkedIn Lead Generation

You can use LinkedIn automation software to generate leads on LinkedIn automatically. Because LinkedIn is a bit of a numbers game, it’s essential not to try and do everything manually. If you do everything manually, keeping up the momentum and getting results will be tough.

Fortunately, you can use Linkedin automation tools to connect and message potential clients on LinkedIn automatically.

I recommend using Meet Alfred to use LinkedIn for prospecting new leads.

6. Do not rely on LinkedIn InMail

To get B2C and B2B leads on LinkedIn, it’s important NOT to rely on LinkedIn Inmail alone.

When you sign up for a LinkedIn premium sales navigator account, they will push you to use LinkedIn InMail and try to convince you that this incredible feature helps you start more conversations on LinkedIn.

But the truth is, with InMail, you will be limited by the number of messages you can send. And on LinkedIn, it is a bit of a numbers game. So if you only use LinkedIn Inmail to generate leads, you won’t be able to create a lot of leads.

In fact, the strategy we use to message potential clients on LinkedIn doesn’t involve LinkedIn InMail.

Watch ‘Step 2’ of my Free Masterclass to see our strategy.

7. Optimize your profile to attract your ideal clients

When you optimize your LinkedIn profile, you can get more leads and attract your ideal clients.

Suppose you optimize your LinkedIn profile by making it appealing to your target prospects. In that case, you’ll be more likely to get a positive response from the people you connect to on LinkedIn.

If your LinkedIn profile is well-optimized, you’ll even get people to reach out to learn how you can help them BEFORE contacting you.

This is rare – but I have seen it happen many times!

8. Target an older/more experienced demographic

To get senior leads on LinkedIn, targeting an older demographic is a good idea.

One of the questions I often get asked is, “How can you target people by age on LinkedIn?”.

As of right now, LinkedIn’s sales navigator search filters do not allow users to target people by age. However, there is a simple workaround for targeting people with an older demographic.

To target older people on LinkedIn (or people with more work experience), you can target by the following search filters:

Years in current position
Years at current company
Years of experience

If you select “More than 10 years” for all or some of these search filters, you’re more likely to target an older demographic on LinkedIn. Here’s an example:

9. Publish articles on your Linkedin feed

An excellent way to get LinkedIn inbound leads organically is to publish articles on your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn has a feature where you can post your own LinkedIn content.

The advantage of doing this is that LinkedIn is a high authority website, so there’s a good chance you can rank higher on Google for the topic you’re discussing in your article.

The downside is that the content is on LinkedIn’s platform, which you don’t have control over. You can’t, for example, retarget any leads that read the article, and it’s harder to convert these readers into leads.

However, if you have the extra time, it can be a helpful way to boost your overall LinkedIn presence.

10. Consider LinkedIn Sales Navigator

As mentioned, you do not need Sales Navigator to generate leads, but once you have a solid overall digital marketing strategy, you may see some benefit in it as it does have more search filters.

LinkedIn sales navigator allows you to search for leads based on the following:

Company size
Years of Experience (good for targeting older people on LinkedIn)
Seniority level
And more

You can’t get these search filters with a free basic LinkedIn account.

11. Test Linkedin Ads

If you don’t want to use LinkedIn outreach to get leads, you can still use LinkedIn ads. The advantage of using LinkedIn ads is reaching out to many more people.

With LinkedIn outreach, you’re limited to how many people you can send LinkedIn invites each week (for one LinkedIn profile).

With LinkedIn ads, you can reach out to as many people as you like. The more you spend on LinkedIn ads, the more people you can reach.

Another advantage to using LinkedIn vs. Facebook ads or Google ads is that LinkedIn gives you more detailed targeting options for business owners.

For example, you can target people on LinkedIn ads by:

Company size
Job title
Industry
Seniority level
Years of experience
And more!

There are also a variety of ads you can run on LinkedIn, including:

In our experience, LinkedIn ads send people to your opt-in page in your marketing and sales funnel to work best (also known as LinkedIn display ads).

LinkedIn sponsored messages
LinkedIn display ads
LinkedIn dynamic ads
LinkedIn lead gen forms

However, like all things in marketing, it’s good to split-test different LinkedIn ads with various LinkedIn objective goals and see which works best for your business.

