As the top platform for professionals, LinkedIn has the versatility and functionality to help you reach your sales and marketing goals. In today's episode, Ricardo is joined by Sheryl Cattell, a digital marketer turned life coach, to learn how professionals can leverage LinkedIn to develop a personal brand, find more prospects, or do whatever else they need.

Sheryl's start in marketing was unplanned.

• She wanted to go into sales in college but found it very difficult.
• When marketing opportunities presented themselves, she jumped on them, and later got her MBA with a marketing focus.
• While she enjoyed marketing, Sheryl shifted perspectives when she realized she wanted to make a difference rather than focus on making companies money.
• After losing her job due to covid, she began life coaching to help other people figure out and then accomplish what they want in life.

Sheryl is the queen on LinkedIn.

• Once upon a time, LinkedIn was just where you went when you needed a job. That is no longer the case.
• LinkedIn is now the single largest social media networking platform for B2B companies, with about 50% of all B2B traffic coming from the platform.
• People can use it to develop relationships and engagement with prospects, colleagues, and even thought leaders.
• With creator mode, live streaming, and events, many assets within the platform make it continually more useful.

Who is LinkedIn for?

• LinkedIn is for companies to help improve the credibility of their sales team and their company to have a united, organized front.
• Part of what makes LinkedIn so successful is that there is no real competitor right now, LinkedIn singlehandedly dominates.

Sheryl's practical LinkedIn tips:

• Have a quality, professional profile and header photo. For the header consider templates on Canva, a collage of your favorite things, or something meaningful to you.
• Use Remove.bg to get rid of photo backgrounds if you don't have a headshot.
• Your default title will be your current position at your current company. Rather than utilizing the default, write a story about you and why you are unique.
• Your "About" section is your keyword repository. Anything you want to be searched for should be in this section. And use the first person in this section rather than the third.
• If you have a business page, she recommends you do 95% of your efforts on your personal page and only about 5% of efforts on the business page.

LinkedIn can be integrated with other tools.

• However, 94% of people use the free version of LinkedIn.
• Sales Navigator has a lot of value, but you don't invest the money until you fully leverage the free tools. But there's a place for it.
• At this point in the world, LinkedIn is as essential as a business card at a networking event.

Hiring a life coach can help you.

• There's a lot of hesitancy about hiring a life coach. But if you've ever hired a personal trainer to work on your body, consider hiring a coach to work on your life.
• They provide an accountability partner and can help save years of trial and error.
• It doesn't even have to be Sheryl!

Sheryl's Books and Podcast Recommendations:

• Atomic Habits by James Clear
• Start With Why Simon Sinek
• Mental Equivalence Emmet Fox
• The Happiness Lab by Dr. Laurie Santos
• Follow Dennis Yu for great Clubhouse rooms

Final plug? She's recently signed an agreement to develop a BizHack class on LinkedIn, so be on the lookout for that in the coming months. To contact Sheryl, visit her life coaching website, LinkedIn, or check out bizhack.com when her course is released.