When it comes to masterful B2B selling, founders & revenue leaders can’t really just go knocking “door to door” to close deals. Today’s business leaders and decision-makers are too savvy, and quite frankly, too turned off from most of the old school sales techniques. These high-value leads need to be warmed, nurtured, and cultivated over time, and there is one place to do this which stands out from all of the rest: on LinkedIn.
When your LinkedIn presence is strong, it becomes a powerful avenue for engaging with prospects, improving conversions, and closing deals.
If you see other business leaders in your space racking up engagement on LinkedIn, sharing thought-provoking content, and nurturing their communities, don’t stress about being left in the dust. Chances are, they’ve outsourced their LinkedIn social selling to one of the leading LinkedIn marketing agencies, to ultimately use their platforms as a demand generation magnet.
Here’s everything you need to know about LinkedIn marketing, why it can be a powerhouse platform for driving sales, and how LinkedIn marketing agencies can help you get to where you want to be. Plus, we’ll give you a hand-picked list of the agencies in the field.
Why Focus on LinkedIn Marketing?
When it comes to LinkedIn marketing, you might be rolling your eyes: another platform you need to worry about?
The truth is that sure, the social media profiles that matter to your business’ brand can vary. But LinkedIn marketing is a different ballgame entirely.
That’s because it taps into the value and credibility business leaders as individuals have, and uses their LinkedIn profiles to build authority by participating alongside them in the social media community. This means you’re not posting as the voice of the company, but you’re posting as the voice of yourself.
Why does this matter?
Executives, decision-makers and marketers can leverage their own reputation and expertise, to showcase their credibility and authority. By creating and sharing authentic content that helps your prospects solve problems, you become integrated as a valuable member and resource of the social media community.
And maybe most importantly, social selling on LinkedIn helps foster trust between someone and their audience. As RevenueZen’s Founder Alex Boyd says when it comes to social selling:
“Remember, buyers buy from people they like and trust, who provide value!”
Studies show this to be true: trust is the second-most important purchasing factor, and it’s considered the “new currency” for business, with more than 90% of customers saying they would buy from a company that gained their trust.
If you’re not on LinkedIn, know that your competitors probably are. Studies tell us that 89% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation, and that the cost per lead can be 28% lower than Google AdWords.
But Why Do I Need LinkedIn Marketing Agencies for This?
If you’re using LinkedIn to write as yourself, do you really need to work with LinkedIn marketing agencies?
Take it from us, you don’t want to have your personal brand’s LinkedIn in the wrong hands. Sure, you might work with freelancers or an in-house team for your business’ social profiles, or might even be tempted to tackle your LinkedIn on your own. But it can be a risky move: ill-fated LinkedIn marketing tactics can come across as inauthentic and too salesy, and it can be detrimental to turn to empty automation or spamming tactics.
In order to answer this question, let’s dive into some of the benefits of working with leading LinkedIn marketing agencies:
Benefit #1: They’ll embody your voice and expertise
LinkedIn marketing is a fickle thing, because it’s not the business that’s speaking, or some faceless nobody: it’s you (or your team). This means that while you’ll be sharing content about topics and pain points which are relevant to your audience, and your content needs to be authentic to the voice of the person whose profile it is.
LinkedIn marketing agencies get it, and know how to find the sweet spot of content that is valuable, but that makes sense from the standpoint of the profile it’s coming from.
Benefit #2: They go beyond sharing your company’s blog posts (with no context)
You’ve probably seen this on LinkedIn before: a business leader sharing an SEO blog post from their company’s website with little-to-no context. Sure, the piece of content itself might be just fine, but does this type of post actually do anything when it comes to moving the needle on social selling?
No, likely not.
LinkedIn marketing agencies understand the nuances of LinkedIn, and know that simply sharing links to your company’s blog won’t cut it. Instead, you’ll find that they either craft entirely original content, and share links while providing context and distilling key insights.
Benefit #3: They don’t (just) promote your product
Social selling on LinkedIn is a subtle art. It usually doesn’t involve screaming about your product from the rooftops, and steers away from even smelling like a sales attempt. That’s why LinkedIn marketing agencies stay away from “spammy” posts about your product. Instead, they focus on educating people, building relationships, and solving pain points (while tactfully mentioning your product when it’s relevant.)
Benefit #4: They help you with network expansion
One of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn is that it can be a viable platform for network expansion. All of that authentic content and engagement leads to legitimate network growth, and your LinkedIn marketing partner will help you reach your prospects socially and organically. At the end of the day, you should walk away with a connects list full of ideal-fit prospects.
Benefit #5: They’ll help you smooth out your profile
What’s happening on your LinkedIn profile matters, and plays a big role in its ability to contribute to social selling. If your profile isn’t optimized, it almost doesn’t matter how good the content is: your audience will come to your page, and be like “I’m supposed to give them my money??”
LinkedIn executive profile optimization is fairly different from optimizing other types of profiles, including the profiles for your business itself. Think of your profile as a landing page for your personal brand.
Your LinkedIn marketing partner will help you make your profile count, and tell your story.
What Does a LinkedIn Marketing Agency Really Do?
So you’re interested in LinkedIn marketing, but you’re not sure what these agencies actually do. Let’s dive into what you can expect from LinkedIn marketing agencies, and what some of their services might look like:
- You can expect them to craft thought-provoking, original, and optimized content
First and foremost, your LinkedIn marketing partner will be charged with creating the content that’s shared from your LinkedIn page. But this isn’t just any ole content. They’ll tap into your personal voice, your brand, and your audience, to create thought leadership content, which stimulates conversation and engagement from your audience.
Your posts will help galvanize your network, positioning you as the thought leader in your field that customers want to hear from (and ultimately buy from).