Note: In many cases, LinkedIn ads can cost more per lead than Facebook ads. However, LinkedIn’s lead quality can be higher, too.

12. Have an email marketing campaign

B2B Leads on LinkedIn typically have a longer sales cycle. It is important to send helpful follow-up emails to the leads you get on LinkedIn.

The emails should:

Focus on providing value
Answer questions your potential clients ask
Solve problems your clients have
Build social proof (e.g., testimonials, case studies, etc.)

It’s also important to include calls to action (CTAs) in your emails to the next step in your sales process.

For example, is the next step in your sales process to schedule a call with your sales team or a sales rep? Make this clear in your email call to action.

Another great way to get leads on LinkedIn is to share client success stories. Fery Kaszoni uses this Strategy to get clients every month. As a result, he has grown his business to over $50,000/month in recurring revenue.

Here is an example of some of the case studies he posts:

As a result of posting case studies, he gets people to reach out to him through direct messages on LinkedIn.

If you have many successful client case studies, you can share them on LinkedIn and use them to build trust with your connections and followers. The more you do this, the higher the chances are your LinkedIn connections will convert into clients.

In Conclusion

As a B2C or B2B business, Linkedin is simply a platform you can not ignore for generating leads.

Many people have trouble generating leads using LinkedIn and waste countless hours trying to do so. Using the above tips will put you on the right track to accumulating high-quality, qualified leads using Linkedin.

Most importantly, develop a robust, multifaceted marketing strategy for the best results. For more on this, check out my free masterclass.

FAQS

Is LinkedIn good for lead generation?

Yes, LinkedIn is an excellent platform for lead generation. With over 700 million users, it provides a vast network of professionals and businesses to connect with.

LinkedIn’s advanced search features allow you to find and target specific industries, job titles, and locations. You can also join groups related to your industry and engage with potential leads through content and conversations.

LinkedIn’s advertising options allow for highly targeted campaigns, making it a valuable tool for B2B lead generation and networking.

How does LinkedIn lead gen work?

LinkedIn lead generation works by creating targeted advertising campaigns that capture the attention of potential customers on the platform.

This is done by specifying specific criteria such as job title, company size, or location. The ad then directs users to a landing page where they can provide their contact information in exchange for a valuable offer, such as an e-book or free consultation.

This information is then collected and used to create a database of leads for follow-up and nurturing.

LinkedIn also offers tools such as Sales Navigator to help businesses identify and engage with potential leads more personally.

What is a LinkedIn lead generation form?

A LinkedIn lead generation form is a tool that allows businesses to collect valuable information from potential customers on the platform.

These forms are designed to be simple and easy to fill out and can be customized to include specific questions and fields. When a user fills out the form, their information is automatically stored in the advertiser’s LinkedIn Campaign Manager, where it can be used to target and nurture leads through personalized marketing efforts.

This can be a highly effective way for businesses to generate leads and build relationships with potential customers on LinkedIn.

What is the difference between LinkedIn conversion and lead?

In short, a LinkedIn conversion refers to any action a user takes on your LinkedIn content, such as clicking on a link, filling out LinkedIn lead gen forms, or purchasing.

On the other hand, a LinkedIn lead refers to a user who has shown interest in your product or service by providing their contact information, such as name and email address.

While conversions can be a valuable metric for measuring ad performance, leads are more directly tied to potential business opportunities and can be nurtured into customers through follow-up communication.

Is it possible to get a LinkedIn Premium Sales Navigator discount?

LinkedIn does not typically offer any LinkedIn Sales Navigator discounts unless you sign up for a yearly LinkedIn package. Sometimes people on Fiverr have been known to purchase LinkedIn Sales Navigator accounts and then resell these accounts at a discount. This could be a way to get a LinkedIn sales navigator discount.

Do I need LinkedIn Premium to generate leads on LinkedIn?

You do not need a LinkedIn Premium Sales Navigator account to get leads on LinkedIn. However, having a Sales Navigator account will make generating leads easier for some people if you want to target people based on company size or seniority level because these search filters are only available to LinkedIn premium members.

Ashley Davis

Ashley Davis (or ‘Ash’ for short) is the CEO & Founder of Skyline Social. For over 15 years, Ash has been helping business owners with lead generation. Ash specializes in helping businesses get high-quality leads, appointments and clients each month with automated digital marketing strategies. Learn more about the author here.