Ep 100: Maximizing LinkedIn: Growth and Sales Strategies for Founders with Molly Godfrey

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:01.084
Welcome to Tiny Marketing.

00:00:01.084 --> 00:00:07.267
This is Sarah Norrblatt, and this is a podcast that helps B2B service businesses do more with less.

00:00:07.267 --> 00:00:12.621
Learn lean, actionable, organic marketing strategies you can implement today.

00:00:12.621 --> 00:00:16.047
No fluff, just powerful growth tactics that work.

00:00:16.047 --> 00:00:30.763
Ready to scale smarter, hit that subscribe button and start growing your business with Tiny Marketing growing your business with tiny marketing.

00:00:30.783 --> 00:00:31.004
Hey, hey, hey.

00:00:31.004 --> 00:00:32.067
Welcome to season four of the tiny marketing pod.

00:00:32.067 --> 00:00:34.676
I almost said tiny marketing club, but it's the tiny marketing pod.

00:00:34.676 --> 00:00:45.133
We are talking to you today and I'm sick, so sorry my voice sounds like crap right now, but I didn't want to miss my opener of season four.

00:00:45.133 --> 00:00:56.674
This season we have some amazing guests that I'm so, so excited to introduce you to and to launch season four.

00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:07.915
We're doing a series on LinkedIn, so the next three episodes are all about LinkedIn, and today I have the amazing, amazing Molly Godfrey joining me.

00:01:07.915 --> 00:01:12.319
She has the business Build Impact Convert.

00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:17.671
Hold on one second while I share the screen so you can see it for those who are watching.

00:01:17.671 --> 00:01:19.414
All right.

00:01:19.414 --> 00:01:37.796
So for those who are watching the pod instead of listening, this is Build Impact Convert's website and she puts on one-to-one accelerators to help women leaders grow their businesses on LinkedIn.

00:01:37.796 --> 00:01:39.746
She's really freaking good at it.

00:01:39.746 --> 00:01:41.326
I subscribe to her newsletter.

00:01:41.326 --> 00:01:43.406
We're friends on LinkedIn.

00:01:43.406 --> 00:01:44.784
That's how I got to know her.

00:01:44.784 --> 00:01:46.111
I met her on Pollen.

00:01:46.111 --> 00:01:46.914
Subscribed to her newsletter.

00:01:46.914 --> 00:01:47.557
We're friends on LinkedIn.

00:01:47.557 --> 00:01:48.239
That's how I got to know her.

00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:55.105
I met her on Pollen, but we became friends through LinkedIn.

00:01:55.105 --> 00:01:56.067
So if you want to grow your LinkedIn presence.

00:01:56.067 --> 00:01:56.510
She's your girl.

00:01:56.510 --> 00:02:04.367
Make sure to follow her and I'll put her link in the show notes page, but yeah, so stay tuned.

00:02:04.367 --> 00:02:07.612
I'm talking to Molly and enjoy this episode.

00:02:07.612 --> 00:02:08.775
There it is.

00:02:08.775 --> 00:02:12.750
Do you think you could introduce yourself to the audience?

00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:14.801
Yeah, definitely.

00:02:14.801 --> 00:02:15.945
Thanks again for having me.

00:02:15.945 --> 00:02:19.984
I'm Molly Godfrey, based in New York, co-founder of Build Impact Convert.

00:02:19.984 --> 00:02:30.614
My business partner and I run a LinkedIn growth agency for leaders and founders who want to expand their presence online without burning out, without feeling overwhelmed through content strategy and LinkedIn messaging.

00:02:31.620 --> 00:02:39.573
Yes, and we met through Pollen, I think it was, and everybody just raves about you on Pollen.

00:02:39.573 --> 00:02:43.968
Yeah, molly, she's the expert on LinkedIn.

00:02:44.901 --> 00:02:45.644
Oh, it's a great group.

00:02:45.644 --> 00:02:46.687
I'm so glad he found it.

00:02:46.687 --> 00:02:47.602
You're newer, right.

00:02:47.602 --> 00:02:48.282
You joined this year.

00:02:48.905 --> 00:02:55.967
I did join this year, yeah, um, I'm still deciding if I'm going to stay in it or not.

00:02:55.967 --> 00:02:57.551
Everyone seems cool, though.

00:02:58.479 --> 00:02:58.921
Fair enough.

00:02:58.921 --> 00:02:59.342
Fair enough.

00:02:59.342 --> 00:03:01.088
Yeah, it's a cool group, it's cool.

00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:03.405
Yeah, so we're going to dig in.

00:03:03.405 --> 00:03:11.272
So this episode is specifically for founders who want to grow on LinkedIn, and that is so many people who listen to this show.

00:03:11.272 --> 00:03:13.383
I get that a lot.

00:03:13.383 --> 00:03:26.092
So let's start with what I hear the most from founders, and that's I don't have the time to do this, I don't know what to talk about and I don't have the time.

00:03:26.092 --> 00:03:28.584
So how do you address that?

00:03:28.584 --> 00:03:34.865
When you, let's say, I'm a founder and I'm like Molly, help me, what's the first thing that you do?

