How to Leverage LinkedIn to Get Clients for Your Small Business

From Jennie

Why I Invited Adrian to Share Her LinkedIn Strategy

There's a difference between being active on LinkedIn and using LinkedIn in a way that supports your business.

I talk a lot about making sure a strategy actually fits the result you're trying to create. LinkedIn is a good example. You can post consistently, collect connections, and spend plenty of time engaging without building relationships that lead anywhere.

That's why I invited Adrian Gentilcore of Your Fairy Techmother to share her approach. She works with business owners on LinkedIn profiles, content, and the practical details that make the platform easier to use.

Adrian has some straightforward advice for getting more out of LinkedIn without making it your full-time job. And she has a sense of humor about the whole thing, which doesn't hurt.

Guest Expert Article

Adrian Gentilcore

Founder, Your Fairy Techmother

LinkedIn is my happy place, so you'll forgive me if I am MYSTIFIED when I come across a business owner with a half-finished profile who hasn't posted anything since approximately the invention of electricity.

Why go to the trouble of creating a LinkedIn profile and then abandon the poor thing? It’s definitely not like your crockpot. You can’t just set it and forget it.

Especially because LinkedIn is one of the few social platforms where people actually expect you to talk about your business.

You don't have to awkwardly wedge your offer between somebody's vacation pictures, a bunch of new baby photos, and a heated argument about whether someone's recycling bin MUST be precisely three inches from the curb.

People are there to talk about their careers, their businesses, their expertise, their problems and the people who can solve those problems.

In other words: your potential clients.

And you really don't have to spend six hours a day feeding the LinkedIn beast. Here are the things I'd concentrate on.

Fix Your Profile So People Know What the Heck You Do

This is where a surprising number of people fall by the wayside.

When someone clicks on your profile, they should understand very quickly:

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• Why should they listen to you?

I see two types of problematic headlines – one is “Owner and Founder XYZ Company” OR vague phrases like "Helping People Reach Their Highest Potential Through Transformational Excellence."

In both cases, you’re left wondering WHAT does this person actually DO? Don’t make people guess, but don’t do keyword salad either.

Use the words an actual human being might use if they were looking for someone like you. Then match your background image to the title. Use BIG, visible lettering, nothing less than 30 pt font or it won’t show up on a phone.

Then look at your About section. Does it talk mostly about YOU, or does it help your potential client recognize themselves and the problem you solve? Here’s a hint: People always want to know what’s in it for ME. They don’t give a flying squirrel about your life story…..

And please give them an obvious way to take the next step – Book a call, visit your website, download a freebie, send up a smoke signal. Just something.

Keywords Matter

LinkedIn has a powerful search function, much better than most social platforms. People can search for other people, companies, posts, services and more using keywords and increasingly natural-language searches. A clear profile gives LinkedIn - and the people using it - a much better idea of where you fit.

If you're trying to attract left-handed Albanian banjo players, LinkedIn needs enough clues to go scare some up for you. Clarity matters.

And sounding like an actual human being matters. I always tell clients you are writing 50% for the humans and 50% for the algorithm. Once it understands who you are, it can show you to the correct audience.

Otherwise, you will be the best-kept secret in LinkedIn-land.

Connect With the RIGHT People

A gorgeous LinkedIn profile doesn't do much good if nobody relevant ever sees it.

Whether you're looking for clients, referral partners, speaking opportunities, strategic partners or a new job, you need people in your network.

More importantly, you need the right people. This is where LinkedIn has some serious horsepower.

Don't just randomly collect connections like they're Beanie Babies in 1997.

Ask the following questions:

• Who is your ideal client?
• Who offers a slightly different service in your genre? Think referral partners or a webinar co-host.
• Who runs communities filled with your people?
• Who hosts podcasts or events you'd be perfect for?
• Who are the smart people in your field you'd genuinely enjoy knowing?

Then go find them.

And here's the part people often miss: connecting is only the beginning.

Once somebody accepts your connection request, do something revolutionary.

Talk to them. I know that’s SCARY, but if you don’t start a convo, you’ll be like two strangers in an elevator – neither wants to be the first to speak.

I'm not suggesting you immediately leap into their messages yelling, "BUY MY THING!"

Please don't be that guy. Everyone hates that approach with a fiery flame!

Start a normal conversation. Not about the weather, or your new puppy (well, maybe work the puppy in there somewhere), but comment intelligently on something they've posted. Ask them about something interesting on their profile. Thank them for connecting. Find out what they're working on.

LinkedIn is a networking platform and the networking part is not optional.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: people may be looking at your LinkedIn profile TODAY and deciding whether you’re someone they want to hire, refer, interview or invite into the room. Or not….

So... did you dust off the welcome mat?

If your profile, weekly posts or newsletter could use a little spiffing up or some ongoing support, I can help. In addition to makeovers, I do ghostwriting, and consulting as well. Take a look at my LinkedIn services and pricing here.

Show Up Often Enough That People Remember You Exist

You don't need to post every day, I promise. No dancing or pointing at things in videos (PLEASE DON’T), although sensible business-focused videos do great.

