Are You and Your Firm Taking Full Advantage of a Remarkable Marketing Tool?

Are You, Your Firm and Your Partners Taking Adequate Advantage of LinkedIn as a Marketing Tool?

 

 

 

                                                                             Jerome Kowalski

                                                                             Kowalski & Associates

                                                                             April, 2010

 

            Those of us of a certain age frequently receive email invitations to become part of the network of a client, friend or colleague on LinkedIn. Fearful to offend or demonstrate ignorance or unfamiliarity with the tools we were provided thanks to Al Gore’s invention of the Internet, most of us simply accept the invitation, believing that the exchange is no more meaningful than an exchange of “how do you do’s.”  In fact, LinkedIn is a potent marketing tool, allowing you to identify new clients, market to new clients and develop a huge network of referral sources which spans the globe.

            No, this robust networking and marketing tool is not the exclusive province of Gen Y’ers,  our children or grandchildren, who seemingly endlessly spend hours chatting, connecting, socializing on various social media web sites.

            Rather, LinkedIn allows you the ability to market to a potential audience exceeding 60,000,000 members and, most significantly to defined groups of potential or existing clients that need your counsel in your area of expertise and professionals around the globe who serve as very real referral sources.

            Using LinkedIn for these purposes is remarkably user friendly.  The 20, 30 or 40 minutes you spend each day chatting with individual clients and potential clients or spending three or four hours playing golf with a client or two or even the lunch or two you have each week,  simply pales with the tools provided by LinkedIn and its vast audience.

            The simple basics and maximization of this potent tool are rather simple and are outlined here. .

            Having attended the school of practice what you preach, we have been using LinkedIn for the past six months and we have dramatically expanded our own client base and have embarked on a variety of collaborative ventures spanning the globe.  We have also been quite successful in developing new referral resources.

            The efficiency and reach of the network is simply remarkable.  While obviously never neglecting existing relationships, we have simply dedicated an extra 20 or 30 minutes a day, at most, and the returns have beyond our wildest expectations.

            Our own firm’s results are far from unique. We have conducted a series of workshops and simple training sessions with our law firm clients. The feedback we consistently receive is uniformly the results we have achieved. Newly found colleagues and clients we have connected with on LinkedIn invariably share the same success stories with us.

            No, this is not a commercial sponsored by LinkedIn nor do we receive any remuneration of any kind from LinkedIn from your use of its network.  But our clients and our firm have all been amply rewarded by the regular intelligent use of this network.

© Jerome Kowalski, April, 2010.  All Rights Reserved.