00:03:34.865 --> 00:03:38.788
A it's totally understandable.

00:03:38.979 --> 00:03:42.947
I don't even have the time for LinkedIn and I run a LinkedIn business, so definitely not alone.

00:03:42.947 --> 00:03:48.266
I would say the first thing is take the pressure off, like you don't have to be on there 24 seven.

00:03:48.266 --> 00:03:50.501
You don't have to even be on there every single day.

00:03:50.501 --> 00:03:56.022
We literally have all of our clients posting three times a week, so for some people, that's a huge relief.

00:03:56.022 --> 00:03:59.061
Also, for some people that have never posted, they're like, oh my God, three times a week.

00:03:59.061 --> 00:04:09.569
But you definitely don't have to be on there every day and know that with the right strategy and focus, you can have a huge impact on LinkedIn without a ton of effort.

00:04:09.569 --> 00:04:13.770
But most people just have no idea what they're doing, myself included when I started.

00:04:13.770 --> 00:04:19.783
So you're not going to see results without an intention and without a strategy is the first thing I'll say.

00:04:20.523 --> 00:04:22.985
That is so accurate.

00:04:22.985 --> 00:04:27.747
Well, I started LinkedIn in 2006.

00:04:27.747 --> 00:04:31.089
I think they're probably still in beta.

00:04:31.089 --> 00:04:43.877
They were brand spanking new, but over the years I've consistently been on there and I didn't gain traction until the last I don't know, maybe two years.

00:04:43.877 --> 00:04:50.543
Until the last, I don't know, maybe two years.

00:04:50.543 --> 00:04:54.372
So, yeah, you can be active on it and still not gain traction if you don't have that strategy to rely on.

00:04:54.372 --> 00:05:00.870
Now you mentioned that you have strategy meets authenticity.

00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:05.137
What is LinkedIn algorithm really like, but what also works for you?

00:05:05.137 --> 00:05:06.380
So can you explain that to me?

00:05:06.380 --> 00:05:08.266
Totally, totally.

00:05:08.666 --> 00:05:18.831
So I came from the blogging, instagram, facebook, pinterest world before LinkedIn, so it's super important to also just have the right mindset.

00:05:18.831 --> 00:05:20.884
Like, linkedin is a totally different place.

00:05:20.884 --> 00:05:27.447
I love the idea of repurposing, but just a hard truth you cannot take the same content from other social media and put it on LinkedIn.

00:05:27.466 --> 00:05:30.867
That's like mistake number one that a lot of people make in the beginning.

00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:35.682
So you have to understand that LinkedIn is a very unique platform.

00:05:35.682 --> 00:05:43.927
A it's originally built for job seeking networking corporations to do recruiting, talent search.

00:05:43.927 --> 00:05:45.357
So you have to know where you're.

00:05:45.357 --> 00:05:46.122
You have to know your audience.

00:05:46.122 --> 00:05:48.233
You have to know where you're showing up, so you can't.

00:05:48.233 --> 00:05:52.466
A the storytelling is very, very different than you'll find other places and.

00:05:52.466 --> 00:06:00.060
B you have to play to and leverage what LinkedIn likes but also find that intersection of what's actually authentic to you.

00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:01.502
So I would say it is.

00:06:01.502 --> 00:06:02.704
It is more professional.

00:06:02.704 --> 00:06:26.922
So you've got to understand the hearing level of that audience to really get traction point, the one, the posts that I pay attention to.

00:06:26.942 --> 00:06:28.245
it's always like, oh wow, that that's pretty freaking smart.

00:06:28.245 --> 00:06:38.529
I'm going to save that one, something that I can take with me and take action on, and so I want let's talk about the LinkedIn algorithm.

00:06:38.529 --> 00:06:41.415
What right now constantly changes.

00:06:41.415 --> 00:06:43.428
What right now does LinkedIn really like?

00:06:43.428 --> 00:06:45.398
It is constantly changing.

00:06:45.418 --> 00:06:48.286
They're doing a lot of behind the scenes.

00:06:48.286 --> 00:06:51.132
They just launched games, which I think is very interesting.

00:06:51.132 --> 00:06:52.062
So just launch games.

00:06:52.062 --> 00:06:53.004
I noticed that too.

00:06:53.004 --> 00:06:55.492
I haven't, I haven't experimented with that.

00:06:55.492 --> 00:07:02.750
They're apparently in the in the midst of launching like a shorts, like a YouTube shorts, or I got access to that.

00:07:03.290 --> 00:07:08.579
Oh, you did, yeah, cool, um, and it's.

00:07:08.579 --> 00:07:09.841
It's really a mixed bag.

00:07:09.841 --> 00:07:10.161
I would.

00:07:10.161 --> 00:07:13.790
I would say, still to this day I this happened to me last week.

00:07:13.790 --> 00:07:14.882
It's good writing.

00:07:14.882 --> 00:07:16.427
The algorithm likes good writing.

