LinkedIn for Small Business Owners and Consultants:  How to Leverage LinkedIn to Grow Your Business or Consulting Practice

Are you a small business owner, consultant, entrepreneur or freelancer?  Do you want to take advantage of social media but don't know how?  Do you have a personal profile on LinkedIn, but are you using it to its full potential?  If you are a business owner, have you set up your Company Page on LinkedIn?  Let LinkedIn be the starting point where you can establish an online presence for both yourself and your company.

Consider the facts:

• With over 150 million members in 200 countries, LinkedIn is the largest network for business professionals. 
  
• A recent study conducted by ROI Research further reveals that 59% of social networkers found LinkedIn to be their most important social network. 
  
• eMarketer reports that 65% of business to business marketers cite LinkedIn as being their most effective primary sales channel.
  

In this 3 hour workshop, held in a computer lab, participants will have a hands-on experience.  Attendees will learn how to leverage LinkedIn to showcase their own expertise as well as how to use it to promote their business.

Who should attend?

• Small business owners
  
• Independent consultants
• Freelancers
• Self employed business professionals:  accountants, lawyers, business coaches,  sales people, etc.
  

What you will learn: 

Part I - Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile to Showcase Your Expertise

• Understand how to optimize your profile for inbound lead generation
• Understand the importance of personal branding
  
• Learn how to write a compelling headline
• Know why you should add "skills"
• Learn how to avoid the most common LinkedIn mistake
• and more..

Part II - Building Your Network and Increasing Your Visibility Online

• Know the right way to add connections
• Understand the type of connections you should add in order to build a quality network
• Learn how to increase your visibility by sharing regular upates
• Know the appropriate type of status updates to make and how often to do so
• Have greater confidence online by knowing the proper rules of "netiquette"
• Learn how to find the right groups to join and guidelines for participating in them
• and more...

Part III - Using LinkedIn for Finding and Attracting Customers

• Learn how to conduct targeted searches to identify potential clients and decision makers
• Use the concept of 6 degrees of separation to reach potential prospects
• Learn how to avoid making a "cold call" ever again
• Understand how to use LinkedIn to gain information about your dream client
• Learn how to set up a Company Page for your own business or practice and learn how to attract customers
• and more...

Participants will have ample opportunity to get their own questions answered in this informative and interactive workshop!  Find out what previous participants had to say about this workshop.

Your workshop leader:

Anita Windisman is the founder and President of One of a Kind Marketing where the philosophy is building business relationships one at a time through social media.  The company specializes in providing LinkedIn training for business professionals and corporations who seek to grow their practice or customer base using online tools.

Anita has over 18 years of experience in sales and marketing, with the last 14 focused in the online sector.  She was the former Director of Marketing & Communications - Canada at Quebecor World and has worked with companies such as Toronto Hydro Energy Services and Royal LePage, and on such brands as Levi Strauss Canada and The Home Depot Canada.   An avid Tweeter, Anita holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.  She frequently speaks at industry events and conferences and is the author of the book Business Lessons I Learned from Barbie.