Jon Clayton:

Well to know how to make your LinkedIn profile client

Jon Clayton:

magnets, or how to turn those silent followers into paying clients today.

Jon Clayton:

We're diving deep into client winning strategies with LinkedIn expert,

Jon Clayton:

Nicole Osborne on this episode of architecture business club.

Jon Clayton:

The weekly podcast for solo and small firm architecture practice owners,

Jon Clayton:

just like you who want to build a profitable future-proof architecture

Jon Clayton:

business that fits around their life.

Jon Clayton:

I'm the host, John Clayton.

Jon Clayton:

And if you want a business in architecture that gives you more freedom, flexibility,

Jon Clayton:

and fulfillment, then go to architecture, business club.com forward slash blueprint.

Jon Clayton:

And download the architecture business blueprint.

Jon Clayton:

It's the step-by-step formula to freedom for architects, architectural

Jon Clayton:

technologists and architectural designers.

Jon Clayton:

And it's absolutely free as a gift from me.

Jon Clayton:

Now let's explore LinkedIn post ideas to win clients.

Jon Clayton:

WUNDERBAR LinkedIn presence that gets the right clients raising their hands.

Jon Clayton:

With 20 plus years in marketing and a signature blend of German

Jon Clayton:

efficiency, she's fun and infectious enthusiasm, Nicole makes your

Jon Clayton:

LinkedIn less of a chore and more

Jon Clayton:

of a Cundan magnet.

Jon Clayton:

And just in case you've got a grade D in high school German like

Jon Clayton:

I did, that means client magnet.

Jon Clayton:

You can connect with Nicole on LinkedIn and I'll leave a link

Jon Clayton:

to her profile in the show notes.

Jon Clayton:

Nicole, welcome to Architecture Business Club.

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, John, thank you so much for inviting me.

Nicole Osborne:

I'm super excited to be here and to be able to talk to your community.

Jon Clayton:

it's great to have you here,

Jon Clayton:

Nicole.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks

Jon Clayton:

for joining me.

Jon Clayton:

Before we get stuck into the topic, though, I'd

Jon Clayton:

I'd like

Jon Clayton:

you to tell me a little bit about what you get up to in your free time.

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, in my free time.

Nicole Osborne:

Well, I tend to spend a fair bit on the computer because most of my clients are

Nicole Osborne:

outside the UK, so I'm a fair bit on Zoom.

Nicole Osborne:

So in my free time, I really like to just get off the screen, of digital, and

Nicole Osborne:

I like to keep fit just a little bit.

Nicole Osborne:

So I live in the middle of London, of I should say North West London.

Nicole Osborne:

So I bought myself a manual scooter, emphasis on manual scooter.

Nicole Osborne:

So I actually have to do all the work.

Nicole Osborne:

And I love nothing more than every day for half an hour to go outside

Nicole Osborne:

and just drive around my local area just to get a bit of exercise in.

Nicole Osborne:

London's pavements are so wobbly.

Nicole Osborne:

You actually have to be really mindful of not running anyone over or falling off.

Nicole Osborne:

That means you get a lot of head space and I love doing it.

Nicole Osborne:

So yeah, this is what I really do nearly every day and I absolutely enjoy

Nicole Osborne:

it for the exercise but also just to get some space for thinking and ideas.

Nicole Osborne:

one of my favorite hobbies, having a scooter.

Jon Clayton:

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Jon Clayton:

My thing is kayaking.

Jon Clayton:

It's not

Jon Clayton:

quite as easy

Jon Clayton:

to get out every day, but, I do try through that the summer to try and get out

Jon Clayton:

every week.

Jon Clayton:

And, uh, that's sort of why.

Jon Clayton:

my happy place, I suppose,

Jon Clayton:

where I

Jon Clayton:

can have some mindfulness away from the computer and my desk.

Jon Clayton:

So we're going to

Jon Clayton:

talk about LinkedIn.

Jon Clayton:

Specifically, we're going to talk about LinkedIn post ideas to win clients.

Jon Clayton:

We're going to dig into that, but first I wanted to start by just asking about

Jon Clayton:

using questions in LinkedIn posts.

Jon Clayton:

sometimes I see people using questions in LinkedIn posts, and I

Jon Clayton:

was wondering what sort of questions tend to perform well on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

Great question, John.

Nicole Osborne:

So LinkedIn is very much a social platform.

Nicole Osborne:

So it's the world's largest B2B social media platform.

Nicole Osborne:

And the reason why I wanted to say this first of all, because it's important

Nicole Osborne:

that we engage with our audience, the kind of people that we want to reach.

Nicole Osborne:

We want to get noticed by.

Nicole Osborne:

and questions are your super tool for giving your audience encouragement

Nicole Osborne:

and permission to say something.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, the trick with this is we are on social media to learn something new

Nicole Osborne:

to connect with new people, but also essentially to make ourselves look good.

Nicole Osborne:

So for your community of architects.

Nicole Osborne:

it's probably going to be so tempting to ask quite challenging questions

Nicole Osborne:

like, Oh, are you looking at your house extension are you facing both struggles?

Nicole Osborne:

But the problem with this sort of question is, that essentially the audience member

Nicole Osborne:

have to admit that they have a problem.

Nicole Osborne:

So I would say, try and pick a question, which is of course related to your pose,

Nicole Osborne:

But make it really easy and almost make it a no brainer, John, because what happens

Nicole Osborne:

is we on social media, we are time short, and our attention span is literally zero.