00:07:16.427 --> 00:07:25.132
Like last week I had a post I, just to be honest, like nailed the hook and I was like, wow, that post did so well in comparison to the rest of my content because I just like got the hook right.

00:07:25.132 --> 00:07:27.588
You know, so I would say, kind of an annoying answer.

00:07:27.588 --> 00:07:29.000
The algorithm likes good writing.

00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:35.072
It likes when you are speaking about the subject matter that your profile is built for.

00:07:35.072 --> 00:07:44.567
So if you go into a word, I also like oh, I really was just like in line with what my profile is built for, and then it's really a mix.

00:07:44.567 --> 00:07:52.105
Sometimes our short form gets reshared and does really well, but I will say a long form, kind of explainer, like going in depth into one of your frameworks.

00:07:52.105 --> 00:07:53.709
Those are also doing well right now too.

00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:57.911
So even it keeps me daily on my toes, to be honest.

00:07:59.060 --> 00:07:59.781
It really does.

00:07:59.781 --> 00:08:08.545
It's constantly changing where, like one month, I'm killing it so much engagement and then I'm like what did I do wrong?

00:08:08.545 --> 00:08:10.492
Why is LinkedIn mad at me this week?

00:08:11.641 --> 00:08:16.052
I know Well, I wrote this post this morning and I was like, oh, there's so much psychology in here.

00:08:16.052 --> 00:08:18.127
This is going to be a banger Nothing.

00:08:18.127 --> 00:08:29.540
I wrote a post last week so informal, it was just literally how I would speak as a human and it's just honestly something that I personally feel blew up and I was like, wow, all right.

00:08:30.062 --> 00:08:30.362
Got it?

00:08:30.362 --> 00:08:31.024
I don't.

00:08:31.024 --> 00:08:32.086
I don't get you LinkedIn.

00:08:32.086 --> 00:08:35.818
Gods, why are you loving this?

00:08:35.999 --> 00:08:39.386
one, so I'll I'll go back to one of your opening questions.

00:08:39.386 --> 00:08:46.458
The other thing to to save time and save just mental peace when it comes to LinkedIn is you just you have to know what are the right metrics for you.

00:08:46.458 --> 00:08:55.807
You will get burnt out, you will get overwhelmed, you will get exhausted If you're paying attention to the wrong things and comparing yourself and trying to be a different type of creator.

00:08:55.807 --> 00:09:00.312
That makes sense for your business, because there's just different strategies for your intention.

00:09:00.312 --> 00:09:06.427
So knowing how you're meant to be showing up, depending on your business goals, is also super important.

00:09:07.335 --> 00:09:08.378
That's really good advice.

00:09:08.378 --> 00:09:11.265
I have an itch in my throat.

00:09:11.265 --> 00:09:14.440
It's that time of year.

00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:16.538
Yes, yes, it is.

00:09:16.538 --> 00:09:19.527
Allergies are rearing their ugly head right now.

00:09:19.527 --> 00:09:29.322
Something I noticed about LinkedIn lately is remember the carousels were doing so so well, and they're dead now.

00:09:31.216 --> 00:09:31.596
Totally.

00:09:31.596 --> 00:09:43.761
I still love a good carousel but I agree I don't think that's the tool for audience growth, like it was a year, a year, year and a half ago yeah, yeah, probably like 2023.

00:09:44.121 --> 00:09:48.591
They were on fire and now it's like the it's now.

00:09:48.672 --> 00:09:53.082
It's the uh, it's the tweet screenshots, so yeah, that's true.

00:09:53.082 --> 00:09:54.506
I was just looking at a friend.

00:09:54.506 --> 00:09:56.698
All her tweet screenshots are going viral.

00:09:57.380 --> 00:09:59.384
That is true.

00:09:59.384 --> 00:10:05.481
I did one of those and I barely put any content as part of that post and that one blew up.

00:10:06.062 --> 00:10:13.725
Yeah, it was was it the one that I love this post your real internet friends support.

00:10:13.885 --> 00:10:14.506
Oh yes.

00:10:14.506 --> 00:10:18.404
Yes, it was about biz dev and like making your business friends.

00:10:18.404 --> 00:10:18.846
That's right.

00:10:18.846 --> 00:10:22.899
Yeah, that blew up and it was mostly just a screenshot of a tweet.

00:10:24.644 --> 00:10:25.164
There you go.

00:10:25.927 --> 00:10:33.000
Yeah, but I found that that topic really resonated because anytime I talked about it it blew up, so maybe it was more of the topic than anything.

00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:35.225
Yeah.

00:10:36.126 --> 00:10:42.962
But again, to go back to your other question, the LinkedIn algorithm, it just wants conversations happening in your content.

00:10:42.962 --> 00:10:45.977
It wants it to be social, it wants people to be collaborating.

00:10:45.977 --> 00:10:54.381
So the more replies you get in your comments, the more ways you're getting tagged in your own content, the more that's going to be pushed out.

00:10:54.381 --> 00:10:57.327
So I always like to try to reply, like if.

00:10:57.327 --> 00:11:04.942
If my co-founder has a post, I will try to reply to someone else's comment within the comment feed just to like start another thread of conversation.

