LinkedIn has become a crucial platform for harnessing its users’ network. It has the power to drive traffic, boost sales, and boost your career in countless ways. This social media platform provides a quick way to send cold outreach to relevant people in your industry that allows you to connect better with potential customers.
However, sending cold outreach messages on LinkedIn can be quite challenging. When you send a cold outreach message to someone on this platform, you’re going against the status quo. Most of the time, people receiving your message will be a little unsure of why a stranger is messaging them. The reason is that they’ve got lots of messages from strangers before, and they will get more in the future.
Still, most people respond well when they see another human being directly reach out to them for something good instead of an entire company trying to sell them something. It feels more personal, and since it’s coming from a person rather than a company, they might even appreciate the gesture more than anything else.
That being said, making a cold outreach message needs creativity and a bit more strategy in it. In this article, you’ll learn how to create compelling LinkedIn messages that people love.
How to Craft the Perfect LinkedIn Outreach Message
Cold outreach is taxing because you send an unexpected message to a complete stranger and hope to get a response. However, that’s how businesses do when trying to reach out to a new audience.
Some people may find your messages annoying and are reluctant to respond. That doesn’t mean everyone would hate a company approach, especially if they need further information from your company. You can educate the audience about your expertise as well as the product/service you’re offering.
When done correctly, your cold outreach can be a blessing for some LinkedIn users. That’s why it’s important how you make the message in order to capture these people’s attention.
The key here is to make your message relevant, personal, and well-written, but how? Here are a few steps to the perfect LinkedIn cold outreach.
Be personal in your messages
For sure, you’ve heard the saying, “People don’t care what you do. They care about how it’s going to help them.” This couldn’t be any more true when reaching out via LinkedIn. Your business card is boring – everyone knows that already.
However, simply including an interesting intro about who you are as a person instead of just another salesperson could be enough to pique their interest in learning more. You can even include a simple story or two, even if it has nothing to do with what you do.
Also, make sure to personalize your messages when reaching out to different people. Identifying and understanding their profiles will make it easier for you to connect with them in the beginning. You can begin with calling their name or mentioning their interest or the current job to start a conversation.
Make a relevant message
The biggest mistake most marketers make when messaging people on LinkedIn is using a generic template. Just because you send a message to Person A, that doesn’t mean the person three years from now will have anything to do with it at all. Make sure to update and re-check their profile and interest before approaching them again.
You have to hand-pick who you message and why they care about the information you’re sharing – being relevant is key here. That’s why you need to research every targeted recipient to understand their needs.
For example, if you send a cold outreach to appeal to job seekers, make sure to include recruitment videos on your messages in the form of a link. Use a screen recorder with webcam to record these videos. That way, they will be more interested to learn about your company rather than reading all the details through your InMail messages.
Source: LinkedIn Official Blog
Write your message in a proper grammar
Don’t forget about proper grammar and spelling. No one wants to listen to a sales pitch from someone who can’t even spell “pitch.”
It may not seem like a big deal, but this shows professionalism and sets the example for what else your prospect should expect from you in the future.
Stay on topic
Make sure that you’re always on topic and not spamming people with stuff they don’t need or unappealing. If you know someone who has connections at a company, stick with writing to them about things related to what they do and save any sales pitches until after they’ve given you some information.
You should also maintain a good reputation by only contacting people when relevant for both parties. When you keep a cordial relationship with your audience, you can then promote or send a sales pitch later on more easily.
Be friendly with your recipients
There’s not much to say here. Make sure to be friendly and respectful of peoples’ time and surroundings. When you do, they will most likely respond positively to you.
Similar to link-building outreach, it requires your efforts to identify the right people, offer them, and then follow up with a manual human approach. Build good relationships, not just for one-time purposes.
5 Quick Tips For Getting A Response From Your Cold LinkedIn Message
Sending cold LinkedIn messages is one thing, and getting responses is another. While you have understood how to craft an engaging LinkedIn message, you need to know how to get responses for them.
Without further ado, here are some of the best ways to go about it.
1. Use a cold outreach script
It’s important that you should not send random messages on LinkedIn because most people do not respond positively to that. You need a script or a template when sending LinkedIn messages so that the person does not feel annoyed by your message. Also, having a clear structure will ensure that your message stands out from others, and the chances of getting a response increase significantly.
Although you need a script in your cold outreach, keep in mind that a generic template without personalization won’t work and give you a result. The script should become a reference for you to make a new message when approaching recipients, not the other way around. People can quickly point out a template at a single glance, which more often than not, won’t urge them to give a response.
When sending a cold LinkedIn outreach message, it’s best to use time clock software to ensure you send the post at the appropriate time. A rush hour isn’t a great time to approach working people since they will be pretty busy. That’s why sending cold outreach at a specific time can significantly influence the type of response.
2. Mention a personal connection
This is the most critical thing to do after writing a good opening line for your message. If you don’t mention any personal connection with them, it means that you’re just another random person trying to sell something or spam them, and this will not work well for you.
