Life-proof your lead generation with this simple routine

Life happens. One minute you're crushing it at the office, the next you're dealing with some serious stuff on the home front. Appointments, endless phone calls, kids at home sick, shifting schedules - it's enough to make your head spin.

But here's the cold hard truth: the bills don't stop coming just because life gets crazy. You still have responsibilities, and you still need to walk into those leadership meetings with a pocket full of juicy prospects and booked meetings.

So, how do you keep that lead gen engine humming when you're stretched even thinner than usual?

By having a slick LinkedIn routine that takes no more than 20-30 minutes out of your day. Get in, engage with those key decision makers, and get out. It's that simple.

Here's what I'm talking about:

[5 mins] Post that pre-prepared content, complete with a call-to-action and relevant hashtags (if the thought of this makes you want to run for the hills, we need to talk about setting you up with a content bank so you never feel overwhelmed again).

[10 mins] Check your Sales Navigator dashboard to see who from your leads list has posted, then add some value by commenting on their posts (no mindless newsfeed scrolling required).

[5 mins] Reply to any DMs or comments on your post, and keep that conversation fuelled by asking questions and digging deeper.

[5 mins] Send messages to new connections using a template to start conversations (efficiency is key, folks).

[5 mins] Send out connection requests to decision makers from your leads list (again, use a template to make this a breeze).

Boom! You're done for the day, and your lead gen is locked and loaded. With a routine like this, your pipeline will keep flowing no matter what life throws your way.

And if you need some help getting your lead generation machine revving, I'm just an email away. Let me know what you need the most support with at alex@socialclimber.london.

The simple sum that will change your lead gen strategy forever

I'm about to change the way you see lead generation forever.

When you think about leads, you're probably thinking big numbers, right? Hundreds, thousands, the more the merrier.

That sounds scary, best go make a tea instead 😨 ☕

But let me ask you this - how much money do you actually need to bring into your business each month? Not just to survive, but to be growing and thriving?

Now, based on your average client value, how many clients is that?

I bet it's not as many as you thought.

Okay, now let's extrapolate that out for the whole year. We're probably still talking quite small numbers of quality, well-paying clients.

And you know what? If you need, say, 2 new clients a month, and your closing rate is 25%, that's only 24 clients over a 12-month period.

96 new business calls to close 24 clients.

8 new business calls a month.

Not hundreds, 8.

Suddenly, lead gen doesn't feel quite so intimidating, does it? 🤔

It's all about breaking it down. Focusing on the quality, not the quantity. Not trying to talk to everyone, but starting conversations with the people who fit your ideal customer profile, who you can genuinely help.

So, what are you waiting for? Go have those conversations!

And if you don't know where to start, well, you know where to find me. I'm just a DM away, ready to help you take the lead gen bull by the horns.

The cringe-free guide to outbound marketing

Are you leaving money on the table?

Look, I get it. Outbound marketing can feel super cringy, especially if you - like me - are not a natural extrovert. But here’s the question - are you really okay with leaving opportunities (and by that I mean money) just sitting there, waiting to be scooped up by your competitors?

Because that's exactly what's happening if you're not actively reaching out to your ideal clients. You might be crushing it with your content and engagement, but if you're not proactively connecting with the right people, you're missing out. And I want your business to be thriving, not surviving.

I know what you're thinking - "But Alex, I get so many sleazy DMs, I don't want to be that person who's always trying to push their stuff!" Well, my friend, I'm here to tell you that there's a way to do outbound marketing without feeling like you’d rather go hide in the corner.

The cringe-free approach to outbound

First things first, let's talk about finding your prospects. You want to start by identifying 50 people who fit your ideal client avatar. The free way to do this is to look at your existing connections and see who they're connected with. Filter by industry and 2nd degree connections and scroll through to find some potential targets.

Or, if you really want to up your lead generation game, use LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It's an incredible tool with some top-notch filtering options. If you're not sure how to use it, drop me a DM and I'll show you the ropes.

LinkedIn’s database is so huge that this is an infinitely scaleable exercise, but I’m all about habit forming and realistic goals so start with 50 to get going.

Now, when it comes to sending those connection requests, the aim is to avoid sales-y messages that are all about you and your business. Nobody wants that. Instead, focus on building a genuine network and community. A simple, personalized message that shows you’re looking to meet new people in your industry and you're genuinely interested in connecting can work wonders.

Try sending 10 of these out a day and see how quickly your audience starts growing and how fast your LinkedIn feed fills up with relevant people. I've had meetings booked based just on sending connection requests at the 'perfect time' for the person (which, yes, is coincidental, but no-one's turning their noses up at meetings with prospects ready to buy are they?).