00:11:04.942 --> 00:11:06.086
Cause that that does boost it.

00:11:06.654 --> 00:11:07.576
That's really good advice.

00:11:07.576 --> 00:11:12.764
I've never heard before so stealing that Okay.

00:11:12.764 --> 00:11:15.696
So how do you work with founders?

00:11:15.696 --> 00:11:17.360
You have them post three times a week.

00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:20.937
Is there anything else that you're advising them to do to grow?

00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:24.144
Yeah, I should really make a post about this.

00:11:24.144 --> 00:11:28.320
If there was one thing to do every single week, no matter what, regardless.

00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.467
If you post, regardless how you feel for the week, matter what, regardless.

00:11:32.467 --> 00:11:39.663
If you post regardless how you feel for the week, max out, if this is, if you have premium, max out your hundred connections that you can make every week.

00:11:39.663 --> 00:11:40.265
So make industry lists.

00:11:40.265 --> 00:11:41.331
Go through the communities.

00:11:41.331 --> 00:11:41.952
That's how we met.

00:11:41.952 --> 00:11:45.008
We've literally met through a community me adding people on LinkedIn.

00:11:45.008 --> 00:11:46.214
Go through communities.

00:11:46.214 --> 00:11:51.255
Sometimes it will even suggest your address book, he consistently adding that a hundred people a week.

00:11:51.316 --> 00:11:57.626
I can't tell you how many times we've added someone just with a simple message hey, came across your profile.

00:11:57.626 --> 00:11:59.258
Or hey, we help female founders.

00:11:59.258 --> 00:12:03.139
It doesn't have to be spammy or pitchy, it can just be a hey, saw you on here.

00:12:03.139 --> 00:12:03.922
This is what we do.

00:12:03.922 --> 00:12:08.476
Let me know if it makes sense to chat If you do that a hundred times every single week.

00:12:08.476 --> 00:12:10.179
The way that that compounds.

00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:15.528
We are getting so much business from the people that we added anywhere from like September to February.

00:12:15.528 --> 00:12:18.659
Because we added them, they've been lurking in the audience.

00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:22.538
Now they're reaching out and like hey, you know, I saw your post, I want to chat now.

00:12:22.538 --> 00:12:26.049
So it's a phenomenal kind of passive.

00:12:26.049 --> 00:12:27.674
But important is dev strategy.

00:12:27.674 --> 00:12:30.041
Just add a hundred connections every single week.

00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:31.224
That is really good.

00:12:31.224 --> 00:12:33.697
I am not good about that.

00:12:33.697 --> 00:12:35.422
Only when I attend events.

00:12:35.422 --> 00:12:43.796
I go to a like um virtual events and I'll immediately go in the chat, like everybody dropped your LinkedIn profile and I'll connect with everyone then.

00:12:43.796 --> 00:12:53.225
So it's always in spurts, but I by no means do it that way, which I'm going to start doing, and again, it comes down to your business goals.

00:12:54.576 --> 00:13:00.821
If you're newer to LinkedIn, don't really know what you're doing, that's a great way to just again build an audience, get some momentum.

00:13:00.821 --> 00:13:08.636
You will eventually get to the point where it's organic, organically you're having 100 new followers come in every week, so you don't have to do it forever.

00:13:08.636 --> 00:13:12.964
But I would say, if you're trying to get some momentum, it's a great and again you can.

00:13:12.964 --> 00:13:13.905
You can have a team member.

00:13:13.905 --> 00:13:14.206
Do it.

00:13:14.206 --> 00:13:17.336
Just get those added to the audience every week.

00:13:17.638 --> 00:13:18.219
That's true.

00:13:18.219 --> 00:13:28.581
Just have some sort of conversational script that your team member can use so it doesn't sound spammy when you're reaching out to someone.

00:13:28.581 --> 00:13:36.010
I'm at that point where I'm getting like 100 organics but I mean I could do more.

00:13:36.010 --> 00:13:39.881
I'm not doing anything to do that at this point.

00:13:39.881 --> 00:13:43.469
Yeah, hmm, okay.

00:13:43.469 --> 00:13:49.447
So we're connecting with our 100 a week and we're posting three times a week.

00:13:49.447 --> 00:13:49.976
What are?

00:13:49.976 --> 00:13:51.783
What's your stance on commenting?

00:13:51.783 --> 00:13:52.697
How important is it?

00:13:52.697 --> 00:13:53.938
It is.

00:13:54.179 --> 00:13:56.224
It's, it is and it isn't.

00:13:56.224 --> 00:14:00.259
There's just weeks that I like last week I was traveling, I was at a conference.

00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:02.605
This week, oh, I had tons of comments.

00:14:02.605 --> 00:14:04.115
I need to reply to you.

00:14:04.115 --> 00:14:05.136
Just, you never know.

00:14:05.216 --> 00:14:06.818
So I got my mom on LinkedIn.

00:14:06.818 --> 00:14:17.875
She's a founder, she's in her sixties and I love it because she doesn't necessarily know what she's doing, but she's just having fun on there and she left a comment on um, I can't write it.