Nicole Osborne:

it's got to to be something really easy to be able to say.

Nicole Osborne:

And also, we want to make ourselves as great, so if it's something positive,

Nicole Osborne:

perhaps the questions that, such as, have you seen a building which has

Nicole Osborne:

really inspired you, or have you visited a friend's house where you really

Nicole Osborne:

love the extension because it brought in a lot of light into the house,

Nicole Osborne:

have you admired a situation where?

Nicole Osborne:

where the couple made great use of space?

Nicole Osborne:

Much easier to say something to that as opposed to admitting something

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, my house isn't good enough or We haven't got enough space or i'm

Nicole Osborne:

worried about the building regulations.

Nicole Osborne:

So you probably can see straight away I'm i'm suggesting a positive spin on

Nicole Osborne:

the question which makes the audience Look good, and it's easy for them

Nicole Osborne:

to to reply Does that make sense?

Jon Clayton:

That

Jon Clayton:

makes

Jon Clayton:

sense.

Jon Clayton:

I love that.

Jon Clayton:

so use questions where we can give a positive spin on things and don't

Jon Clayton:

overcomplicate the questions because.

Jon Clayton:

we don't have a lot of free headspace

Jon Clayton:

and we don't

Jon Clayton:

have a lot of time.

Jon Clayton:

So if it's something we can engage with, Easily without having to think too hard.

Jon Clayton:

We're more likely to get better engagement on the post.

Jon Clayton:

Would that be correct?

Nicole Osborne:

Yes, super well said.

Nicole Osborne:

So put yourself into the audience's shoes and always think about what would be easy

Nicole Osborne:

for them to answer because the reality is A lot of people are lurkers on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, this is not necessarily a negative thing, but it means that they're silent.

Nicole Osborne:

They're not likely to comment.

Nicole Osborne:

They're not likely to ask questions because it takes a lot of being

Nicole Osborne:

brave, being visible on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

They might not be ready yet.

Nicole Osborne:

So if you make it really easy for them to reply or to comment, they're more

Nicole Osborne:

likely to do so in turn, which will be great for the LinkedIn algorithm.

Nicole Osborne:

Which wants to keep people engaged on the platform, wants your post to do well.

Nicole Osborne:

So yes, it kind of fits two boxes.

Nicole Osborne:

It makes easy for your audience, easier for you, but also

Nicole Osborne:

it's good for the algorithm.

Nicole Osborne:

Mm-Hmm,

Jon Clayton:

Brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

You mentioned about lurkers there.

Jon Clayton:

We'll swing back around to that shortly, but before we do I just was

Jon Clayton:

wondering if there was any other best practices around asking questions

Jon Clayton:

on linkedIn, like regarding whether.

Jon Clayton:

to use a short post where it's just literally the question on its own, whether

Jon Clayton:

to try and tie questions in into a longer text post, whether we use graphics with

Jon Clayton:

them, whether we use, there's polls as well that we can use to ask questions,

Jon Clayton:

what are the best practices that you've seen working recently on LinkedIn?

Nicole Osborne:

So it continuously evolves, which is why I love working with

Nicole Osborne:

LinkedIn or any sort of digital marketing it might really depend on your audience.

Nicole Osborne:

So it's worth whenever you are designing content to think straight away.

Nicole Osborne:

Okay.

Nicole Osborne:

Who am I designing this for?

Nicole Osborne:

What likely questions are they going to have?

Nicole Osborne:

What would they perceive as value?

Nicole Osborne:

How can I really walk in their shoes?

Nicole Osborne:

And I would also recommend that you test a variety of content posts.

Nicole Osborne:

you already suggested picture images and a post.

Nicole Osborne:

Just a text post, a poll, which is another great way, by the way, of getting your

Nicole Osborne:

audience to engage because, it doesn't take a lot of time for them to reply.

Nicole Osborne:

Videos are also on the rise or even actually going live on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

And this content mix continuously evolves.

Nicole Osborne:

And it's also important that you try out different things because

Nicole Osborne:

all members in your audience will have different preferences.

Nicole Osborne:

So if you only stick to, let's say, text posts or only polls.

Nicole Osborne:

That's really quite boring on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, it's not like where everyone will see every post, but you want to create that

Nicole Osborne:

mixture to appeal to different people.

Nicole Osborne:

So yes, the key really is to think about your audience, try out different formats.

Nicole Osborne:

And then the final point I would like to make on this, also think

Nicole Osborne:

about what suits you as well.

Nicole Osborne:

Ideally, you want to find that sweet spot there.

Nicole Osborne:

It's what your audience enjoys, and also what you can learn to enjoy over

Nicole Osborne:

time in terms of content creation.

Nicole Osborne:

So those would be my tips on that.

Nicole Osborne:

Silence.

Jon Clayton:

might be something to work towards if your whole content

Jon Clayton:

strategy relies on doing that, then you're less likely to be able to be

Jon Clayton:

consistent with it if it's something that's a bit too much of a struggle.

Jon Clayton:

So I like that you said about, there's a variety of different ways that we

Jon Clayton:

can do it, to, to ask questions and that we can try out those different

Jon Clayton:

ways and see what resonates with our audience and find the sweet spot.

Jon Clayton:

I love that.