- You can expect them to leverage tried-and-true content marketing techniques
When you’re working with a LinkedIn marketing agency, don’t just expect them to throw some posts together that sound nice, or use guesswork to craft your posts. Instead, they’ll be experienced content marketing pros, who use SEO techniques to plan thought-provoking content which your audience actually cares about. They’ll not only create a comprehensive content calendar (so all of your content needs are taken care of) but they’ll also craft content that’s tied to your buyer’s journey, which meets your buyers where they actually are (instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach to content).
- They’ll also provide you with resourced for network expansion outreach
As we mentioned, the value of LinkedIn is all about your network, and your LinkedIn marketing partner knows just how valuable this can be for your business. That’s why they’ll provide you with resources that help you build your network. For example, here at RevenueZen, our network building program is powered by our proprietary SaaS platform and results in more exposure, new prospect conversations, and a larger audience.
- They’ll optimize your profile (and make it matter)
Your LinkedIn marketing partner agency wants your profile to soar. That’s why they’ll use their wealth of marketing experience to optimize your profile, once and for all. Keep in mind, if you’re a leader at a company, your LinkedIn profile is definitely going to be visited by your company’s prospects on LinkedIn: both for sales and recruiting.
Your LinkedIn marketing partner knows this, and knows all of the best-practices to make your profile actually tell your story in a way that converts.
- They’ll have opportunities for you to learn about social selling
LinkedIn marketing and social selling go hand-in-hand 🤝 and you can think of them as two sides to a complete coin. LinkedIn marketing services provide you with an optimized profile, along with regular, authentic content and tools to help build your network. But in order to really make the most of your LinkedIn (and all of the new growth and engagement you’re going to experience) your LinkedIn marketing partner might also give you the opportunity to learn all about social selling.
Mastering social selling helps dictate the way you actually participate in social conversations, and develop and nurture your niche community.
Our List of the Best LinkedIn Marketing Agencies Out There Right Now
Drumroll please: the moment you’ve been waiting for. Here is our ultimate list of the best LinkedIn marketing agencies that you can partner with, to take your LinkedIn efforts to new heights.
1. RevenueZen
Hello there, have we met?
We’re starting off this powerhouse list with ourselves, because we have no problem tooting our own horn. We’re RevenueZen, a B2B LinkedIn marketing agency that specializes in strategies that generate real revenue.
Founders, revenue leaders, and frontline sales and marketing reps use RevenueZen’s LinkedIn marketing services to generate leads, close more deals, and become thought leaders in their space. This often includes a mix of consulting, coaching, and done-for-you services and are designed to make it as easy and simple as possible for you to generate new business using LinkedIn.
We’ve generated millions in revenue for ourselves and our clients using LinkedIn marketing and social strategies in the past year, and we want to show you how it’s done. That’s because we know that when it’s done right, a LinkedIn content marketing plan + advanced SEO strategy will position you as an authority in your market.
We use a five-step methodology to strategically approach your LinkedIn marketing:
- Analyze
Our strategists start by taking the time to deeply understand your target customer and conduct the right research to uncover your most profitable opportunities.
- Grow
After we’ve set our strategic north star, it’s time to get to work on your LinkedIn foundations. In this stage we’re filling all of the gaps that we found in our analysis.
- Expand
Once we’ve built out your foundations and optimized your profile, we’ll shift to scaling your LinkedIn’s presence and performance, and producing high-quality content.
- Validate
Now that we’ve seen significant improvements in audience cultivation and organic sourced leads, it’s time to take things to the next level.
- Refine
At this point, we’ve built your inbound flywheel to new heights. Now is the time to analyze your pipeline value and deals closed to look at your return on investment.
Now that you know a bit about us, we’re going to introduce you to some other LinkedIn marketing agencies in the game. You might be wondering: “why on earth would you do that?”
We’re not ones to shy away from healthy competition, and we firmly believe in working with clients who are the one-to-one best fit for us. That’s why “may the best win” is one of our core values.
2. Impactable
Impactable says it’s the “#1 Linked[in] Ads Agency in the USA,” and says it helps B2B brands “get more pipeline + revenue.” They use organic posts screenshots as ad images, along with influencer ads.
3. Cleverly
Cleverly tagline is: “Scale your leads on LinkedIn & predictably drive more revenue, 100% done-for-you.” They say they use “data from thousands of outbound B2B campaigns to send proven, personalized messages to your dream clients on LinkedIn — getting positive responses straight to your inbox.”
4. Getuplead
Getuplead is a “LinkedIn Ads Agency for SaaS & B2B Tech Companies.” They say “you don’t need social media marketing… you need profit (and we’re really good at it).” Getuplead also says they;re “trusted by 40+ leading SaaS and B2B companies.
5. Thrive
Thrive is an internet marketing agency that says they’ll help you “grow your business with LinkedIn Marketing.” They say they do this by building awareness, driving website traffic, and generating leads. Thrive also says it uses analytics, audience identification, strategy, monitoring, paid ads, and content creation to deliver your LinkedIn services.
6. Intelus Agency
Intelus says they’re an “award-winning LinkedIn marketing agency” that helps “B2B brands drive awareness, establish thought leadership, and generate the best leads possible with LinkedIn.”
If Mastering LinkedIn is on Your To-Do List, We Should Talk
The truth of the matter is that if you’re not taking advantage of your LinkedIn as a business leader or decision-maker, you’re missing out on some serious leads. Not only that, but you could be positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry, and the ultimate resource in expert.
If that sounds interesting to you, then we should talk. We’re a B2B LinkedIn marketing agency offering comprehensive services for individuals looking to leverage the power of their LinkedIn, and share content that actually converts.
When you’re ready to take your LinkedIn to the next level, let’s talk.