00:14:17.875 --> 00:14:23.248
It was a bigger post about uh products that women have invented, so she left a comment on there.

00:14:23.248 --> 00:14:24.517
The comment went viral.

00:14:24.517 --> 00:14:35.370
She got like 50 likes on that and I was like hey, go, mom, but B, if, if, you, if, and why I did well is she just added her really unique, authentic POV on that.

00:14:35.815 --> 00:14:38.554
So comments are, they're like mini billboards for your business.

00:14:38.554 --> 00:14:48.470
Again, if your headshot's clear, if your headline's clear, you leave a comment, a thoughtful comment that provokes some sort of new perspective in someone else, they'll likely go to your profile.

00:14:48.470 --> 00:14:51.966
If your profile's optimized, they may literally convert from that comment.

00:14:51.966 --> 00:15:00.081
So we've gotten a lot and we've gotten a lot of business and through comments and also when people tag you.

00:15:00.081 --> 00:15:00.522
So they are important.

00:15:00.522 --> 00:15:03.889
You know, don't burn yourself to the ground.

00:15:03.889 --> 00:15:15.288
You know, trying to leave comments every single day for hours and hours, but I would say, once or twice a week, get on there for 20 minutes just to leave, and what you can do to save time on that is make a list of your strategic partners.

00:15:15.288 --> 00:15:16.250
So, sarah, you're one of mine.

00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:17.340
I love leaving comments on yours.

00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:22.423
I try and prioritize getting on your content, just make your list of people.

00:15:22.815 --> 00:15:24.666
I have a bell ringing for yours too.

00:15:24.666 --> 00:15:26.134
I love it.

00:15:27.341 --> 00:15:28.835
Because you like the work that you're doing.

00:15:28.835 --> 00:15:34.620
So just strategically making that curated list, it should only take you.

00:15:34.620 --> 00:15:39.597
You know, if you do that once or twice, two or two ish times a week, it's, it can be really impactful.

00:15:39.597 --> 00:15:39.899
Yeah.

00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:51.469
Yeah, I have found that my biggest growth weeks are when I make it a priority to comment on other people's posts, especially you said strategic partners.

00:15:51.469 --> 00:15:55.538
Comment on other people's posts, especially you said strategic partners.

00:15:55.538 --> 00:16:07.427
It has been really helpful to find ones that have the same ICA as you ideal customer avatar, because the people your dream clients are already commenting on that other person's posts, so they're seeing yours.

00:16:07.427 --> 00:16:10.581
You end up in their feed when you do that.

00:16:11.823 --> 00:16:12.325
Totally.

00:16:12.325 --> 00:16:14.756
The best advice I can give is think about.

00:16:14.756 --> 00:16:20.177
This is how I grew my first business so quickly as I just nailed it with my strategic partners.

00:16:20.177 --> 00:16:22.482
I found a coach who I am now really good friends with.

00:16:22.482 --> 00:16:33.638
I found a coach who did something just slightly different but had the exact same audience, and so we would just comment on each other's stuff all the time and just so many of her people came over.

00:16:33.638 --> 00:16:35.263
We eventually did a big collaboration.

00:16:35.263 --> 00:16:36.726
My people would go to her.

00:16:36.726 --> 00:16:40.803
So think about someone who does something tangential, but not quite it.

00:16:40.803 --> 00:16:53.876
If you nail it, yeah, you just got to find those like one or two people and again building off that, we're now really good friends, but the potential is there to just really take advantage of what other creators have built.

00:16:53.876 --> 00:16:57.629
And you know reciprocate, you know support their content.

00:16:59.092 --> 00:17:00.981
It's borrowing other people's audiences.

00:17:00.981 --> 00:17:06.597
I talk about this all the time, especially when you're first starting out and you're at net zero.

00:17:06.597 --> 00:17:21.074
I rely very heavily on borrowing other people's audiences, building strategic partners and building a platform where that you could leverage to build those relationships in the first place Totally.

00:17:21.634 --> 00:17:22.881
Makes everything so much easier.

00:17:23.785 --> 00:17:29.325
Yeah, oh, you have what's authentic to the founder's story.

00:17:29.325 --> 00:17:31.122
Can you tell me what that is?

00:17:32.355 --> 00:17:33.439
Totally so.

00:17:33.439 --> 00:17:39.898
We, we, we did a challenge, I guess about a month ago now, and we really dug into this with the people that joined.

00:17:39.898 --> 00:17:43.938
But you want to think about, like, what are the values of your decision maker?

00:17:43.938 --> 00:17:53.506
So, for us, our founders value courage, risk-taking, persistence, resilience, and you know, they, they, they resonate with that.

00:17:53.506 --> 00:17:57.346
That's, that's, those are values they try and embody, those are values that are important to them.

00:17:58.036 --> 00:18:05.436
But the the, the trick then is like, what, what of your own story does that authentically again intersect with?

00:18:05.436 --> 00:18:16.833
So, um, you know, for me leaving corporate, for me starting starting a second business, thinking about those, those parts of my own journey where I had to keep trying.