Jon Clayton:

Nicole, something that we have to do generally as business owners, and

Jon Clayton:

this isn't just in architecture is.

Jon Clayton:

in winning clients is handling their objections.

Jon Clayton:

Is this something that we should talk about openly on linkedIn?

Jon Clayton:

or is this something that we, you know, do we save these, This for the

Jon Clayton:

sales calls, or actually, is there some sense in talking about common

Jon Clayton:

customer objections openly on LinkedIn?

Nicole Osborne:

Yes.

Nicole Osborne:

So if we put ourselves into the shoes of a person who's trying to find their best

Nicole Osborne:

local architecture or architectural BRO,

Nicole Osborne:

what do we show to these people to help them make a decision?

Nicole Osborne:

And surely a substantial part of that is our digital footprint.

Nicole Osborne:

That would be Google.

Nicole Osborne:

You know, how easily is your practice to be found on Google?

Nicole Osborne:

It's LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

So you want to think about, okay, so once they find me on those channels and that's

Nicole Osborne:

step one, What do they need to know about me as an architect, my team, in order

Nicole Osborne:

to help them make a better decision?

Nicole Osborne:

Because I would imagine, you know, if I'm an architectural bureau, for

Nicole Osborne:

example, specializing in home extensions in London, that's a lot of building

Nicole Osborne:

regulations, but it's in a lot of space.

Nicole Osborne:

That is a sort of a certain type of expertise.

Nicole Osborne:

So it would make sense to focus the content and the appeal of your

Nicole Osborne:

LinkedIn profile and your website to that kind of niche audience because

Nicole Osborne:

there are different needs compared to someone who might is looking for

Nicole Osborne:

like a more commercial property.

Nicole Osborne:

So super important to focus on your audience.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, when we know which audience we most like to appeal to, and you

Nicole Osborne:

and I would call this niching, but essentially it's about having a

Nicole Osborne:

focus for your sales and marketing.

Nicole Osborne:

We know already what kind of questions we get and you rightly mentioned

Nicole Osborne:

sales calls, but it's also putting ourselves again in those shoes.

Nicole Osborne:

Maybe they want to learn about our process.

Nicole Osborne:

Maybe they want to learn about how do we handle getting,

Nicole Osborne:

agreements from the council.

Nicole Osborne:

Or maybe it could be even advice for neighbouring disputes, you know, all

Nicole Osborne:

these sort of juicy bits which can come our way when we have a building project.

Nicole Osborne:

And if you already have expertise in those areas.

Nicole Osborne:

Or you know that your audience is likely to be concerned about the time it takes

Nicole Osborne:

to come up with the drawings, how good the instructions are for the actual

Nicole Osborne:

building company we're going to choose.

Nicole Osborne:

If you have an interest in sustainable building and you have an expertise

Nicole Osborne:

in that, all of these questions are such valuable content ideas,

Nicole Osborne:

because you want to show the audience you want to appeal to.

Nicole Osborne:

that you have a track record and that you have expertise and that you

Nicole Osborne:

particularly know what challenges, questions and hopes and dreams they have.

Nicole Osborne:

So yes, I always see objections as something like a goldmine

Nicole Osborne:

for content creation.

Nicole Osborne:

So for example, when I work with people on their LinkedIn, you know,

Nicole Osborne:

one objection is often, well, I've tried it before, it hasn't worked.

Nicole Osborne:

Another objection could be, well, I don't have anything interesting to say . And,

Nicole Osborne:

another objection could be, well, you know, we don't want to need into working

Nicole Osborne:

with anyone now because I'm aware of that.

Nicole Osborne:

I often talk about this in my content, and this is an added benefit actually.

Nicole Osborne:

it also means that I'm quite approachable in my content.

Nicole Osborne:

I show my audience, I know them.

Nicole Osborne:

I listen to them because often we temptation is on LinkedIn because.

Nicole Osborne:

Everyone feels we've got to be so serious and formal, and

Nicole Osborne:

we have such a formal network.

Nicole Osborne:

We pitch our content at too much of an expertise level.

Nicole Osborne:

So we're talking at our audience, and we're not opening that dialogue.

Nicole Osborne:

But by addressing some of these questions, these real questions you get from people

Nicole Osborne:

about the services you provide, you can pitch it at their level and you

Nicole Osborne:

can make it really valuable for them.

Nicole Osborne:

So absolutely, John, amazing that you brought that up.

Nicole Osborne:

Collate those questions and address them in your content.

Nicole Osborne:

And, you weave it into a story.

Nicole Osborne:

You maybe use it for a hook, and you share some learning points, or you talk

Nicole Osborne:

about your experience surrounding that.

Nicole Osborne:

So yeah, great mind of content ideas.

Jon Clayton:

That sounds amazing.

Jon Clayton:

Sounds like there would be so many different ideas for content that just

Jon Clayton:

to take a little bit of time and think about some of their common questions

Jon Clayton:

and objections that come up when you are, having those early conversations

Jon Clayton:

with potential customers that gives us so many options for things

Jon Clayton:

that we could post on linked in.

Jon Clayton:

And I could imagine actually that if we do that in that way,

Jon Clayton:

surely that's going to help actually when

Jon Clayton:

it does

Jon Clayton:

come time to get on the phone with

Jon Clayton:

somebody,

Jon Clayton:

that if they've already seen

Jon Clayton:

several

Jon Clayton:

of your linked in posts,

Jon Clayton:

that It's going to make it

Jon Clayton:

an

Jon Clayton:

easier

Jon Clayton:

yes for them because you've probably

Jon Clayton:

like handled

Jon Clayton:

a lot of those objections already through your, your content.