Turn connections into conversations

Alright, so you've got some new connections - now what? It's time to start building those relationships.

Think about what you can offer that would genuinely benefit the other person. Maybe it's a one-pager with some killer advice, a free mini-audit, or even just a Loom video with your thoughts on their latest campaign.

The key is to be human, be helpful, and be open to testing different approaches. Not everyone's going to respond, but the more you do this, the better you'll get at it. And trust me, when those meetings start booking up and the deals start closing, you're going to be feeling pretty great about your cringe-free outbound strategy.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start making some connections! And if you need any help along the way, you know where to find me.

Boost your LinkedIn reach with this simple hashtag strategy

Every time I audit a social media account, I nearly always find the same issue. The brand might be writing brilliant, informative, engaging copy and their creative might be on point, but the hashtag use is all over the shop.

They are either not using them, using irrelevant ones or (my personal favourite) using hashtags that they've made up but never told anyone about. More often than not, hashtags are seen as a tricky beast its just safest to ignore or phone in.

LinkedIn isn't giving hashtags the same priority it once was, but they are still a way of extending the reach of your content and putting it in front of relevant people. And in the busy, shouty marketplace that social media has become, anything that helps you reach those decision-makers is worth putting thought into.

So, with that in mind...

If you do one thing this week, make it…. getting a bank of hashtags ready to use

Hashtag do's:

• think about the hashtags your ideal client is likely following, which will be based on the topics they are interested in. Spoiler alert: these hashtags won't match your business, because they won't necessarily be looking for content from your type of business. So for instance if you're a service business trying to reach decision-makers in insurance, they likely won't be following #creativeaagency or #websitebuild. So using them will likely put you in front of people like you.

  Action: identify 10 hashtags that reflect your clients' interests. An easy way to do this is to look at the topics your clients are posting about and the content they are reposting, paying attention to the hashtags being used that reflect these. Click through into each hashtag to see how many people are following and aim to have a mix of larger and smaller ones.

• tailor some of your hashtags to the content of your post, so that people looking for content on a specific topic have a better chance of seeing you. This won't be industry specific but there should be overlap if it's a relevant topic for your ideal client (and we're only posting relevant content right?). For instance, if you're talking about using AI to increase productivity, a hashtag that reflects this would make sense to include in amongst a few broader industry-specific hashtags.

  Action: identify 10 hashtags that would be relevant to the topics you regularly cover, so you have them ready.

• use 3-5 hashtags on every post - I'd recommend a combination of client-focused hashtags and hashtags that reflect the topic being posted about. Chop and change these as relevant.

Hashtag don'ts:

• avoid creating a brand or campaign hashtag unless you're specifically going to ask your audience to follow and engage with it. Otherwise you risk using up one of your 3-5 for nothing.

• avoid including multiple hashtags within the body of your text, it makes it much harder to read.

What now?

Test different combinations and review what works best for you. It's tricky to associate results specifically with hashtags, but you're looking for a general uplift in engagement and specifically engagement from people outside of your first degree connections.

Is your marketing doing its job?

Is all your marketing activity serving you?

By that I mean, when you look at your data can you see a benefit to your business of every channel you funnel time and energy into. Every social media platform, your email list, anywhere else you're showing up. Because here's the thing. If it's not doing a job - and doing it well - it's a waste of your time. And your time is precious.

Remember: we're not here for vanity metrics, we're here for business growth!

That's not to say that there needs to be a financial amount attributed to each channel but you should see the process working. It's tough to measure brand awareness, for instance, in the same way that you can see an ROI on a Meta ad campaign, but you should be able to see what that increased brand awareness leads to.

Case in point - I got an email from a newsletter I'm subscribed to last week that told me it was being discontinued. Why? Because the company regularly puts out a couple of different newsletters covering different topics, and they realised that this one wasn't working for them. It had been running for a long time, people were reading, they were seeing the paid upsell but they weren't converting into customers off the back of it. So they axed it and diverted that resource into activities with better conversion rates.

So, with that in mind...

If you do one thing this week, make it…. making sure that each element of your marketing has a purpose

Why?

Because you're passionate about your business and want to reach and convert the right decision-makers into clients. So being strategic with your marketing is going to save you a huge amount of time and energy. If you're anything like me - juggling growing a business with raising two young (sometimes feral) kids, you know that streamlining your activities so you get the most bang for your buck is a sanity-saver.

How?

