11 Strategies for Small Businesses to Find Paying Clients on LinkedIn

If you aim to secure paying clients for your business on LinkedIn, you need the right marketing tactics. Here, we explore 11 tactics to help small businesses establish their presence and profit on LinkedIn. As a bonus, we’ll also show you how to simplify your planning with tools like Hookle.

Table of Contents

1. Work on Your Profile

2. Grow Your Network

3. Join LinkedIn Groups

4. Share Valuable Content

5. Spotlight Your Products and Services

6. Use Hashtags

7. Go to Job Listings

8. Send InMail Messages

9. Show Your Accomplishments

10. Ask for Referrals

11. Harness AI to Skyrocket Your Productivity

Bonus tip 💡: Let LinkedIn + Hookle Work for Your Business

---

LinkedIn stands out as the most powerful platform for professionals, businesses, and entrepreneurs to connect and grow. It's home to small business owners, startup entrepreneurs, and industry decision-makers. Unlike traditional social media, LinkedIn is all about business, making it easier to find customers. But how can you connect and find clients on LinkedIn? This article presents tested and proven strategies.

LinkedIn stands out for professional networking and growth

In the realm of B2B interactions on social media, LinkedIn leads the way. With its professional appeal, it's the go-to platform for corporations, professionals, and entrepreneurs. Remarkably, about 61 million users turn to LinkedIn for job hunting each week, and the platform boasts over 922 million users.

Let's dive straight into the tips!

1. Work on Your Profile

A great example of a strong LinkedIn profile is the one by Katarina O shown above. Remember, your profile is often the very first impression a potential client or employer gets - even before they see your actual work.

If your profile looks average or incomplete, they’ll likely just move on. So, if you’re getting plenty of profile views but no messages or inquiries, your profile might be the reason why.

Make your LinkedIn profile more professional and completing it 100%

You should start by making your LinkedIn profile more professional and completing it 100%. Make sure you have a professional headshot, a killer headline, and a clear description of what you do.

2. Grow Your Network

LinkedIn connections are a powerful way to meet new people and connect on LinkedIn as well as other social media channels. Through your connections, you might be lucky enough to land a few customers. However, don’t send connection requests to anyone you come across, and accept all connections that come your way.

Try to be more specific and connect with people in your industry

Try to be more specific and connect with people in your industry. If you’re in the digital marketing industry, try looking for connections related to that. Another way to grow your LinkedIn connections is to find companies you’re interested in working with and connect with key players in the company.

3. Join LinkedIn Groups

Joining groups is another effective LinkedIn marketing strategy for entrepreneurs and small businesses. LinkedIn groups are target-based, and you have a high chance of finding many people in your industry using specific groups.

Find those groups that align with your profession and field of expertise. In the groups, you will get insights on how to grow your business and stand a chance of getting noticed by clients.

Don’t stay silent in LinkedIn groups if you want to stand out - a great example of active engagement is Sarah Santacroce. Participate by sharing valuable insights, commenting thoughtfully on others’ posts, and starting meaningful conversations. The more you contribute, the more visibility and credibility you’ll build within your professional community.

4. Share Valuable Content

Creating and sharing content on LinkedIn is a wonderful way to prove that you’re an expert in the industry and have something to offer. Share your knowledge with potential clients and business owners in the industry.

LinkedIn gives you three different ways to share content. You can do that through posts, articles, and LinkedIn likes. Make sure you share valuable and quality content if you want to attract prospects.

5. Spotlight Your Products and Services

As part of your LinkedIn marketing strategy, make sure to highlight the unique products or services your small business offers.

Posting regular updates on both your personal profile and business page helps boost brand awareness and attract potential clients. A great example of this in action is Hookle’s product page, which consistently showcases features, updates, and valuable tips to engage its audience.

6. Use Hashtags

Using LinkedIn hashtags is a wonderful way to get noticed on LinkedIn. Use hashtags in your posts, profile, or comments. With appropriate hashtags, LinkedIn algorithms to classify your content and make it easy for people to find you.

Popular hashtags elevates your LinkedIn marketing campaigns and extends the reach

Popular hashtags can elevate your LinkedIn marketing campaigns and extend your reach. They make it easy for your content and profile to appear in searches. Be careful not to use hashtags that are too general, as that will make it hard for you to appear on searches.

Tip: discover more about using hashtags across social media platforms in our blog post How to Use Hashtags on Social Media.

7. Go to Job Listings

Job listings might be competitive, but they are still the quickest and most effective way of finding clients. There are many jobs listed every day that you can apply for. So, instead of waiting for clients to come to you, you can proactively search for them.

To make this even easier, you can allow LinkedIn to email you whenever there are new job posts in your profession. You can also use various tools to filter through the jobs posted on LinkedIn, so you don’t waste too much time searching for suitable opportunities.

8. Send InMail Messages

It’s unfortunate that LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to send messages to clients you’re not connected with. But with LinkedIn Premium, that’s possible. Depending on your plan, LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to send a certain number of InMail messages.

Take advantage of this to reach the customers you’re not connected to and pitch your business. Learn some tips to win clients through LinkedIn InMail messages before you start, so you don’t waste your efforts.

9. Show Your Accomplishments

Accomplishments are the biggest calling cards for entrepreneurs. You will find clients on LinkedIn easily if you can show them what you’ve done and what you’ve achieved.

Accomplishments are the biggest calling cards for entrepreneurs

Yes, show clients your achievements to inspire them to work with you. If you recently completed a course that you’re proud of, show your certificates. If you’ve won a big client, tell your connections about it.

10. Ask for Referrals

Do you see those clients you’ve worked with? They have connections that also need the services you provide. They might not talk about you if you don’t ask them to.

So, don’t feel shy about asking your previous clients for LinkedIn referrals. If you did a good job, they’d be more than ready to send more business your way. You can also ask them to leave you a review on LinkedIn.

11. Harness AI to Skyrocket Your Productivity

AI's significance is on the rise. By utilizing platforms like ChatGPT or Hookle, you can easily leverage AI for creating engaging social posts.

With Hookle, you can additionally schedule these posts across various social platforms, including LinkedIn and even Google Business Profile, ensuring your profiles remain consistently active and engaging.

Let LinkedIn + Hookle Work for Your Business

LinkedIn is the best thing that can happen to your business if you use it well. With the LinkedIn marketing strategies in this post, you can grow your network, find clients, and double your revenue with this powerful platform. But doing this is not as simple as 123, especially if you’re juggling other aspects of running your business.

With Hookle, your LinkedIn strategies will be simple and easy

You need an app that can help you leverage the power of LinkedIn without straining. Hookle is here to help you schedule LinkedIn posts and utilize AI for engaging LinkedIn content. With Hookle, your LinkedIn strategies will be simple and easy.

Dont just take our word for it. -try it yourself. Download Hookle free today and see how it works!