00:18:16.833 --> 00:18:19.781
You know, I worked for startups and they didn't, and they didn't work.

00:18:19.781 --> 00:18:22.217
I, you know, moved cross country to start a new career.

00:18:22.217 --> 00:18:25.025
So you want to think about, like, what are those authentic?

00:18:25.025 --> 00:18:27.478
Like pivotal, I would say, the pivotal moments in your life?

00:18:27.478 --> 00:18:31.683
Like, what are those pivotal moments that you can turn into a parable or a story lesson?

00:18:31.683 --> 00:18:35.269
Linkedin loves those, but again, it's got to intersect with your.

00:18:35.269 --> 00:18:36.797
You don't want to just talk about yourself.

00:18:36.797 --> 00:18:43.021
To talk about yourself, it's got to intersect with what your decision maker, how that, how that will build more trust with them.

00:18:43.784 --> 00:18:44.989
Yeah, yeah.

00:18:44.989 --> 00:18:49.279
I think that it's important to to talk about the mistakes that you've made.

00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:57.863
It feels, I mean, it's a lot more authentic saying, well, my, you know, things aren't as perfect as they look on social media.

00:18:57.863 --> 00:18:59.420
This is the mistake I made.

00:18:59.420 --> 00:19:00.460
This is how you can avoid it.

00:19:01.454 --> 00:19:03.480
Oh, that content is literally like literally.

00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:10.060
So much of our business has come from the mistakes, the quote, unquote, failure.

00:19:10.060 --> 00:19:17.104
What we learned, taking account, if you take accountability for the ways you messed up, we love it.

00:19:17.104 --> 00:19:19.107
We love humility and leadership, you know.

00:19:19.596 --> 00:19:28.876
Yeah, it just feels so real to hear that and it gives you permission to try new things because, well, they messed up.

00:19:28.876 --> 00:19:33.367
I can try something new and mess up, and I've messed up a lot.

00:19:34.775 --> 00:19:35.457
Oh, so many.

00:19:35.457 --> 00:19:38.606
The lessons are rich in entrepreneurship.

00:19:39.816 --> 00:19:43.724
Yes, yes, they are Well.

00:19:43.724 --> 00:19:53.182
Okay, I'm looking at number three on your list of your learning points how to convert followers into buyers through testimonials and key studies.

00:19:53.182 --> 00:19:54.744
Let's talk about that.

00:19:55.586 --> 00:19:58.036
Yeah, I actually I was super excited to talk to you about this.

00:19:58.036 --> 00:20:12.065
I was just, uh, the conference I was at last week and it was this, this workshop on sales messaging versus marketing messaging, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is literally what what we teach our clients to do, but that wasn't how I was-, did you post about?

00:20:12.105 --> 00:20:18.255
that I haven't yet, but I totally am, because it communicated in a way that really had me understand.

00:20:18.255 --> 00:20:20.430
That's actually the work that we're doing with.

00:20:20.430 --> 00:20:34.136
This point is marketing is super important, getting visibility, brand awareness but if your intention on LinkedIn is to get business and see conversions, you also have to have sales messaging.

00:20:34.136 --> 00:20:50.840
And one of the easiest I'm going to say yeah, I guess the easiest and kind of can fit in with the rest of LinkedIn content and not stand out as like, hey, this is a sales post is telling a story about a transformation you took a client through.

00:20:50.840 --> 00:20:51.993
So that is the.

00:20:51.993 --> 00:20:53.801
So our company name is build impact, convert.

00:20:53.801 --> 00:21:04.332
So build an audience impact with your story and then convert them with those sales messaging posts embedded in a client case story, a client transformation Cause.

00:21:04.332 --> 00:21:08.077
At the end of the day, people want to know if I hire you, you're going to get me results.

00:21:08.077 --> 00:21:14.116
So how can you again, authentically and tastefully do that in the context of a LinkedIn platform?

00:21:15.019 --> 00:21:25.369
Yeah, I think I saw one of your posts recently where you were talking about one of your clients and how they brought on new clients through LinkedIn.

00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:30.613
It was like a very specific example, but I was like that that works.

00:21:30.613 --> 00:21:34.659
Molly knows what she's talking about.

00:21:35.721 --> 00:21:38.265
Yeah, yeah, we, I again.

00:21:38.265 --> 00:21:39.612
I I love storytelling.

00:21:39.612 --> 00:21:41.316
I like to try and fit it into.

00:21:41.316 --> 00:21:44.501
You know, uh, uh, the.

00:21:44.501 --> 00:21:50.663
You know where they started and and and have the the post start with what, what, what.

00:21:50.663 --> 00:21:52.394
What's the dream of your ideal client?

00:21:52.394 --> 00:21:54.840
So I I'm trying to think of which one you might've seen.

00:21:54.840 --> 00:21:56.917
You know, we helped a client get booked out.

00:21:56.917 --> 00:21:58.625
We helped her, we, she is.

00:21:58.625 --> 00:22:01.483
She got so much business from LinkedIn she doesn't have time for LinkedIn anymore.