You don't need to perform a complicated ritual involving six hashtags, a carousel, three polls and sacrificing a goat to the Algorithm Gods.

But you do need to show up. Regularly. Like once a week – not every three months or once every Leap Year.

If you've been staring at the little "Start a post" box wondering what on earth you're supposed to say, start with what you already know.

You could post about:

• A client success story
• A common mistake you see clients making
• Questions clients ask you all the time
• Something you're doing differently from your competitors
• A useful tip someone could implement today

And every post doesn't need to sell something. In fact, please don't make every post sell something.

Your job is to let people repeatedly see how you think, how you work and what you know.

That's how someone goes from:

"Who's Adrian?"

to

"Oh yeah, she's the LinkedIn person."

to

"I need help with LinkedIn. I should call Adrian."

THAT is what we're after.

Have a Comment Strategy

Don’t just post your own stuff and leave. That’s the social part of any social platform.

Comment on other people’s posts – particularly your ideal clients or referral partners. This gets your photo and your headline in front of their audience, and you never know who might be thinking they need someone like you.

I probably leave a few comments on other people's posts most days (because I'm chronically chatty), but it works surprisingly well. Sometimes my comments get more views than my posts.

A thoughtful comment gives people a tiny sample of your expertise and can start conversations without feeling remotely salesy.

Newsletters Are My Secret Weapon

I am still amazed this feature hasn’t been moved to premium - yet. Because it is GOLD.

When you create your first newsletter, LinkedIn will invite ALL your connections to subscribe. Also, every new Connection in the future. With ZERO EFFORT on your part. I had 80 subscribers the first DAY on my newsletter. Try to do that on ANY other platform!

Once people subscribe, LinkedIn will send the newsletter directly to their Email. Your newsletter edition also appears in the feed to attract new subscribers.

Read that again.

LinkedIn has essentially given you another way to build a subscriber audience inside a network you already use.

And unlike a regular social post that may zoom past someone while they're eating lunch, your newsletter gives you room to actually explain something.

Teach.

Tell stories.

Add links.

Sell stuff.

If you have enough expertise to answer client questions all day long, you have enough expertise to write a newsletter.

PS: I will set up and WRITE your newsletter for you. Every month – like clockwork. With very little effort on your part because I can harvest ideas from your website, your YouTube, or your social media, and we can also highlight upcoming offers or sales. Genius, no???

If You Want to get Clients from LinkedIn, I Can Help

You don't need to become a LinkedIn influencer. You don't need 100,000 followers. And you certainly don't need to spend your entire day desperately poking the algorithm with a stick.

You need three things:

• A profile that makes it obvious why someone should care.
• A network filled with people you actually want to know.
• And enough useful activity that those people remember you exist.

That’s it.

And if you read this and thought, “Well crap, my profile hasn't been touched since 2022 and my About section sounds like it was written by a committee,” that’s exactly the sort of thing I help with.

You can take a look at my LinkedIn services and pricing. And if you’re especially motivated and want to get your LinkedIn cleaned up and working harder for your business NOW, I also offer a LinkedIn VIP Day. We can get the whole thing done and dusted in just ONE day.

Or, if you’re not sure what kind of help makes sense, you can book a quick 15-minute chat.

Work with Adrian

Need a Hand with Your LinkedIn Presence?

Adrian helps small-business owners update their LinkedIn profiles, create consistent content, and build a professional presence without having to manage every detail themselves.

Explore her services, including profile makeovers, LinkedIn ghostwriting, newsletters, and VIP Day support.

Explore Adrian's LinkedIn Services

Meet the Guest Expert

About Adrian Gentilcore

Adrian Gentilcore is the founder of Your Fairy Techmother, where she helps tech-phobic entrepreneurs get their online marketing and business systems working without having to figure out every platform themselves.

She specializes in LinkedIn profile makeovers and ghostwriting, helping business owners communicate what they do and connect with the right clients. Her work also includes newsletters, graphics, websites, lead magnets, Trello, and the technical details that make running an online business easier.

Her goal is to help business owners look professional online without spending their days wrestling with technology.

Website  |  LinkedIn  |  Services

A Final Note from Jennie

Before You Add More LinkedIn Tasks to Your List

One of the things I appreciate about Adrian's approach is that she isn't telling you to spend more hours on LinkedIn or chase bigger numbers just for the sake of having bigger numbers.

She's talking about using the platform with a purpose.

And that is something I want you to pay attention to in your own business.

If you're posting regularly but not attracting clients, take a look at who you're reaching and whether those people have a reason to work with you.

If you're making connections but never having conversations, you may need a better networking process, not more connections.

And if you understand what needs to happen on LinkedIn but can't realistically maintain the amount of activity you've planned, check whether the strategy fits your available time and the way you work.

None of those automatically means you have an execution block.

Sometimes the strategy needs adjusting. Sometimes the next steps aren't clear enough. And sometimes, even when those things are in place, something deeper continues to interfere with follow-through.

Those are different problems, and they require different solutions.

Start by figuring out which one you're actually dealing with. Then you can decide what needs to change instead of simply adding another marketing task to your week.