Today, we are going to talk about one of the most powerful approaches for outbound lead generation, which is Linkedin outreach. Let`s go over two main outbound lead generation strategies you can use on Linkedin: Linkedin Outreach Strategy / Linkedin Lead Generation.
A brief intro to Linkedin.
LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community. It’s being used for building connections in the industry and staying in touch with colleagues. As of now, the platform has 830 million users worldwide, with almost 10% of users being from the United States.
As of now, Linkedin is one of the most powerful platforms for lead generation for a few reasons: The first reason is the data. You can access information on your potential customers, their corporate structure, and potential decision-makers. The second reason is the simplicity of outreach. As in any social network, you are able to connect with people in a couple of clicks, which is extremely valuable for lead generation. The third reason is the ability to automate the process of lead generation. Even though Linkedin doesn’t allow automation on the platform, there is plenty of tools you can use to do that.
So, how do you generate outbound leads on Linkedin?
There are two main strategies of lead generation on the platform: sending connection requests and connecting with people by email.
Let’s start with connection requests. That is the oldest lead generation strategy on the platform, and in essence, if you want to implement it, you would need to find your prospects on Linkedin, send them connection requests with a short message, wait for them to accept your invitation, and follow up with a longer message, with your value proposition in it. That’s a very effective strategy that requires a minimum time investment from you while bringing good results. However, due to Linkedin limits, introduced in late 2020, you are only able to send up to 100 connection requests per week. That limits your lead generation potential, as even if you have a 10% response rate, which is significantly higher than average, you will be able to generate anywhere around 40 conversations per month. A solution here would be either to use multiple Linkedin accounts or implement strategy number 2.
So the second strategy is a bit more complex, as it requires you to have a list of emails for your prospects. It’s also based on connection requests, but the ones you are able to send via email. Linkedin has the ability to send connection requests to your contacts as soon as you have their email and to do that, you can simply go to the contacts section in your network on Linkedin, and paste emails of prospects you would like to connect with. After that, Linkedin will send these prospects an email message on your behalf, saying that you want to connect with them on Linkedin, and they will be able to accept this connection request with one click. The issue here is that your prospects won’t see any connection message from you, so their decision on whether to connect with you will be based only on their usual behavior on Linkedin. That decreases the number of people who accept your connection requests, but with a daily limit of 75 people to connect via email, you can achieve a much better result than with a usual campaign on Linkedin.
Takeaways
So, to summarize, there are two main strategies for outbound lead generation on the Linkedin outreach strategy. The first one is based on sending connection requests, and it allows you to reach out to about 400 prospects per month and get anywhere between 10 and 40 conversations per month. The second one is based on connecting with people via email, and it allows you to reach out to about 1500 prospects per month, and have anywhere around 30 to 100 conversations per month. The only thing you need is the list of emails for your prospects. Lastly, a couple of words about Linkedin automation.