FOR CONSULTANTS & ADVISERS
How does video marketing for consultants build trust?
Why video helps advisers win trust, which types of film work, where to use them and how to feel comfortable on camera.
A hands-on guide for UK consultants on getting LinkedIn right: a clear profile, useful content, genuine engagement and messages that do not feel like spam.
LinkedIn for consultants works best when four things line up. You need a profile that says who you help and how, regular posts that show how you think, real conversations in other people’s comments, and polite, personal messages that never read as pitches. Fix the profile first. Then post consistently, and treat every interaction as a chance to be useful.
Most people buying consultancy don’t hire a stranger. They hire someone they’ve seen or heard, or been told about by a contact, and then they check that person’s profile. For a lot of independent consultants and small consultancies in the UK, that checking happens on LinkedIn, which is why getting LinkedIn for consultants right pays off.
This guide covers the four parts that count: your profile, your content, your engagement and your direct messages. It’s down to earth with nothing clever in it. It suits a busy person with a few spare hours a week.
Treat your profile as a landing page. It isn’t a CV. Within a few seconds a visitor should understand who you help, what you help them with and what to do next. Work through these parts in order.
Your headline shows up next to every post and comment you make, so it carries a lot of weight. Don’t settle for a bare job title. Say who you help and the result you get them, for example “I help owner-managed manufacturers cut costs without cutting quality”. Use a recent, well-lit photo where you look approachable. A professional brand photography session pays for itself here, since the same pictures can go on your website and proposals.
Write in the first person and talk straight to the reader. Open with the problem your clients have and explain how you solve it. Mention the kinds of organisation you work with, then finish with a clear invitation, such as how to book a call. Keep it short. Keep it plain.
LinkedIn’s Help Centre says the Featured section lets you show samples of your work. You can feature posts and articles, external links such as a website or portfolio, or files you upload, from images and documents to presentations and videos. For a consultant, a short case study makes a strong pairing with a downloadable guide. Add a link to your booking page and you’ve got a useful set.
You can also add a Services section to your profile. According to LinkedIn’s Help Centre, you list the services you offer, can add an About description, and can choose to display a starting hourly rate or “Contact for pricing”. A few extras, like adding media or displaying reviews, need a Premium Business, Sales Navigator or Recruiter Lite subscription. The section is optional. It’s worth filling in if you want to be found for particular services.
Post about the problems your clients have. Your firm is far less interesting to them. A mix that works is a third teaching (a lesson, a checklist, a mistake you see all the time), a third showing your thinking (an opinion on something happening in your sector) and a third showing proof (a client story told without breaking confidence, or a project result once the client says yes).
Write the way you’d talk to a client. Use short paragraphs and one idea per post. Make your point in the first two lines, because that’s all most people see before deciding whether to read on. If you’d prefer not to plan all this alone, our social media management for consultants takes the planning off you.
Never share anything confidential. You need written permission before naming a client or sharing their figures or situation, and plenty of consultants simply change the details so nobody can be identified.
Posting is half the job. The other half is turning up where your buyers already spend time. Block out 15 minutes a day and do three things:
Other people’s audiences see your comments, and that’s often how a new contact first notices you.
The test is simple. Would you welcome the message if someone sent it to you? Steer clear of the automated pitch that lands seconds after you accept a connection, and build these habits instead.
Data protection rules still apply when you approach businesses. The ICO notes that UK GDPR applies whenever you process personal data, including data that identifies someone in a business role. It adds that being publicly available doesn’t mean a person has agreed to marketing. The ICO also says the page is under review, so check it before you plan any structured outreach. For the wider picture, read our overview of marketing for consultants.
Doing it yourself costs least, and your voice is hard to fake. It’s also the first thing to slide when client work piles up. A middle path is to keep the thinking and the conversations yourself while someone else does the planning and drafting, along with the scheduling and reporting. Done well, the posts still sound like you, because they’re built from your own views and the way you phrase things.
If you go down that route, agree the topics up front and review every draft before it goes out. Keep a simple record of what you’ve signed off.
We run social media management for consultants with a focus on LinkedIn. That covers strategy and content, plus ghost-written posts in your voice. We handle the publishing and reporting as well. You stay in charge of what goes out under your name. Before any work begins, we agree a clear brief and scope with you, along with the fee.
For many, yes, because business buyers tend to look at a profile before they reply or book a call. You don’t need a huge following. A clear profile and a few useful posts each week, plus real conversations with the right people, can be enough to start enquiries coming in.
No. LinkedIn says some Services features, such as adding media, need a Premium Business, Sales Navigator or Recruiter Lite subscription. They’re extras, though. A clear profile and regular posting count for far more than whichever subscription you hold, and so do good conversations.
For most independent consultants the personal profile does the heavy lifting, because people connect with people. A company page still helps with credibility and gives staff something to link to. Expect your own posts to be where conversations start, though.
Think in months. Weeks won’t tell you much. The early signs are more profile visits and connection requests from the right people, plus replies to your posts. Enquiries usually follow once people have seen you several times and trust you, so judge progress over a quarter, not a fortnight.
Yes, and lots of busy professionals do exactly that. A good writer interviews you and studies how you speak. They draft posts in your voice and send them to you for approval before anything is published. You’re still the author in the way that counts, because the views are yours.
Why video helps advisers win trust, which types of film work, where to use them and how to feel comfortable on camera.
What thought leadership is for consultants, how to find a point of view, which formats suit you and how to prove your expertise.
How independent consultants can rank for the services and problems they solve, using topic pages, genuine expertise signals and earned links.
Four quick questions, and we’ll show you where we’d start. Your answers come straight to us with your message, so you won’t have to explain it twice.
A 30-minute introduction call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Your answers come with the booking, so we’ll be ready for you.
Prefer to talk it through? Make an appointment for a 30-minute call on Microsoft Teams, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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