Jon Clayton:

So it should save some time

Jon Clayton:

later when you get on the phone

Jon Clayton:

with them.

Nicole Osborne:

Yeah, and you already built that trust, you know, and they're

Nicole Osborne:

getting in touch, but they know that you specialize in that area, maybe

Nicole Osborne:

in developing plans for tight spaces.

Nicole Osborne:

spaces.

Nicole Osborne:

So you already have that expert status and they don't feel silly about asking

Nicole Osborne:

you any additional questions because the real burning questions they have.

Nicole Osborne:

You've already made a good start on addressing them.

Nicole Osborne:

So yeah, it works really well.

Jon Clayton:

Brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

So we've

Jon Clayton:

been posting on

Jon Clayton:

LinkedIn.

Jon Clayton:

We've been asking some relevant

Jon Clayton:

questions to

Jon Clayton:

get some engagement with our audience.

Jon Clayton:

We've been

Jon Clayton:

making some posts,

Jon Clayton:

that talk about some of the objections and we've been handling

Jon Clayton:

those for our LinkedIn

Jon Clayton:

posts as well.

Jon Clayton:

So.

Jon Clayton:

Let's say we're getting to the

Jon Clayton:

point where

Jon Clayton:

we've got some people

Jon Clayton:

that are starting to get

Jon Clayton:

interested in

Jon Clayton:

working with

Jon Clayton:

us, and maybe we want to

Jon Clayton:

try

Jon Clayton:

and get them over the line and turn them from, you know,

Jon Clayton:

just

Jon Clayton:

a follower on our LinkedIn or a connection into an

Jon Clayton:

actual

Jon Clayton:

customer.

Jon Clayton:

So one of

Jon Clayton:

the things that I've heard about

Jon Clayton:

is, what

Jon Clayton:

people

Jon Clayton:

call FOMO,

Jon Clayton:

the fear of missing out.

Jon Clayton:

And

Jon Clayton:

I'd be interested to know that how

Jon Clayton:

we can

Jon Clayton:

create some FOMO on

Jon Clayton:

LinkedIn around

Jon Clayton:

our, our offers and our

Jon Clayton:

services.

Jon Clayton:

To, you know, I think again, I'll just caveat that

Jon Clayton:

by saying

Jon Clayton:

genuine FOMO, not like something artificial,

Jon Clayton:

because it

Jon Clayton:

can, some, sometimes people can get the wrong end of things there and

Jon Clayton:

think that it's not

Jon Clayton:

genuine.

Jon Clayton:

I'm, so I'm talking about how can we create some genuine

Jon Clayton:

FOMO

Jon Clayton:

about the scarcity of

Jon Clayton:

what we

Jon Clayton:

offer,

Jon Clayton:

Because

Jon Clayton:

the truth is that as a, small business owner or an architect

Jon Clayton:

that's working on their own or in a

Jon Clayton:

small practice,

Jon Clayton:

there is some, there should be some natural scarcity there anyway.

Jon Clayton:

Like you've only got a finite amount of time

Jon Clayton:

to deliver

Jon Clayton:

these services.

Jon Clayton:

how can we get that across on LinkedIn?

Jon Clayton:

Remember.

Jon Clayton:

Don't forget to download the architecture business, blueprint the

Jon Clayton:

step by step formula to freedom for architects, architecture, technologists,

Jon Clayton:

and architecture designers.

Jon Clayton:

You can grab the blueprint without any charge@architecturebusinessclub.com

Jon Clayton:

forward slash blueprint.

Jon Clayton:

And if you enjoy this episode, then please leave a five star review or

Jon Clayton:

rating wherever you listen to podcasts.

Jon Clayton:

Now, back to the show.

Nicole Osborne:

So I think the first thing which is valuable to point out is what

Nicole Osborne:

could be considered as leads on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

And I want to break to chat about that because often there is some confusion.

Nicole Osborne:

So when, for example, when you know that someone is regularly

Nicole Osborne:

commenting on your posts,

Nicole Osborne:

there's a level of interest and it would be good to capture those people.

Nicole Osborne:

Also when you are creating a poll and someone votes, that's again an

Nicole Osborne:

indication of someone potentially being interested in the service you're

Nicole Osborne:

offering or struggling with that problem you're talking about in the poll.

Nicole Osborne:

And then if someone reaches out to you in the DMs and the direct messages.

Nicole Osborne:

And, you know, if they're really making an effort to comment on something you said,

Nicole Osborne:

or maybe they've had you on a podcast, or where they've seen one of your local,

Nicole Osborne:

uh, pieces and walked by the projects that, Hey, we we noticed your building

Nicole Osborne:

board Most can all be considered leads.

Nicole Osborne:

So it's, it's, it's, really important just to, to really, okay.

Nicole Osborne:

So people who commented, people who voted on polls, people who have

Nicole Osborne:

sat or unfound me on on LinkedIn to really spread the net quite wide.

Nicole Osborne:

Now in terms of creating fear of missing out, there's a couple of techniques I

Nicole Osborne:

would, I would like to mention here.

Nicole Osborne:

So first of all, you know, as an architectural firm, you are often

Nicole Osborne:

in a really good position of having photos of the completed project.

