Alex Pirouz is an entrepreneur who has experienced both the highs and the lows of start-up ventures. He has a wealth of knowledge in business creation, development and growth. As a serial entrepreneur his passion is growing businesses and sharing that experience with others. The company Alex founded, Linkfluencer was recently recognized by Inc Magazine as the: “World’s leading online community for LinkedIn training” and rated by Anthill Magazine as one of the top 100 most innovative companies for 2015. Alex has also been nominated for Australian of the Year in 2007 & 2008.
Here the Social Media and Networking Speaker shares his tips on the one thing no business can live without: LinkedIn.
That one thing
In my last article, I wrote about the highs and lows I faced in failing in my first few businesses and how I managed to persevere through the pain, frustration and doubt to finally break through the mould and go on to successfully growing my next business from two staff to over 45 within a period of 12 months.
In the article I also shared why managing to deal with adversity was the key to my success and provided 4 tips you can apply to your own personal journey to ensure business or career success. You can check out the article here!
It’s true what they say: starting, growing and exiting your business is a lot like a roller coaster. There are highs, there are lows and then there are those times, which are just indescribable. Now whilst I credit a lot of the success to my ability to push through my limiting beliefs, personal boundaries and the tough times in business, I’ve learnt that in business ‘MINDSET’ alone is not enough!
Sure it’s a big part of it but you also need the fundamental skills as an entrepreneur to know how to grow a business. You need to know a little about a lot, but at the same time understand that to be successful you can’t do it all by yourself. You must find, understand and hone in on your strengths and then build a team around you to outsource/delegate the rest.
Now regardless of what your strengths or weaknesses are, I believe that in order to be successful in any business every entrepreneur must develop what I believe to the most fundamental skill in business:
Marketing
You can have the best product in the world but if no one knows about it, then you really don’t have a business you have an idea. Outspoken billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has been quoted many times saying: “No sales, no company.” When people know your business exists, they’re much more likely to become your customers. If your Marketing campaigns are doing their job properly, you’ll start to see an increase in sales shortly after you get started.
But a lot has changed over the years.
In the last decade, Internet Marketing, Social Media and the introduction of Digital Marketing have drastically altered the way in which we share information, interact with brands and buy product or services. A lot has changed with a major focus on Inbound Marketing techniques as compared to outbound tactics. And with everything changing so quickly, it’s become a lot more difficult to:
– Generate leads consistently
– Stand out in the marketplace
– Get your Marketing message in front of key decision-makers.
And let’s face it Marketing Strategies such as Google Adwords, Facebook ads or SEO are not what they used to be?
I remember when I first started using Social Media back in 2011, I had just sold my previous business (car inspection company) and moved back to Sydney to pursue my passion for starting a business advisory firm. Like many entrepreneurs I was on the lookout for a better, faster and more cost-effective platform to market our business.
After implementing a few Marketing initiatives on other channels I quickly realised that the traditional methods of Marketing a business were somewhat out-dated, expensive and downright ineffective in today’s social and digital world. At the time, I was very sceptical about the return I could get for the time and money I would need to invest in Social Media. This was mainly due to a lack of education and deep understanding on how to leverage them.
With so many Social Media tools out there to choose from, I spent the next 6 months researching the various platforms to discover which one offered the best potential for reaching our ideal audience.
Having launched several business I’ve come to appreciate that the key to successfully Marketing any business is first understanding who your target market is and then identifying key decision makers within those businesses. I truly believe that regardless of what product you sell, where your company is located or what industry you’re in, ultimately we are all in the business of Marketing.
And the sole purpose of why we market our business is to get our message in front of key decision makers. Where can you do that?
With over 400 million members and 2 new users joining every second across 130 industries and 200 countries…It’s never been easier to search, find and connect with thousands of potential clients without burning a hole in your Marketing budget.
Below are 3 reasons why I’ve chosen LinkedIn as my preferred Social Media platform and why I recommend others to the same.
Media
In today’s business world consumers buy more into people than they do in companies and products. Sure having a good company reputation is important and you have to have a great product/service but all of this is irrelevant if they don’t like the people behind the company. You may have the best product or service in the world but if nobody knows who you are or where to find you then what good is that?
This is why personal branding and online reputation is so important. And one great way to build your reputation and expertise in the marketplace is ‘Media Exposure”. But getting noticed can be an expensive and time consuming exercise.
Hiring a traditional PR agency can cost thousands, and whether or not those campaigns will result in increased sales is another story. For far too long the traditional methods of getting media coverage has either been too expensive, difficult or just too time consuming.
But thanks to LinkedIn you can now start connecting and building relationships with hundreds of journalists and editors from around the world. According to a survey by Arketi Media Group, over 94.2% of journalists and editors are on LinkedIn and 62% rate it as their preferred professional networking tool!
Using LinkedIn over the past 3 years I’ve managed to:
– Build a network of over 420 contacts in the media
– Get featured in over 50 media publications
– Write regularly for publications such as Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post and HubSpot.
And the best part is that this was achieved without sending out a single press release.
Lead Generation
The 2nd reason why I chose LinkedIn as our preferred Social Media platform is because of its lead generation capabilities. Regardless of what product you sell, where your company is located or what industry you’re in, ultimately we are all in the business of Marketing. And the sole purpose of why we market our business is to get our message in front of key decision makers.
When it comes to Marketing your business, I believe that it’s 10% what you say, 90% how you say it. Therefore it’s hard to stand out if you’re Marketing your business like every other competitor is in your industry. Think about it, where else would you have access to over 400 million decision-makers for free?
LinkedIn is the ONLY online platform that provides access to their database of decision makers.
So why spend thousands of dollars using traditional Marketing methods to promote your businesses, when you can access a network of decision makers using LinkedIn. Over the past few years we’ve managed to use LinkedIn to fill events, secure 100’s of new clients and increase our database through online seminars. Below we’ve shared with you the results from some of those campaigns.
Partnerships
Lastly, the 3rd reason why we’ve chosen LinkedIn is it’s ability to help you connect and secure partnerships. Fostering strategic partnerships is a powerful way to grow a business. With the right partners you can refer clients to each other, leverage the power of offering complementary products or services, and help grow each other’s email list.
Let’s face it; in today’s business world the customer sales cycle is a lot longer than it used to be 5-10 years ago. Nowadays you need a minimum of 7-10 touch points to build up rapport and trust before you can pitch your product or business.
Why waste precious resources developing this trust when you can partner with someone else who has already established this trust. And by doing so rather than getting your message in front of one potential client, you can broadcast your message in front of hundreds if not thousands of targeted contacts who have already built trust with the business or person you are partnering with.
However finding the right joint venture and alliance partners can be challenging. So where do you go to find joint venture partners? LinkedIn of course!
With 49% of LinkedIn members being key decision-makers, you will never have to cold call or run telemarketing campaigns to reach out and connect with key potential partners! Using LinkedIn in the past 12 months, I’ve managed to secure over 50 partnerships, helping us grow our database from 50 subscribers to over 14,300.
The way we do business has changed. Customers are more educated, there are more influencers and decision-makers than ever before, and traditional Marketing is becoming less and less effective. To survive in today’s marketplace, it’s essential to adopt new practices and embrace the new world of reaching and then connecting with key decision makers.