Today’s PR pros have something of a conundrum on their hands when it comes to choosing platforms for outreach purposes. It is not a case of being limited in any way, but rather of having to choose where to focus your efforts when presented with a variety of options.
Then there is the challenge of using the services you pick efficiently, without getting bogged down in tedious admin tasks. Thankfully a killer combination of LinkedIn and specialized, automation-enhanced software can streamline and accelerate outreach efforts, getting you the results you crave in less time and with less effort required.
If this all sounds too good to be true, read on for a run through of the beneficial features of modern LinkedIn outreach automation solutions.
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Outreach is labor-intensive and automation eliminates this
When you work in PR, it can feel like your day-to-day duties involve keeping several plates spinning at once.
So while outreach may be crucial for building and maintaining the relationships that help campaigns gain traction, if it takes up too much of your working day, it can actually hamper productivity.
Coupled with the fact that repetition when touching base with prospects on LinkedIn can become mind-numbing, and the need for automation should be obvious.
Whether you want to start establishing a relationship with just a handful of industry movers and shakers, or you are hoping to encompass hundreds of contacts with your latest campaign, software makes this a breeze.
Top platforms can scale to meet your needs, not only in terms of the first message you send but even to factor in follow-up interactions. So while it will require some work to set up a campaign to run as intended, once the wheels are set in motion, the automation can take the reins and allow you to turn your attention to other pressing matters.
Targeted outreach is easier if you automate
Another point to make about PR outreach on LinkedIn is that even finding suitable contacts to court in the first place is far from a cakewalk.
You might find that with the number of variables in play, and the sheer scope of the individuals with accounts on this service, homing in on the best prospects for relationship-building is a burden.
As you might expect, automation software shoulders the load for you. Tweak a few parameters and you will be able to narrow down the types of accounts you are targeting at any one time. This can be especially sensible if the campaign in question is of great interest to a specific niche, but with limited appeal outside of this.
It all comes down to making the right first impression. If you go too broad with your outreach, then you may put off prospects that aren’t the right fit for a campaign, because of course it will be obvious that you are taking a scattergun approach.
On the other hand, if you use software tools to dissect the LinkedIn community and extrapolate ideal candidates, your hit rate will be significantly higher.
Personalization is child’s play
A common misconception about automation software is that you will need to rely on a cookie cutter message to make the most efficient use of it during LinkedIn outreach. In reality, if you pick the right package, you can still craft personalized messages without needing to pour hours of your time into this process.
Clever keyword capturing techniques, for example, mean that an impressive amount of this personalization can be automated in its own right.
You can of course go in and make adjustments if you want to, and this might be sensible if you feel like the prospect in question is particularly valuable.
Whatever the case, you should be able to appreciate that your PR outreach on LinkedIn can still feel human and genuine, even if automation software is at the heart of it.
Analytics will guide you toward future improvements
Even with the power of automation at your disposal, it is not possible to get everything right when running a complex PR campaign. However, the additional advantage of using software to manage this for you is that you can also delve into detailed analytics of many metrics.
Data tools combined with reporting capabilities will help you visualize the shape of your campaign, pinpoint any problems and work out how to solve them in the future.
Not only will this mean that you can enjoy better results with subsequent campaigns, but you can also create them more quickly and manage them more efficiently.
Complexity will shrink through customization
As well as being able to personalize outreach messages on LinkedIn, automation software should allow you to customize the way you manage your campaigns at a granular level.
This not only means adjusting the way that messages you receive are filtered in your inbox, but also integrating your campaign data with other platforms you may be using, like a CRM.
The unifying potential of a good LinkedIn automation software suite is impossible to underestimate, and difficult to appreciate in full until you have experienced it first hand.
Final thoughts
If PR outreach is proving a problem, especially on LinkedIn, then you don’t need to suffer in silence any longer.
A raft of rival software solutions are available right now, with embedded automation abilities allowing users to do more with fewer resources.
And because of the aforementioned scalability that these tools afford, it does not matter whether you are a PR freelancer or part of a large team at a major corporation; automation can make your life easier regardless of your circumstances.
There are still feature sets to compare and costs to consider, because of course you will want to get a good return on your investment. There is also a learning curve to using automation effectively, especially for PR pros who are used to a more hands-on approach.
Even so, in the long run the benefits will far outweigh any initial uncertainties, so there has never been a better time to adopt.