00:22:01.605 --> 00:22:06.340
So that that might've been, I think was the one that's that pops out to me.

00:22:10.109 --> 00:22:10.631
Yeah, yeah, but those are.

00:22:10.631 --> 00:22:11.954
It's a super important part of the strategy.

00:22:11.954 --> 00:22:12.497
A lot of this is.

00:22:12.497 --> 00:22:27.556
This is the mistake we see a lot of founders make is they're doing all marketing, which is great, but they're not doing any sales marketing or messaging, and so super important to build that in and really think about what is the dream outcome your decision maker wants.

00:22:27.556 --> 00:22:31.375
How can you take them through a story of how you did that for someone else?

00:22:31.375 --> 00:22:39.114
We all the time women are founders say you know, we hired you because you post about the results that you get for your clients all the time and I was like great, it's working.

00:22:39.114 --> 00:22:40.016
Love to hear that.

00:22:41.178 --> 00:22:42.421
Yes, brilliant.

00:22:42.421 --> 00:22:45.273
Now you do the same and you look at the same results.

00:22:45.855 --> 00:22:49.260
Yeah, yeah, it's overlooked, but super important.

00:22:50.763 --> 00:22:59.463
Yeah, how to create compelling subject matter expertise through LinkedIn content.

00:22:59.463 --> 00:23:10.531
So one thing before we move on to that point, which is the final point a more passive way to sell through your LinkedIn posts.

00:23:10.531 --> 00:23:12.455
It's like a postscript kind of thing.

00:23:12.455 --> 00:23:15.022
I call it a post signature for my clients.

00:23:15.022 --> 00:23:22.413
It's just constantly reminding them what you do, the transformation that you pull your clients through and who you do it for.

00:23:22.413 --> 00:23:24.779
And it's passive and easy.

00:23:24.779 --> 00:23:29.497
And I have started getting so many more DMs for my service after I started doing that.

00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:30.641
I love it.

00:23:30.641 --> 00:23:33.398
Yeah, people love the PS, they love the PS.

00:23:34.471 --> 00:23:35.336
And emails too.

00:23:35.336 --> 00:23:43.576
If you're doing an educational email, add a PS with some action that they can take to work with you and you'll get more replies.

00:23:43.576 --> 00:23:44.921
People just forget.

00:23:44.921 --> 00:23:48.215
You know they forget that they can work with you and not just learn from you.

00:23:48.236 --> 00:23:50.641
Totally, it's such a good point.

00:23:50.641 --> 00:23:57.102
Yeah yeah, really powerful and not not a ton of extra work to add a couple lines of impactful text at the bottom.

00:23:57.730 --> 00:23:59.955
Yeah, I just have, I copy and paste it.

00:23:59.955 --> 00:24:04.113
I have it in my Apple notes and I just copy and paste it at the end of all of my posts.

00:24:04.733 --> 00:24:05.194
I love it.

00:24:06.397 --> 00:24:09.124
So how do you decide what to talk about on LinkedIn?

00:24:10.089 --> 00:24:14.397
It's a great question.

00:24:14.397 --> 00:24:17.722
It goes back a bit to, again, you're a decision maker.

00:24:17.722 --> 00:24:19.592
What are they struggling with?

00:24:19.592 --> 00:24:27.116
What in your experience, if they started to understand, and also knowing what stage of the buyer journey they're at?

00:24:27.116 --> 00:24:32.775
So do they need to be educated that LinkedIn is important or do they know LinkedIn is important but they need to be educated on how to use it better?

00:24:33.195 --> 00:24:38.503
So, knowing which stage they're at, but also what you want to be known for, is also part of it.

00:24:38.503 --> 00:24:39.950
Yes, it's, it's about your audience.

00:24:39.950 --> 00:24:43.194
But what do you like at the end of the day, what do you?

00:24:43.194 --> 00:24:49.924
Uh, if you walk into a room, what do you want people to be like oh, that's Kathleen, she's the so-and-so expert.

00:24:49.924 --> 00:24:53.712
So what do you want to be known for?

00:24:53.712 --> 00:24:58.644
And then isolating within that, isolating the potent expertise that you can teach.

00:24:58.869 --> 00:25:09.433
So we, in our work, we've got, I don't know, maybe 15, 20 evergreen frameworks of how you can take these bigger ideas and start to build them into pieces of content.

00:25:09.433 --> 00:25:18.897
So the teachable pieces, the comparison pieces, the framework breakdowns, your observations, your future predictions.

00:25:18.897 --> 00:25:27.294
So how to do that is again really going to depend on, a, your intention, but, b, what you want to be known for and also, I'm sure you know there's a lot of testing.

00:25:27.294 --> 00:25:35.720
You're going to have to test and see what, what your audience resonates with, what, what leads to conversions and what leads to people being like oh, that was it.

00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:39.356
I want to hire them to know more about that or to apply that to my business.

00:25:39.958 --> 00:25:42.022
Yeah, I always say marketing is a lab.

