Using Pull Marketing on Linkedin – don’t be Pushy!

Last time I defined Push and Pull Marketing in this way:

Push marketing is when the customer doesn’t want your product or service. Pull marketing is when the customer does want your product or service.

Now lets look at a couple of social tools. These tools put a greater number of people in touch with each other, and for this reason they can fall prey to Push marketeers. But good networkers ignore these people, opt out of their networks and built their own trusted communities who don’t push, but who help them pull instead.

Using Pull Marketing with Linkedin

Remember my example in the last post about face to face networking, when you seek out people who need help and help them out? Well you could do this on Linkedin. You could add connections, then look at their connections for people who look like they might need your services.

What do you do next?

How about if you send them an Inmail (Linkedin mail) offering your services?

What if you request an introduction to them from a mutual contact so you can offer your services?

Are these push or pull techniques?

The answer lies purely with the recipient of your advances. Do they need your services right now?

If they did and you were perfect, then you might be able to contact them. But how do you know? The answer is, you don’t know they need you, and the chances are they probably don’t. Not just now. Not when they’re rather busy with something else. Fact is, you’re just being another double glazing salesman.

So the way to using Pull marketing on Linkedin and get all the brownie points and none of the reputation damage, is to let someone contact you, when they need you.

Linkedin is perfect for helping people get in touch with you, find out about you first, check you out with trusted people they know who also know you. All these techniques are built into Linkedin, but they should be used to help people get in touch when they need something. Not when they are selling something.

Pull marketing on Linkedin is actually rather easy – the platform facilitates it. All you have to do is make sure your profile explains what you’re good at, and make sure your contacts know it too. Don’t push your skills at them, instead let them find them out as they get to know you better, and whilst you’re at it, find out the skills of the people you know. That way when one of them asks you if you know someone who… you’ll be able to put them in touch with just the right person.

If you do spot someone who would be the ideal client for you, don’t push yourself at them – remember how damaging that could be to your reputation. Instead, see whom you have in common. Build relationships with the people you do know, and you’ll find that when the need for your services does arise, they won’t have to look far to find you.

As you get to know people, your circle of trusted contacts will widen, and as you help people out who ask for help, so your reputation will improve. Connect on Linkedin to the people who trust you, so you can use your network more easily to help them, and they you.

Next time we’ll talk about push and pull on Twitter.

image: Runner in the Bay to Breakers race 16 May 2010 by smi23le