Review every touchpoint you have with your prospective clients and if you're seeing a return off the back of it. If you're a creative agency, for instance, this could look like:

• LinkedIn profile and posts > goal is to drive email sign ups

• Leadership activity on LinkedIn > goal is to increase network and start conversations

• Instagram > goal is to attract interest from junior talent

• Lead magnet > goal is to drive email sign ups

• Email > goal is to drive calls and messages

What now?

Now ask yourself some tough questions.

Is there anything you're doing that you're not seeing a result from? Is that because the audience profile or content isn't quite right and needs tweaking, e.g. do you know your ideal clients are on LinkedIn but your LinkedIn posts aren't calling out their pain points? Or is this actually the wrong platform for you based on everything you know about your ideal client?

If it's the former, time to get back to basics and review who you're trying to reach and the solution you offer to their challenges. If it's the latter, could you pause activity and better spend your time elsewhere?

With the above example, for instance, would it make sense to review whether it's worth spending time on Instagram if your clients are on LinkedIn and you can advertise for new hires there instead?

Streamline to thrive my friends 💪

Any questions? Drop me a DM, I'd love to chat.

See you on the socials,

Alex

Do you know what's keeping your clients up at night?

I didn't follow my own advice 🙈

I was writing landing page content for a new product. There I was, talking all about how harnessing the power of social media as a lead generation tool can help my clients fill their pipelines. It was all social media this, social media that, with no focus on what filling that pipeline means for my audience.

I was forgetting what I tell my clients all. the. time. It's not about you (or me, in this case), it's about your ideal client.

Digital marketing success relies on understanding this ideal client, the challenges they face and how those challenges make them feel.

It's often emotionally driven. We want to feel a certain way - happier, freer, less stressed, more productive, like superstars in meetings with the board. Our sensible brains like to know the practicalities of how the product or service will get us there before we sign on the dotted line, but really we want to understand that working with this person or company will ultimately make us feel the way we want to.

So, with that in mind...

If you do one thing this week, make it…. getting crystal clear on what wakes your ideal client up at 2am.

Why?

Because if you understand what really stresses your ideal client out, you're in a great position to offer them a solution that you know will make them feel better. And you can do that in a way that speaks their language, shows you understand them and demonstrates that you've helped others with the exact same problem before.

How?

Picture this - you're a creative agency leader or service business owner with a 15 person team. Life is busy and expensive. Yes you worry about doing top-notch work for your clients and keeping your team happy. But those things are the day-to-day of a business owner, and they probably don't keep you up at night.

What you're really stressed out by is not knowing how you'll sustain the business if those two big clients leave, or if you don't win the next three pitches or if your new biz person can't get enough meetings in the calendar with people ready to buy right now. What that means for you, your family and your business.

You need regular, quality leads yesterday, and you want to feel like you have a reliable system for making that happen (that doesn't suck up all your time) so you can keep replicating. Sounds relaxing right?

So what would solve your problem?

1. a service that asks you to master a whole new skillset (with all that free time you have?), or

2. a service that gets you completely set up and ready to start engaging key decision makers, based on a simple process that makes you feel reassured and like you're on top of your lead gen straight away?

The answer is clear - number 2, right? (spoiler alert: if you're nodding along thinking 'if only this was a real thing!' check out my brand new service ClientConnect, which will get you set up for LinkedIn success within 2 weeks: https://clientconnect.carrd.co/)

That level of personalised solution is what can come from understanding what's keeping your ideal client up at night. This means you can create:

Clear offers.

Communication that feels bespoke and builds trust.

Content that is 100 x easier to create because you know exactly who you're talking to, where they are and what they want to hear from you.

What now?

Go back to that picture of your ideal customer you have in your head (or better still, on paper). Ask yourself what they really care about, how you can help them with whatever is keeping them up, and if you're communicating that effectively enough to attract those people to you.

You might review and realise you already have this nailed. If not, it's time to tweak your messaging, and potentially your offers, to make sure that you're completely aligned with solving that client problem.

Any questions? Send me an email at alex@socialclimber.london, I'd love to chat.

LinkedIn business pages: essential or overrated?

Can we all agree that social media can be a massive time-suck? If you're anything like me, you don't want to spend all day creating content or engaging on LinkedIn or sending connection requests. You want to do your lead generation activities quickly and crack on with the parts of your job that you absolutely love.

Being really focused on the end goal of your social media lead gen and stopping doing anything that doesn't take you closer to that goal is the best way to save yourself a load of time and energy. Even if your competitors are doing that thing, it doesn't mean it's right for you.

Let's dig into one part of the LinkedIn puzzle that you might be able to streamline or stop focusing on entirely; your LinkedIn business page.

So, with that in mind...

If you do one thing this week, make it…. review the roles of your LinkedIn profile and business page

Why?

