Your marketing message communicates to the world what your business is about. And your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to both develop and spotlight your most focused marketing message.
LinkedIn is one of the most important online tools for marketing your professional services. However, only a very small percentage of users post effective summaries of their business on their LinkedIn profile.
Your LinkedIn profile needs to telegraph the essential message and value of your business. This article shows you exactly how to do that.
Your Business Headline
The very first item someone reads on your profile is your business headline. And almost all of them are bad.
They are typically titles (Patent Attorney, Management Consultant, Personal Chef) or labels of what people do (tax preparation specialist, training in communication skills). None of these are effective messages because they don’t communicate how the professional can help their clients.
Instead, you want something like John Nemo’s:
“I Show B2B Sales Professionals, Business Coaches and Consultants How To Generate Leads + Add Clients using LinkedIn”
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John’s profile headline tells whom he works with and the specific outcomes he helps them achieve. Any reader will immediately know if they’re interested in knowing more. His headline taps into “WIFM” – What’s in it for me.
I use John Nemo as an example because I learned how to create a great LinkedIn profile from him. His business (and internships; continue reading this, book), LinkedIn Riches, specializes in, well, exactly what that headline says.
He’s one of the top experts on how to use LinkedIn to attract new business. Ignore him at your peril.
He emphasizes that you don’t want to have people guess what your benefit is to them, but to telegraph it in clear, simple, results-oriented language.
Then he goes on to outline what should be in the Summary Section of your LinkedIn Profile.
First of all, the Summary has limitations. You can’t use bold or colored or large size type. But you can use all caps for the headings for each paragraph that makes your summary sections pop out, increasing readability.
For instance, the first section should be titled WHAT I DO (or WHAT WE DO) and simply expands on your headline.
This is what John’s looks like:
WHAT I DO: Since 2012, I’ve helped B2B Sales Professionals, Business Coaches, Consultants and other professionals all over the world leverage LinkedIn and Webinars to generate leads, add clients and increase revenue.
Pretty clear and simple right? Who I help and how I help ’em.
Then he writes about how he does it:
HOW I DO IT: I provide “do it yourself” online courses, 1-on-1 private and group coaching and written materials that help Business Coaches & Consultants discover how to generate more business for themselves using LinkedIn and Webinars.
Note that this section mentions the services he offers and then comes back to the outcomes he helps his clients achieve. The value is as clear as day.
Next is about where you’ve seen John. This is all about credibility or “social proof”:
WHERE YOU’VE SEEN ME: I regularly blog for and have been featured by national publications, podcasts and organizations including:
• Business Insider
• Entrepreneur On Fire
• Inc. Magazine
• Social Media Examiner
• The Business Journals
• The Huffington Post
These are all the places where John has published articles. If you don’t have places you’ve been published yet, don’t worry, you can leave out this section or add it at a later time.
This is the fourth of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing model that helps get your marketing on track. 5 Pillars article here.
Next, write about the people and companies you work with:
WHO I WORK WITH: I’ve personally rewritten and optimized the LinkedIn profiles of A-List Entrepreneurs, Bestselling Authors, Business Coaches and Consultants including:
• Chris Brogan
• Bob Burg
• John Lee Dumas
• Mari Smith
• Tom Ziglar
• Dan Miller
• Jairek Robbins
• Ray Edwards
Now, if you’re a self-employed professional with any online savvy, you’ve probably heard of some of these people. For your summary, mention the kinds of people or organizations you’ve worked with and also a list of some of your clients.
Next, insert a couple of quotes from your happy clients:
WHAT OTHERS SAY:
• “When it comes to LinkedIn, there are pretty much three people I listen to, but only one has ever dropped new business right into my lap the way John Nemo did. You know me. I don’t recommend people lightly. John Nemo is worth your time. Jump on this!” – Chris Brogan | New York Times Bestselling Author, Consultant & Speaker
• “John Nemo took my LinkedIn profile page and ignited it in a way I hadn’t seen done before. After witnessing John’s expertise up close and personal, it’s easy to see why he’s been crushing it on LinkedIn the past few years. Simply put, when it comes to LinkedIn, John Nemo is the real deal. Can’t wait to share more of his LinkedIn knowledge bombs with the rest of Fire Nation soon!” – John Lee Dumas | Host, Award-Winning “Entrepreneur on Fire” Podcast
With a little work, almost any self-employed professional should be able to come up with a few good testimonial quotes like these. And you only need two!
Finally, a little on your background:
MY BACKGROUND: Author of 7 books, former Associated Press Reporter, Award-Winning PR Director and Social Media Consultant, Talk Radio Producer.
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John has helped many self-employed professionals craft a powerful business summary on LinkedIn. He really gets what a clear marketing message is all about.
Notice that there’s virtually nothing about the process of what he does; his writeup all about results. It’s concise and focused and it’s a fast read which is so important online.
Now you know what your LinkedIn Profile Summary should look like. Time to sit down and emulate John Nemo’s approach for your own LinkedIn Profile.