Try to mention a familiar acquaintance, friend, or relative, and emphasize their name as much as possible so that they know who referred you and take the conversation further. Mentioning a familiar name is the fastest way to pick their interest, which then increases the urge to send a reply.
3. Send a valuable message
Meaningful messages are more likely to get responses than messages that just say “Hey, check out my website” or something random like that. You can send messages about how you’re in the same LinkedIn group, and you saw their name in there, ask them questions about themselves in your message.
Or, you can begin by sharing a story about your brand and how it connects with your recipients’ needs. When people relate to your messages, they will more likely put in more interest in your brand and increase their attention in giving you a thoughtful response.
4. Urge your recipients to share the link
Everyone on LinkedIn is too busy to respond. You need to give them a reason why they should invest two seconds of their time in clicking on your link. So, don’t just say, “please check out my website,” because nobody cares about you or your business at this point yet.
Remember to hook them in the first place before starting link building and promoting your pages. This includes giving them the “why” they need to visit your page. Also, make sure that your page is a good article because if it’s not, you’ll lose credibility with them forever.
If it’s a high-quality infographic, video, ebook, or something else unique, then make sure to request them to share it on their own profiles for maximum exposure across all of LinkedIn, and other social media platforms when people check out their profiles.
5. Follow up
Don’t forget to follow up with your recipients at the proper time. If you neglect your first messages for way too long, people will forget you quickly. That’s why it’s important to make a second or third conversation to maintain their attention.
You may need to attract their attention by using a webinar to spread the details further. With additional offers like a free webinar, people will be more interested in your messages. It’s also great to send them these through other channels, like email. (If your contact hid their emails, you can use a LinkedIn email finder to get one.)
Then, if someone does reply back to you with valuable feedback, you should show appreciation by commenting on one of their posts or liking one of their photos within a week. This will get them to know you better and hopefully want to work with you in the future.
Source: LinkedIn Official Blog
3 Cold LinkedIn Outreach Message Examples
Now that you know the basics of sending cold LinkedIn outreach messages, you may need a couple of example messages to follow.
Here are a few examples of LinkedIn cold outreach messages.
Example 1
Subject: Free Survey – Share Your LinkedIn Success Story!
Hi [First Name],
My name is Kiran, and I’m the social media manager for [Company Name]. We’re currently putting together a brief survey to hear from professionals just like you on how they use LinkedIn as part of their social media marketing strategy. It should take no longer than 5 minutes, and your responses will remain anonymous unless you’d like us to share your contact information with our community at the end of the survey 🙂
I have a couple of extra questions for you before we proceed so that we can determine whether this study would apply to your experience. Please let us know if any of the below apply to you.
* Do you currently use LinkedIn as part of your Social Media Strategy? (Y/N)
* Are you able to post status updates? (Y/N)
* Can you send direct messages? (Y/N)
If yes, approximately how many do you send weekly?
Please let me know if there are any other questions I can answer for you! Looking forward to receiving your survey responses 🙂
Kind Regards,
Kiran Khanna
[Company Name]’s Social Media Manager
Example 2
Subject: Connect with [Company Name]!
Hi [First Name],
My name is Damon. I’m the social media manager for [Company Name]. We’re a global company that works with a variety of businesses to develop and implement social media strategies. We’ve been having a lot of success recently, but we’re constantly looking for ways to take it up a notch!
I stumbled upon your [LinkedIn Company Page URL] profile during one of our research sessions. In particular, I loved your piece titled ” [Article Title]. ” It resonated with me because [Motivational/Inspirational Statement], which is something we encourage all our clients to do if they want to make an impact in their industry.
If you have a few minutes, I’d love to hear more about what you think makes the perfect LinkedIn outreach message. Would you be able to share some tips? Andrew, our CEO, suggested that I reach out to you to see if you’d be willing to chat about your thoughts on this topic.
Thanks for your time and consideration!
Kind Regards,
Damon Matt
[Company Name]’s Social Media Manager
Example 3
Subject: Free Article for You!
Hello [First Name],
My name is Abhishek Chakravorty, founder of [Company Name]. We provide digital marketing services to help tech start-ups & mobile app development companies acquire more customers.
We’re currently putting together our 2024 blogging calendar. Have you had a chance to check out my latest article on LinkedIn yet? I’d love to know your thoughts on what makes the perfect [Article Title] to incorporate into our strategy this year. I’d love it if you could share the article and leave some feedback.
I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll keep this short. But if you have a few minutes today, would you mind sharing your thoughts with me? Thanks for your time!
Kind Regards,
Abhishek Chakravorty, founder of [Company Name].
Conclusion
Cold outreach can be a draining strategy because you need to approach complete strangers every different day. Not to mention that all your effort may go to waste when nobody responds to your messages. That’s why you need a proper cold outreach strategy to ensure you get enough response to drive your business.
Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn is a communication platform specifically used for professionals to make a connection. Therefore, your method to approach them should be of a professional yet friendly nature in order to capture their attention.
This article should help you find the right strategy, from making LinkedIn cold outreach messages to tips for getting responses from the recipient.
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: andre@breadnbeyond.com