Nicole Osborne:

So I would use these photos and I would talk about the, maybe there was

Nicole Osborne:

something challenging about the site, and maybe there was a huge uh, rush to

Nicole Osborne:

get things created, or maybe that it really Needed a lot of cooperation with

Nicole Osborne:

local neighbours, with the local council offices, Talk about what made the project

Nicole Osborne:

so challenging and also give a bit of an insight into how come back Because that

Nicole Osborne:

in itself will attract the kind of people who might have faced something similar.

Nicole Osborne:

And then you have such a visual service and you have pictures that

Nicole Osborne:

works really, really, really well.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, the second thing I like to highlight is, offering something

Nicole Osborne:

which people could download.

Nicole Osborne:

So I remember we had an extension build eight years ago and you know it

Nicole Osborne:

was the first time we had an extension build with architectural drawings and

Nicole Osborne:

it was quite a conundrum of things we had to solve and know about.

Nicole Osborne:

So it would have been amazing at that time to be able to download.

Nicole Osborne:

Here, are the top 10 things for how you can find the right architect for you.

Nicole Osborne:

And, and John, you and I in our marketing language, we call this a

Nicole Osborne:

lead market, so a hand riser, giving people an opportunity to get something

Nicole Osborne:

of value and reach and return, give you their email address and the same

Nicole Osborne:

actually works on, on, on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

So for my own business, I have a couple of hand risers.

Nicole Osborne:

One of them is free content ideas.

Nicole Osborne:

And whenever I post about it.

Nicole Osborne:

The people who want to download it, those are people who need content ideas.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, this is an area I specialize in, so again, I create FOMO by talking about it

Nicole Osborne:

and how easy it is to implement them and how we spoke well for my audience and

Nicole Osborne:

it creates that, fear of missing out.

Nicole Osborne:

Now the final point of what you sort of said, creating that scarcity, I absolutely

Nicole Osborne:

agree with you on that, you know, this is not something we should make up.

Nicole Osborne:

So for example, in my business, when I work on one on one coaching with people,

Nicole Osborne:

I generally only take two new clients every month because it's a lot of work

Nicole Osborne:

upfront in terms of getting to know the business owner, getting to know what they

Nicole Osborne:

need to do and putting a plan together.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, if I've been, I've been linked in, so there's only one slot left,

Nicole Osborne:

but actually there are still two slots left, or three slots left.

Nicole Osborne:

That's not genuine, and I really think about high levels of transparency,

Nicole Osborne:

and that you need to be honest in your marketing, because what does that say

Nicole Osborne:

about you as a person, as a business?

Nicole Osborne:

So I would really concentrate on the fear of missing out in terms of showing off

Nicole Osborne:

some of the successes you've had, and also really celebrating your clients.

Nicole Osborne:

So as an architect, you can congratulate that family you are

Nicole Osborne:

really brave in their choices, or that family you're really committed to.

Nicole Osborne:

I'm making some new choice in terms of sustainability or really making

Nicole Osborne:

it work for the local setting.

Nicole Osborne:

Congratulate them on that because celebrate their success

Nicole Osborne:

because that is your success.

Nicole Osborne:

So that's a tactic You will see on my linkedin account a fair bit, I show up

Nicole Osborne:

and my clients have had successes and I don't even have to say yes to that.

Nicole Osborne:

I played a small part on that, that's the kind of implication.

Nicole Osborne:

So that's a lovely way of creating that feel of missing out, absolutely.

Jon Clayton:

That's

Jon Clayton:

brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks,

Jon Clayton:

Nicole.

Jon Clayton:

Something you mentioned earlier, you

Jon Clayton:

mentioned about lurkers.

Jon Clayton:

Now feels like a good time to talk about that.

Jon Clayton:

So, everyone has lurkers, those people that perhaps

Jon Clayton:

follow our social media accounts or maybe if you

Jon Clayton:

have an email list the people that are on there that

Jon Clayton:

perhaps don't

Jon Clayton:

directly with

Jon Clayton:

us.

Jon Clayton:

So,

Jon Clayton:

I mean, do you have any suggestions

Jon Clayton:

of

Jon Clayton:

how we could turn our LinkedIn lurkers

Jon Clayton:

into, into leads and into

Jon Clayton:

customers?

Nicole Osborne:

it's a tough one, because when we work in the marketing industry,

Nicole Osborne:

it's sometimes easy to forget how difficult it is actually to be visible

Nicole Osborne:

on social media, because It's obviously something we've worked on for years.

Nicole Osborne:

So the first tactic goes back to actually recognizing I need to make

Nicole Osborne:

this easy for people to speak up.

Nicole Osborne:

So when I look at my, schedule, I often like to have something

Nicole Osborne:

which drives engagement and that builds that human connection.

Nicole Osborne:

So maybe I will talk about A detail in my own personal business, journey,

Nicole Osborne:

and I'll share some learnings, a long road sign, a long road post.

Nicole Osborne:

And because I don't make it out that I was born perfect, I'm Mrs.

Nicole Osborne:

Perfect now.

Nicole Osborne:

I would never want to suggest that.

Nicole Osborne:

But I'm quite relatable, I would hope.

Nicole Osborne:

And I am not afraid of sharing some vulnerability.

