How to Set Up Your Profile on LinkedIn To Create Marketing Benefits for SMB

Secrets to Setting Up a Fully Optimized Profile on LinkedIn

This series of blog posts are going to provide you with the absolute best way to create a Linkedin marketing engine for your small business.  It will take TIME.  It requires some WORK.  But by the time you complete this exercise, you will almost certainly have a social media platform that will actually be adding dollars of profit to your business with only minor maintenance. 

Before You Start Adding Connections to Linkedin

How to Set up a Linked in Profile

You only get one serious bite at the apple as new people decide whether or not to connect with you.  When you send out the invitations, some folks will know you well, and just automatically click on the accept button.  Another group may be unsure or can't remember who you are, or wonder what you are doing now.  They will want to see your profile.  This may be the only time they ever look at your profile.  Therefore you want your profile to leave an impression or result in action!

Create a Fantastic, Action Producing Profile for Linkedin

Write your title, summary, and experience sections as discriptives that are likely to make folks want to do business with you.  Use my profile as a template.  I could just say "marketing consultant."  But instead I have "Marketing Consultant Helping Small Businesses Increase Sales and Profits Across the USA."  If I was only interested in my local area I might say, "Los Angeles Marketing Consultant Helping Small Businesses Increase Sales and Profits."

Write the summary in the first person.  Don't be dry.  Provide some interesting examples of your work, or of how you have helped others.  Here is mine:

Give me the ball and let me run. Whether you want to grow your legal practice, your nail shop, or your manufacturing business, I have done it before, probably several times, and can help you do it again. 

Besides pure marketing, I have helped several of my clients to turn around their business from near bankruptcy or -0- profits to being viable and very profitable. 

Specialties
I use a combination of analytical skills and creativity to find the smartest, least expensive way to success of products, people, and businesses.

In a similar way for your experience, do not merely create something that looks like a resume' unless you are looking for a job.  Even then, consider something like I have done on mine.  Note, even the title of my position is designed to generate an image beyond my simple job title of marketing consultant. 

Outside the box Marketing Strategist for Small Businesses Online and Off 

Randy Kirk & Associates 

2008 – Present (4 years) Greater Los Angeles Area 

I have spent the last three decades researching, writing eight books and countless magazine and online articles about, and helping small businesses to grow through marketing. But in addition to pontificating, I have also created and managed over 30 businesses.

Over the past four years I have turned my attention to working one-on-one with company owners to help them maximize their business opportunity through marketing. 

Marketing, in my opinion, includes goal setting, strategies, tactics, and logistics. All need to be addressed to be successful.

We are most effective with bicycle dealers and other retailers, lawyers, manufacturers, importers, and personal services companies. We especially like owners who understand the importance of online marketing, but know they can't keep up. We are unique in that while over 60% of our effort for the average client is online, close to 40% could be trade shows, print, mailing, or bus bench ads.

 

Check us out online on Amazon or Google, then give me a call. I answer my phone. No long term commitments. Affordable.

Continue this process with your previous jobs or companies.  Then add your education, awards, and other information about you.  Make sure to add as many tags in the "skills and expertise" area as possible.  This is how folks will find you when using Link in's search bar. 
You can add as many as three websites, and that includes blogs.  And you can add applications which will provide you with all kinds of additional possibilities.  When you have really filled out the profile very completely, move on to adding your first 100 connections.  We'll cover that in the next post.