How to Spot a LinkedIn Marketing Fraud

Posted by Ryan Farrell in B2B Lead Generation & Sales Insights, LinkedIn Marketing Insights

When it comes to your business, you can make the case that nothing is more important than marketing. Because no matter how good your service is, no matter what kind of results you can get for your clients, if they don’t know about you, you won’t have leads, and without leads, you don’t have clients.

And without clients… well, you don’t have a business.

With that in mind, when it’s time to find help marketing your business, you have an important decision to make. The thing is, there are a lot of people masquerading around as experts who have no idea what they are doing. They just regurgitate information that they have heard from others. The thinking goes like this…

“Because so-and-so is getting results with it, I’ll tell you how they did it.” They won’t tell you that of course, but it’s too often the reality.

The fact is that they might be fully capable of getting you results, but it can be a big gamble with your money. After all, anyone can test a theory or marketing strategy, but what they’re missing is the track-record of results and the nuances of implementing that strategy for any given situation – something that only experience can give you.

Before You Invest, Ask These Three Questions:

Here are three questions you should ask ANYONE who claims to be a LinkedIn or Marketing Expert before deciding to work with them.

#1 How long have you been marketing on LinkedIn?

Red Flag: Did they just take a course or read a book on LinkedIn marketing?

At LinkedSelling we’ve had our fair share of copycats… people that enroll in our training programs and then try and duplicate our exact process for their clients. And honestly, that's all well and good because, well, isn’t imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

We welcome competition in the space. It’s what keeps us sharp and always looking to innovate for our clients.

But if they are taking people’s money without ever practicing what they preach, they could be harming a lot of hard-working people who have put their trust in them.

This is a huge problem these days.

Who can you trust?

There are a lot of “information junkies” who buy training programs and read books on different topics then claim that they are an “expert”. Anyone can read The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes… or take our Linked University course… but that does not actually make them a sales or LinkedIn marketing expert, especially if they’re going to be charging money for it.

Information is no substitute for experience.

And on that same note…

#2 Do you do this work for clients? If so how many?

Red Flag: If they don’t work with clients or very many clients. Just because this strategy works for them it may not work the same way for other industries. Ask for clarification about the variety of clients they’ve worked with.

At LinkedSelling, we’ve worked with thousands of businesses from all over the world. LinkedIn Marketing can be formulaic at times, but can also be nuanced; different industries and different businesses call for modifications to make the system work.

Our experience is our differentiator. It’s what allows us to craft the perfect lead generation campaign for nearly any B2B industry. Think about it like this, if these “pretenders” are basing everything off of straight theory… do you want to risk them getting it wrong on your dime?

Again, knowing what should be done is different than actually knowing how to do it. It’s like taking flight lessons to be a pilot… and never flying a plane. Would you trust them to get you somewhere safely? We wouldn’t either.

#3 What are others saying about working with them?

Red Flag: Are they the only ones vouching for their work?

When you consider working with someone, you want to know what others are saying…

Have they been recognized by peers or organizations as someone who knows what they are doing?
How big is their business? Are they growing?
Have they been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur, Inc., Mixergy, Etc? In other words, do other people believe in them?

We have. We’ve been featured on Digital Marketer.com, The Salesforce Blog, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, CBS, Fox News, Business 2 Community, The Eventual Millionaire, Mixergy, Countless Podcasts, and more.

Our CEO is also a WSJ best selling author and we’ve been named on the Inc. 500 the last 2 years in a row… as well as the Entrepreneur 360 list of fastest growing privately owned companies in the United States.

Do we openly share this to brag? No, of course not. We can share this simply because we walk the walk and people notice.

We are respected for what we do. We are an authority in the industry but here’s the catch – we’re not the only ones saying that.

Are You Willing To Gamble With Your Money?

Look, this is not to say that everyone without experience is shady and going to rip you off. That’s not what this post is about. There are lots of hungry, smart and capable people out there looking for the opportunity to prove themselves.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

But I want to ask again… are you willing to gamble with your money? Or do you want someone who has proven over and over again that they know what they are doing?

Now look, any investment is inherently a risk.

But if you want to reduce your risk while increasing your potential return the 3 questions above is where we recommend starting.

When we look at working with consultants or other companies these are the exact things we look for. And when we take on new clients, these are the questions we expect to hear.