How Do You Run LinkedIn Lead Generation for Your Marketing Agency?

If you want to add LinkedIn lead generation and personal branding as a real, repeatable service inside your agency, you need more than “post more” and “send more DMs.” You need a system you can run weekly, report on monthly, and improve without turning your team into spammers.

Below is a practical, agency-friendly playbook written to you, not about you. It works whether you’re generating leads for your own agency or delivering lead gen for clients.

First, define what “LinkedIn lead generation” means for you

Before you touch tactics, get clear on these decisions:

• Are you generating leads for your agency (selling your services), or for a client (selling their product or service)?

• Is this founder-led personal branding (a person is the channel), company-led (company page, ads, employee advocacy), or both?

• What counts as a lead for you: a booked call, an inbound DM, a form fill, an email capture, an event signup?
  

Why this matters: your workflow changes depending on whether you’re building warm inbound demand or starting outbound conversations.

A simple way to keep it straight:

• Personal branding is your trust engine.

• LinkedIn lead generation is targeting, distribution, and conversion.

• You usually want both running together.
  

Step 1: Tighten your offer so LinkedIn lead generation has something to sell

LinkedIn does not fix vague positioning. If your offer sounds like everyone else’s, your content blends in and your DMs feel generic.

Use this quick checklist:

• Who exactly do you help? (industry, role, company size, region)

• What problem do they already know they have?

• What outcome do they want in 30 to 90 days?

• What is your point of view, meaning how you do it differently?
  

If you want a straightforward positioning reference, April Dunford’s positioning work is a solid place to start.

Step 2: Optimize your profile like a landing page, not a resume

When someone clicks your name, your profile should answer in seconds:

• Who you help

• What you help them achieve

• What to do next
  

Priority edits, in order:

1. Banner: one clear message, who it’s for, one credibility point

2. Headline: your value proposition, not just your title

3. About: write like a human, add proof, end with a simple CTA

4. Featured: 1 to 3 proof assets (case study, teardown, guide, booking link)

5. Experience: outcomes and results, not task lists
   

For official feature explanations and how the platform behaves, use LinkedIn’s Help Center as your reference.

Step 3: Build a content system you can actually maintain

You do not need to post daily. You do need consistency.

A sustainable baseline for most agencies:

• 3 posts per week from the founder or a key operator

• 1 proof asset per month (case study, teardown, guide, webinar, doc or carousel)

• Daily engagement: 10 to 20 minutes commenting on the right people
  

Content pillars that convert well:

• Proof: results, lessons, “here’s what changed when…”

• Process: your framework, your audit approach, your diagnostic steps

• Perspective: what most people get wrong, tradeoffs, unpopular truths

• People: values and behind-the-scenes, without oversharing
  

When you need content ideas and platform-native best practices, LinkedIn’s Marketing Blog is a useful prompt library.

If you want a reliable, non-hype introduction to persuasion principles for messaging and hooks, this APA episode is a good starting point.

Step 4: Pick your lane for LinkedIn lead generation

Option A: Inbound (content-led)

This compounds over time.

How it works:

• You publish consistently

• The right people see it

• They click through to your profile

• They DM you or take the next step
  

Simple conversion boosters:

• End posts with a clear CTA (“Comment ‘checklist’ and I’ll send it.”)

• Use a lead magnet that matches your offer (audit template, teardown, playbook)

• Call out the audience directly (“If you’re a B2B founder hiring SDRs…”)
  

Option B: Outbound (conversation-led)

This is faster, but only if you follow rules that keep it human.

A clean outbound flow:

1. Connect with a short reason (no pitch)

2. Start a real conversation (context + one question)

3. Qualify gently

4. Offer something useful (quick observation, resource, teardown)

5. Suggest a call only when it makes sense
   

Avoid:

• pitching inside the connection request

• copy-paste walls of text

• asking for 30 minutes with no value exchanged
  

If you want to stay aligned with platform policies, read LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies.

Option C: Hybrid (recommended)

• Content builds credibility

• Outbound creates volume

• Together they create predictable pipeline
  

Step 5: Build a real targeting process (with or without Sales Navigator)

You can run strong LinkedIn lead generation even before you invest in extra tools, as long as your targeting is consistent.

Targeting questions:

• Which titles actually buy this?

• Which industries convert best for you?

• What company size can afford you?

• What keywords show intent? (examples: “hiring SDR,” “demand gen,” “revops,” “founder”)
  

Then build a list and work it weekly:

• reasonable new connections per day

• follow-ups per day

• profile views to target accounts

• comments on target accounts
  

Step 6: Measure what matters so you can show ROI

If you only track likes and impressions, you will struggle to prove impact. Track the path from activity to revenue.

Track weekly:

• connection acceptance rate

• replies (not just messages sent)

• conversations started

• calls booked

• deals created

• deals closed (even if LinkedIn is “assisted attribution”)
  

Track monthly:

• top-performing themes

• profile views and inbound DMs

• time cost versus revenue influenced
  

If you manage multiple clients, a simple dashboard in Sheets, Notion, or your CRM is enough. The point is to report movement, not vanity.

Step 7: Keep it human, because LinkedIn is still relationships

Your edge is not “more automation.” Your edge is sounding like a person who actually looked.

Try questions like:

• “What’s the main focus this quarter: pipeline, hiring, or retention?”

• “Is LinkedIn already a channel for you, or are you starting fresh?”

• “What’s been the biggest blocker: time, consistency, or clarity on what to post?”
  

Most decision-makers ignore you when the message feels like it could have been sent to anyone.

A simple 30-day LinkedIn lead generation plan you can run

Week 1: Foundation

• clarify offer and niche

• rewrite profile

• build a target list (50 to 200 people)
  

Week 2: Content baseline

• publish 3 posts

• create 1 proof asset

• comment daily on 10 relevant posts
  

Week 3: Outbound starts

• send a reasonable number of targeted connections per day

• start 5 to 10 real conversations per day

• offer a helpful insight or resource, not a pitch
  

Week 4: Conversion

• follow up politely with spacing

• book calls

• document which angles got replies

• turn wins and objections into content
  

Read more on our blog and follow us on LinkedIn:

EXEED Digitals