Nicole Osborne:

So that in itself makes it easier for people to step out of lurking

Nicole Osborne:

and sometimes, you know, when I share something, let's say I used to have

Nicole Osborne:

speaking gigs and not being able to sleep for six months and I've worked on this,

Nicole Osborne:

you know, now it might be down to two or three weeks, but it's still there.

Nicole Osborne:

I get people reaching out to me in the DMs saying, Nicole, you know,

Nicole Osborne:

that really helped me that you said that, that was really relatable.

Nicole Osborne:

And yeah, that's exactly what I'm facing now.

Nicole Osborne:

So, so that's one way of making it really easy, to connect with your posts.

Nicole Osborne:

The other thing is, is, you know, we are so driven by metrics.

Nicole Osborne:

So how many followers do we have?

Nicole Osborne:

How many connections?

Nicole Osborne:

How many views?

Nicole Osborne:

How many engagements?

Nicole Osborne:

I always believe what really matters is.

Nicole Osborne:

uh, People talk about your LinkedIn presence to you in those discovery calls.

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, yes, Nicole, I've heard you talk about that.

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, yes, I've seen you on that video.

Nicole Osborne:

That to me is a testament that, okay, so they might have not felt brave

Nicole Osborne:

enough in that moment to reach out.

Nicole Osborne:

And that's fair enough.

Nicole Osborne:

A huge percentage on people are not, are not active on social media.

Nicole Osborne:

But there's something in that which made me very relatable to

Nicole Osborne:

them, very memorable to them.

Nicole Osborne:

And, you know, they've continued building that relationship with me.

Nicole Osborne:

So it's that.

Nicole Osborne:

Realization that yes, people might be lurking, but it doesn't mean

Nicole Osborne:

they're not reading your content.

Nicole Osborne:

So do continue working on that.

Nicole Osborne:

And the stats always change, but generally speaking, I think it's only

Nicole Osborne:

like 1 percent of LinkedIn users who are actually posting once a week.

Nicole Osborne:

So you can imagine where that's going.

Nicole Osborne:

It's for people engaging and commenting, uh, even less than that.

Nicole Osborne:

So this is the world we operate in.

Jon Clayton:

Wow.

Jon Clayton:

Only 1%.

Jon Clayton:

That's quite a surprising

Jon Clayton:

figure.

Nicole Osborne:

It's quite a surprising.

Nicole Osborne:

figure.

Nicole Osborne:

Oh, just one, I find attracting on which I sometimes forget to

Nicole Osborne:

mention is, I've lately, I'm experimenting with my own newsletter.

Nicole Osborne:

So often what I'll do, I'll have a newsletter about my tips,

Nicole Osborne:

something specific area, and then I'll encourage people to comment

Nicole Osborne:

on a related post on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

And that for me is working really well because suddenly it's not that

Nicole Osborne:

barrier having to reply back to the email, but actually then just

Nicole Osborne:

viewing my profile on LinkedIn or commenting or casting a vote on a poll.

Nicole Osborne:

So that's another way of testing out what might work with your

Nicole Osborne:

audience to lurk them out of lurking.

Jon Clayton:

I love that.

Jon Clayton:

I think I'm going to steal that idea and

Jon Clayton:

link my email newsletter to a related LinkedIn posts.

Nicole Osborne:

fantastic.

Jon Clayton:

So, Nicole, you must

Jon Clayton:

see

Jon Clayton:

all sorts of

Jon Clayton:

common mistakes that

Jon Clayton:

people make on LinkedIn.

Jon Clayton:

could you perhaps share some of those and talk through how we can avoid them?

Nicole Osborne:

Yeah, fantastic question.

Nicole Osborne:

So I, as a LinkedIn trainer I specialize in working with agencies, but essentially

Nicole Osborne:

it's very similar to an architectural for professional services, right?

Nicole Osborne:

So the first mistake I often see is that.

Nicole Osborne:

There is no strategy behind how do we show what makes us different

Nicole Osborne:

how do we show that in our content?

Nicole Osborne:

And what this means is that you might be posting and you might be showing up, but

Nicole Osborne:

because there is no point of difference, you are not making the effort to really

Nicole Osborne:

show what makes you unique, a unique selling point or your brand values that

Nicole Osborne:

you end up blending into a background.

Nicole Osborne:

And LinkedIn is a pretty busy space.

Nicole Osborne:

So you want to have a unique tone of voice.

Nicole Osborne:

You want to have a unique approach to your imagery, because you want

Nicole Osborne:

to stand out and make it easy for people to connect with you.

Nicole Osborne:

So, so, so that's number one.

Nicole Osborne:

And then I talk about it, I often mentioned the orange van strategy

Nicole Osborne:

because you know, in England, we have lots of white vans or white transporters

Nicole Osborne:

and they all look the same, right?

Nicole Osborne:

Then you can't really distinguish one from the other.

Nicole Osborne:

So if you are looking for an architect and they're all in these five bands, well,

Nicole Osborne:

why would you reach out to a specific one?

Nicole Osborne:

So think of an orange band there.

Nicole Osborne:

It's completely customised, wrapping on the band.

Nicole Osborne:

It shows some beautiful diagrams and pictures of what they've

Nicole Osborne:

done, the contact, Details are on there and it's so different.

Nicole Osborne:

So you memorize them.

Nicole Osborne:

So you might not need an architect straight away, but they're top of mind or

Nicole Osborne:

your network are commenting on the post.