00:25:42.022 --> 00:25:46.398
You need to have a hypothesis and test it and see what works.

00:25:46.398 --> 00:25:48.242
And you know what?

00:25:48.242 --> 00:25:53.556
A quarter from now it might not work anymore and you have to test out something new.

00:25:53.576 --> 00:25:55.020
Totally.

00:25:55.020 --> 00:26:09.619
And also I love this combo because you have to remove yourself, yes, like what you want to be known for, but also within that you can't have too many preferences, because it may not be the exact piece of it they may.

00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:17.315
Your audience is going to inform really what they want to know about a lot too, so you have to not take things personally either.

00:26:18.036 --> 00:26:26.238
Yeah, yeah, and when I am just at a loss of what to post about, I'll do two things.

00:26:26.238 --> 00:26:30.453
I'll look at whatever my core content is what did I release most recently?

00:26:30.453 --> 00:26:35.473
Can I break a small piece of that and expand on it and make that the post?

00:26:35.473 --> 00:26:40.443
And the other thing is breaking apart an offer into little pieces.

00:26:40.443 --> 00:26:47.053
What would people care about or what's an objection that comes up when I'm talking about this offer?

00:26:47.053 --> 00:26:48.238
Could I post about that?

00:26:48.238 --> 00:26:51.958
Those are easy ways to find something to talk about.

00:26:51.958 --> 00:26:53.681
Totally yeah.

00:26:53.701 --> 00:26:56.232
The questions people are asking you in enrollment.

00:26:56.232 --> 00:26:56.775
Calls.

00:26:56.775 --> 00:26:58.198
The DMs that you get.

00:26:58.198 --> 00:27:03.693
Yeah, Answering people's questions or objections is a fantastic piece of content.

00:27:04.536 --> 00:27:08.603
Yeah, I'm going to one sec resumed.

00:27:08.603 --> 00:27:13.590
Okay, I want to know how people can work with you.

00:27:14.432 --> 00:27:15.295
Oh, that's a great question.

00:27:15.295 --> 00:27:18.180
Yes, our signature offering.

00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:21.212
We do a lot of strategy and consulting.

00:27:21.212 --> 00:27:30.074
So if you're a founder and you're, like I know, my decision makers on LinkedIn, I want to be getting leads from it and be want to have a more robust online presence.

00:27:30.074 --> 00:27:43.952
We'll sit down with you and we will walk you through the messaging that's going to convert on your through your LinkedIn profile, walk you through a content strategy, coach you for a month while you're implementing all the new content, give you feedback and have it be optimized for the platform.

00:27:43.952 --> 00:27:47.117
So that's our six week, what we call our LinkedIn accelerator intensive.

00:27:47.117 --> 00:27:50.763
The other way is we run a challenge quarterly.

00:27:50.763 --> 00:27:52.086
So we just finished one.

00:27:52.086 --> 00:27:52.789
We have a well.

00:27:52.789 --> 00:27:59.163
Our next one will start end of August and and um begin in in in September.

00:27:59.163 --> 00:28:04.490
So our your story gets business storytelling challenge and then we're also rolling out a whole bunch of digital products.

00:28:04.490 --> 00:28:14.071
So if you go to our website, we've got in-depth lead gen workshops, content workshops and general LinkedIn how-to workshops on our website as well.

00:28:14.491 --> 00:28:15.515
I love that.

00:28:15.515 --> 00:28:19.529
So I have a quick question Is the accelerator one-to-one or is it group?

00:28:20.211 --> 00:28:21.413
Great question, all one-to-one.

00:28:21.413 --> 00:28:23.576
So we do everything in Notion.

00:28:23.576 --> 00:28:28.345
So we custom build out a whole Notion hub for your business.

00:28:28.345 --> 00:28:29.992
So a lot of it's async.

00:28:29.992 --> 00:28:32.159
The rest of it is over Zoom and one-on-one.

00:28:32.159 --> 00:28:34.334
But at this time we don't have a group cohort.

00:28:34.334 --> 00:28:35.898
We enjoy the one-on-one work.

00:28:36.529 --> 00:28:37.352
Yeah, I get that.

00:28:37.352 --> 00:28:38.474
That's what I'm doing right now.

00:28:38.474 --> 00:28:40.721
I'm just branching out into group.

00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:51.903
now, after a hundred years, yeah, it's a whole different business, but I see the value in the coaches and consultants that offer it.

00:28:52.750 --> 00:29:01.954
So go find Molly over on LinkedIn and I'm going to have that in the show notes page when this goes out to the pod and thank you again for joining me.

00:29:01.954 --> 00:29:03.038
Thanks so much, Sarah.

00:29:03.038 --> 00:29:04.000
This was a really fun combo.

00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:05.655
You love all things.

00:29:05.695 --> 00:29:09.151
Tiny marketing so much, Sarah.

00:29:09.151 --> 00:29:09.872
This was a really fun combo.

00:29:09.872 --> 00:29:10.653

Ep 100: Maximizing LinkedIn: Growth and Sales Strategies for Founders with Molly Godfrey

Listen On

Recent Episodes