Meet Ryan Caswell, Founder of B2Bleads.com. Ryan’s mission is to solve the problem of sales and marketing for professionals by providing LinkedIn marketing services. With a focus on high-value activities, B2Bleads.com has been doubling its revenue each year.
In this interview, Ryan shares his journey of starting B2Bleads.com, the differences between LinkedIn organic and LinkedIn Ads, effective messaging templates for LinkedIn lead generation, and tips for getting the most out of LinkedIn’s free search feature. He also discusses the importance of building business systems, recruiting top 1% talent for free on LinkedIn, and balancing the need for profit with other goals or values in business.
Q. Can you share with us your journey of starting B2Bleads.com? What inspired you to venture into LinkedIn marketing, and how did you get started?
Ryan: As an engineer, I struggled to grasp the business aspects of sales and marketing, only to learn the hard way that having a great product or service alone isn’t enough.
After many failed attempts in business due to a lack of marketing, and being completely broke I decided to make my life’s focus on solving this problem for myself and other professionals.
Q. Your business is doubling in revenue each year. What do you think are the main factors that contributed to this impressive growth rate, and what challenges did you face along the way?
Ryan: I think focus plays a big part in it. Entrepreneurs by nature have a tendency to get distracted by the latest shiny objects. But with good data, we have a lot of confidence that we are focusing on the highest value activities (even when they don’t feel like they are) for us and our clients.
Q. Can you talk about the differences between LinkedIn Organic and LinkedIn Ads? How do you know which approach is best for a particular business, and what hourly rate should a business be willing to invest in LinkedIn marketing?
Ryan: Linkedin organic vs. Linkedin ads is a little like comparing handing food samplers out the front of your restaurant vs putting a billboard up in the city center.
Linkedin organic is (when done right) more personalized, starting one on one conversations with your ideal target market on LinkedIn.
Linkedin Paid can be a great way to scale your lead generation too but you generally need a much higher budget and you can burn through a lot of cash working out which messaging resonates strongly enough with your target market to get them to take action.
Q. You have published several articles on LinkedIn lead generation, including messaging templates that have generated between $100k-$1m in sales. Can you share some specific examples of effective messaging that you have used in your own campaigns?
Ryan: Definitely check out the video on youtube as without context it’s hard to understand why one message works well and another fails.
In fact, some messages will work amazingly for one business yet, not for another. It all depends on what the business or individual can use to build trust in their messaging and also their profile and website (people will investigate you).
But some of the key things you need to understand before you write compelling messages that get people to take action include…
▪️ ️Being able to define your client’s PROBLEM, better than they can
▪️ Having a deep understanding of how you can add value to them SPECIFICALLY
▪️ Building credibility and trust that YOU can add value to their business
▪️ Be able to communicate all of the above in about 3 SECONDS!
Q. How do you advise businesses to prioritize their lead generation efforts between outbound, inbound, referrals, and word-of-mouth? What are the pros and cons of each approach, and which one do you typically recommend for your clients?
Ryan: I recommend whichever produces the lowest cost per lead and best customer lifetime value. It’s different for every business.
For the most part, the best leads come from referrals and word-of-mouth.
The problem is that most people don’t get enough referrals to get the controlled and sustainable growth they want.
Inbound leads are great too but a lot of businesses simply don’t have the audience, network, visibility or even a strong enough market message to get these reliably.
This is where outbound marketing really comes into its own. It’s a fast and reliable way to start conversations and get sales with your market and also feeds future inbound leads and referrals.
Q. You have written about the importance of building business systems to exclude, automate, delegate, or do tasks. How do you apply these principles to LinkedIn marketing, and what tools or techniques do you use to streamline your lead generation process?
Ryan: After running thousands of campaigns on LinkedIn you find people only respond in a handful of ways when you ask the right questions. When you can limit the variables and use automation tools to start conversations (there are tons out there) it allows you to build very repeatable, predictable, and efficient lead generation processes on LinkedIn.
Q. Can you discuss your experience with recruiting the top 1% of talent for free on LinkedIn? What strategies have you found to be most effective in attracting high-quality candidates, and what mistakes should businesses avoid when trying to build their teams on LinkedIn?
Ryan: The beauty of a lead gen approach to finding talent on LinkedIn is that you can go after candidates that aren’t even looking for work. The best kind that is always employed.
One quick tip is to use the sales navigator to look for specific keywords/skills you need and find people who have been with their current company for 2+ years.
Q. What do you believe is the key to success on LinkedIn? How do you ensure that your messages are valuable and compelling to your target audience, and what advice do you have for businesses that are struggling to get results from their LinkedIn marketing efforts?
Ryan: If you have tried in the past and struggled, take a step back and look at your website, profile, and overarching offer. Think about…
What makes you special
What value can you provide? How quickly?
Why should your target audience trust you?
And wherever possible, remember to SHOW not TELL.
For example, don’t tell your audience that your clients love you, show them! Client testimonials, Interviews, and videos are all amazing ways to build trust.
Trading Expert Ryan Persad on Seeing ADHD as a Superpower(Opens in a new browser tab)
Everyone wants your audience’s attention so give them a good reason to give it to you!
To keep up to date with Ryan, connect with him on LinkedIn. To work with Ryan and the B2BLeads.com team, book in a time to chat here.