Nicole Osborne:

So that's the first thing we have a strategy behind standing up.

Nicole Osborne:

Then the next thing I do.

Nicole Osborne:

I would say is we often are so tempted because we're so worried about what we

Nicole Osborne:

post and how others might perceive it.

Nicole Osborne:

that we end up posting for our peers.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, I love my peers, John, you and I, we are peers.

Nicole Osborne:

We comment on each other's posts and that's great, but we've

Nicole Osborne:

got to work together, right?

Nicole Osborne:

I want my posts to be noticed and relevant by the kind of people either

Nicole Osborne:

that I can work with or who have access to the kind of audience I can work with.

Nicole Osborne:

all these types of people collaborate with.

Nicole Osborne:

So think about as an architect, you're essentially not posting for

Nicole Osborne:

other architects because, you know, they will want their own clients.

Nicole Osborne:

You're talking to the people on LinkedIn who might be in need

Nicole Osborne:

for an architectural service.

Nicole Osborne:

So you, you need to talk about different things, which are relevant for those.

Nicole Osborne:

It also means you bring it down to their level.

Nicole Osborne:

Do you know, I often find with LinkedIn, John, that you and I would be talking

Nicole Osborne:

a lot now about the know how, but that really makes a huge difference.

Nicole Osborne:

And then people develop their LinkedIn and mindset.

Nicole Osborne:

And they become that little bit braver and they are ignited

Nicole Osborne:

to let some of their fears go.

Nicole Osborne:

So if I was to talk to all my peers, I'll just talk about the know how

Nicole Osborne:

because I know these people are brave, you know, they're putting themselves

Nicole Osborne:

out there nothing stands in their way.

Nicole Osborne:

But for my audience, a lot of things stand in their way and it isn't just

Nicole Osborne:

that they don't know how LinkedIn works, it's actually because they're

Nicole Osborne:

worried what their peers will say.

Nicole Osborne:

Well, we found out there's a lot of impostor syndrome going on.

Nicole Osborne:

So this is really about what I meant by not.

Nicole Osborne:

Posting for my peers, but actually really talking to my

Nicole Osborne:

audience or potential clients.

Nicole Osborne:

And then the third thing, the third thing is to just be so worried in the beginning

Nicole Osborne:

that you never let yourself learn.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, this might sound really hard to do, but you know, As regular content

Nicole Osborne:

creators, we both know our first 10 to 100 pieces of something are

Nicole Osborne:

not going to be very good, right?

Nicole Osborne:

They might get no engagement whatsoever, no one reads them,

Nicole Osborne:

no one comments, but that's okay.

Nicole Osborne:

The important thing is to get started and to learn by the kind of

Nicole Osborne:

feedback you're getting and to really building your LinkedIn muscles.

Nicole Osborne:

So it's that kind of need of perfectionism and not wanting to, wanting to let

Nicole Osborne:

go of some of these fears, which really stops people in their track.

Nicole Osborne:

So I would say that's actually Biggest one is, is that it's got to be perfect and

Nicole Osborne:

if it's not perfect, I'm not posting it.

Nicole Osborne:

But Then you don't learn and you can't test up the messaging with your audience.

Nicole Osborne:

So yeah, hopefully those are three common mistakes.

Nicole Osborne:

So we're not standing out thinking about your peers too much and not

Nicole Osborne:

really posting for your audience.

Nicole Osborne:

And we're not getting started because we're standing on our own way.

Nicole Osborne:

Those are three top mistakes I see all the time.

Jon Clayton:

That's

Jon Clayton:

really helpful.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks for sharing that.

Jon Clayton:

what

Jon Clayton:

would be the main thing that you'd like the listeners

Jon Clayton:

to take away

Jon Clayton:

from this conversation?

Nicole Osborne:

I would like them to, first of all, have a

Nicole Osborne:

look at their profile again.

Nicole Osborne:

And see it through the eyes of their potential clients.

Nicole Osborne:

you including all of the things which they need to know about you?

Nicole Osborne:

Are you showing a bit of personality?

Nicole Osborne:

Is your profile optimized?

Nicole Osborne:

Do you have content which appeals to them?

Nicole Osborne:

So that would be the first thing.

Nicole Osborne:

Then the next thing I really like them to do is John, really what you brought

Nicole Osborne:

up in the beginning, which is really to think about the kind of questions

Nicole Osborne:

they get and their discovery calls.

Nicole Osborne:

You know, when they didn't get, when they didn't win a pitch

Nicole Osborne:

or proposal, why was that?

Nicole Osborne:

It's that content they could be adding to their LinkedIn routine?

Nicole Osborne:

And then the final thing I would just like to mention, I would encourage

Nicole Osborne:

everyone to consider actually, do I have a LinkedIn routine, which

Nicole Osborne:

covers all the different areas?

Nicole Osborne:

I know you and I, we talked a lot today about posting and what to post, but, what

Nicole Osborne:

about growing your network strategically?

Nicole Osborne:

What about being active in the DMs?

Nicole Osborne:

All of these are key components of LinkedIn success.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, wherever you are, you can always take that next step.

Nicole Osborne:

So I just really want people to feel encouraged that they can do it.

Nicole Osborne:

And it doesn't have to be perfect.

Nicole Osborne:

Nothing ever is perfect when we start, but just enjoy it and let yourself learn.

Jon Clayton:

That's brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks, Nicole.