It's very easy to think you need to do all the things on the platform to see results but you don't. Instead it's about thinking strategically about which activities will move the needle for you.

How?

If you think about your LinkedIn profile and your LinkedIn business page, these serve different purposes. Your business page represents your company. Your LinkedIn profile represents you. The size of your company and the resources available to you are going to be the decider on whether you need both.

Let's say, for example, you're the founder of a comms agency. Your business page will likely showcase things like case studies and team activities. It's a factual place. It gives prospective clients a view into the agency team and the types of client projects you work on, but it's not necessarily where they are going to build a relationship with you and start a conversation.

Your personal profile is where prospective clients can get to know you, where you can demonstrate your expertise and share your founder story. You can share content from your business page to increase the prospective reach of that content but your goal here is to build trust and familiarity with your audience in order to generate leads for the business. Your thought leadership here is what will ultimately drive establish you as an expert, not your business page.

Recommendation: commit to consistent posting from your business page but don't prioritise this over your personal content. Identify the content categories your ideal customer would be interested in, and think about how you could put your own unique spin on it. Let your personality shine through. Amelia Sordell is a great example of a founder creating content that resonates with her audience without focusing solely on what her agency is doing.

Now imagine you're the founder of a tech start up. You have a team of 3 but you're the one who will be looking for clients and going to new biz meetings. Your aim right now is making personal connections and establishing yourself as the go-to expert in your field on LinkedIn. All of that can be done from your personal profile, and you'll eat up all your time if you try to create content for two separate pages.

Recommendation: you don't need to be posting from a business page if your business is all about what you personally can do for your clients and if your goal is building relationships. As an example, I don't use my business page because it wouldn't contribute anything meaningful to my business.

What now?

Streamline to thrive, my friends. Consider whether you need a business page at all, and - if you do - the role it should play. Remember that it should support your role as the expert, not run the show.

Save time and money with this strategic approach to video creation

Do you have unlimited budget and resources for content creation? Me neither! So it's important to approach content creation in a way that makes sure you're getting as much bang for your buck as possible.

For video content, this means thinking ahead about all the different places you can use it and the different audiences it can be repurposed for.

So, with that in mind...

If you do one thing this week, make it…. think strategically about your video content

Why?

Repurposing your video content is one of the smartest things you can do for your digital marketing. It will save you a load of time and energy when those things are already in short supply.

Think of it this way - if you are planning content for your website that you know will resonate with your ideal customer, why on earth aren't you planning to use it in other places you are also talking to that same ideal customer?

Note: you may have multiple ideal customers and be talking to them across different platforms, so of course use your discretion when it comes to what content can be repurposed for which platforms. But do bear in mind that there will likely be overlaps between the content that your different audiences are interested in, and this means opportunities for repurposing creative using different messaging angles.

How?

Let's imagine you have commissioned a video showing a day in the life of your team to show how you work with and help clients.

Before you start filming, be really clear on the purpose of the video. Is it to promote specific services? Is it busting myths around your industry and showing how you do things differently? Is it looking to help your prospective clients get a view into how your team works together? Is to to showcase your internal culture for recruitment?

Now think about all the different places you could use that video. This could look like:

• Your website - think about where it would make the most sense - likely the homepage, news, about us or blog section depending on context

• Social media - is it aimed at one specific audience? Could it work for more than one if you change the messaging angle? For instance, if you're a comms agency showing your team at work, your footage could be re-worked for a prospective client audience for LinkedIn and new talent audience for Instagram, with different messaging.

• Email - could you direct your email list to the page it will be hosted on, or embed it within the email? If you segment your list, should different versions of the video work be shown to different segments?

What now?

Now you know the why and the where, think about logistics. This is the nitty gritty of the formats and adjustments you'll need to factor in. Understanding what you need in advance will significantly reduce the number of times you need to go back to your creative team with amends, and will save you time, money and hassle.

• Will you need different interview questions / b roll / activities shown if you are filming for multiple audiences?

• What sizes of videos will you need for all the different placements? For instance if your vision is a series of Instagram reels, your output will need a 9:16 ratio, whereas if Facebook newsfeed video typically works best for you, you'll need your snippets in 1:1 ratio.

• How long do you need your content to be? Think about a longer version for your website and a series of snippets for socials. Brainstorm how to make each snippet attention grabbing to attract and hold your audience.

• Will you need this content to work across different languages? If so, think about what you will need translated for subtitles and captions, and how to make this process as simple as possible.

Get that list together and you're ready to make that content creation work as hard as possible for you.

Any questions? Drop me a DM, I'd love to chat.