Jon Clayton:

Was there anything else that you wanted to add that we haven't

Jon Clayton:

covered in the

Jon Clayton:

conversation?

Nicole Osborne:

you know ? That's really amazing.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, I feel you've asked me all sorts of perfect questions, so thank you so much.

Nicole Osborne:

Yeah, I would just say if someone wants a bit more of a bespoke tip, really feel

Nicole Osborne:

free to reach out to me on, LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

This is my main social media platform, so yeah, always love to

Nicole Osborne:

hear comments and additional questions and anything I can help, with.

Nicole Osborne:

thank you.

Jon Clayton:

That's brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

So it's time for me to ask the regular question that

Jon Clayton:

I ask all of the

Jon Clayton:

guests on the show.

Jon Clayton:

I, I've always loved travel and discovering new places.

Jon Clayton:

And I just wondered if you could tell me about one of your favorite

Jon Clayton:

places and what you love about it.

Jon Clayton:

And it doesn't matter if it's near or far.

Nicole Osborne:

This is going to be a place which is very close.

Nicole Osborne:

I live in London and actually Bournemouth.

Nicole Osborne:

Now, when I first came to England, all these years ago, I

Nicole Osborne:

actually came over as an au pair.

Nicole Osborne:

And before that, I came over as a language student for a month,

Nicole Osborne:

and I was very, very young.

Nicole Osborne:

And, I remember I did learn a lot of language, and I did hang out on

Nicole Osborne:

Bournemouth Beach a lot, and obviously we had the lower gardens, and it's

Nicole Osborne:

just a lovely seaside town, right?

Nicole Osborne:

So, I just recently went back, years later, and it was just so fabulous just

Nicole Osborne:

seeing how Bournemouth has evolved.

Nicole Osborne:

And it still has also kept some of these original features.

Nicole Osborne:

Obviously, we've got a beautiful pier, we've got the lower gardens,

Nicole Osborne:

and it's a really good sort of seaside town, where there's lots

Nicole Osborne:

of language students still around.

Nicole Osborne:

They've got the most beautiful ice cream, and yeah, anyone looking for a destination

Nicole Osborne:

where you can take your kids and, have a bit of fun, be by the seaside, yeah, I

Nicole Osborne:

highly recommend the form of, obviously, beautiful beaches as well and coastlines.

Nicole Osborne:

So yeah, that's my recent favourite new place.

Jon Clayton:

Oh,

Jon Clayton:

you know what?

Jon Clayton:

I

Jon Clayton:

think I went there when I was

Jon Clayton:

a

Jon Clayton:

toddler or a baby.

Jon Clayton:

I

Jon Clayton:

don't remember any of it, but I remember my parents telling me about a family

Jon Clayton:

holiday there,

Jon Clayton:

which I think I was ill.

Jon Clayton:

I think I was

Jon Clayton:

ill for the whole time while we were there.

Jon Clayton:

But it is somewhere I'd like to go back and visit

Jon Clayton:

again now.

Jon Clayton:

so I shall add it

Jon Clayton:

to my bucket list of destinations to go visit in

Jon Clayton:

the UK.

Jon Clayton:

Nicole,

Jon Clayton:

this has been absolutely fantastic.

Jon Clayton:

Thank

Jon Clayton:

you so much for joining

Jon Clayton:

me on the show and sharing your expertise.

Jon Clayton:

I've really

Jon Clayton:

enjoyed the conversation and I'm sure that everyone in the audience will do too.

Jon Clayton:

Can you just

Jon Clayton:

remind everyone the best place to

Jon Clayton:

connect with you, which

Jon Clayton:

I think I

Jon Clayton:

know where it's going

Jon Clayton:

to be, but I'll let you say it.

Nicole Osborne:

Yes, anyone in the audience who would love to reach

Nicole Osborne:

out, maybe read some more tips or ask some more questions, please come

Nicole Osborne:

and connect with me on LinkedIn.

Nicole Osborne:

John is kindly going to put the link to my profile in the show notes and

Nicole Osborne:

Nicole Osborne on LinkedIn and I can't wait to hear from your audience.

Nicole Osborne:

Thank you, John.

Jon Clayton:

Brilliant.

Jon Clayton:

Thanks again,

Jon Clayton:

Nicole.

Jon Clayton:

Next time I'm joined by Aja.

Jon Clayton:

Schlachter to explore the benefits of outsourcing and how you can get started.

Jon Clayton:

thanks so much for listening to this episode of architecture business club.

Jon Clayton:

If you liked this episode, think other people might enjoy it.

Jon Clayton:

Or just want to show your support for the show.

Jon Clayton:

Then please leave a glowing five-star review or rating wherever you listen

Jon Clayton:

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Jon Clayton:

listeners to discover the show.

Jon Clayton:

And if you haven't already done, so don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

Jon Clayton:

So you never miss another episode.

Jon Clayton:

If you want to connect with me, you can do that on most social media

Jon Clayton:

platforms, just search for at Mr.

Jon Clayton:

John Clayton.

Jon Clayton:

The best place to connect with me online, though is on LinkedIn.

Jon Clayton:

You can find a link to my profile in the show notes.

Jon Clayton:

Remember.

Jon Clayton:

Running your architecture business.

Jon Clayton:

Doesn't have to be hard and you don't need to do it alone.

Jon Clayton:

This is architecture business club.