linkedin headline screen example viveka von rosen

How to Enhance Your LinkedIn Headline

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

One of the first things people see on LinkedIn, whether they are looking at your profile, a comment you shared or an update, is your LinkedIn headline.

More than Your Title

linkedin profile screenshot mario martinez jr. headline

Your LinkedIn headline should be more than just your title at your company. I mean, let’s face it… my title is CVO and my company is Vengreso. If you didn’t know me, neither of those things would mean anything to you. And I would have missed out on a huge opportunity to communicate with my audience. Your LinkedIn headline must attract a relevant audience.

Did you know your professional #LinkedIn headline is an opportunity to grab the attention of your #prospects and draw them in to view your #profile?🤫 Learn how to enhance your headline with @linkedinexpert Click To Tweet

Your professional LinkedIn headline is an opportunity to grab the attention of your prospects and draw them in to view your profile. Unfortunately, many sales reps using LinkedIn Sales Navigator miss this opportunity to get people to click on their profile.

When you first sign up for LinkedIn, whether it’d be on LinkedIn Premium and Freemium, it asks for your title and the company you work for. And that’s what goes, by default, into your LinkedIn headline. Not only that, but when you add a new title and company to your profile because of a promotion or new job, LinkedIn asks to make that your new headline by default. But as you can see by my example above, “CVO of Vengreso”, your title and headline might not be doing much to encourage people to engage with you. “Helping Entrepreneurs, Salespeople and the 1 Billion Knowledge Workers to be More #Productive!” tells people who we help and how we help them.

For example, by default, your LinkedIn headline might read: “Account Exec at XYZ Corp”. Your potential client doesn’t care that you’re an Account Executive. Using your job title as your LinkedIn headline is me-focused and everything about your profile should be buyer-focused.

Why You Need Buyer Centric LinkedIn Headlines

Sales leaders, sales reps, entrepreneurs and marketers still need help creating the perfect buyer-centric profile as a LinkedIn user. Regardless of how many LinkedIn profile transformations we perform, we always receive remarkably similar questions when it comes to creating a LinkedIn profile headline:

  • What are the key elements?
  • How can I communicate instant value?
  • Can you provide any tips?

linkedin profile screenshot stan robinson jr

Look no further! Here, we’ll provide a step-by-step approach to writing a good LinkedIn headline to help you attract more relevant LinkedIn connections and clients. Whether you are trying to target B2B or B2C companies, non-profits or are looking for a job! We’ll also include real life examples from our own clients and friends to help to get your creative juices flowing when creating your new LinkedIn headline.

When looking at a heat map, the first thing people’s eyes go to are your  LinkedIn photo. (So make sure to have one). But while one of the most important parts of creating a buyer-centric LinkedIn profile that is focused on building trust is by having a proper photo, what’s number two?

Your headline!

Naturally, eyes drift from your photo to your headline. Your headline is one of the first places people look. So how do you enhance your LinkedIn headline to entice your potential buyer to click into your profile? We’ve got you covered:

A Buyer-Centric Headline

The first lesson if you work on sales or marketing and want to use your LinkedIn profile as a lead magnet is:

Don’t Do ¡˥∀WɹON

Most of your competitors are probably using their current job title for their LinkedIn headline. And that’s not helping them win friends and influence people!

Your potential buyers don’t care about your title. More importantly, they can be instantly turned off when they see a headline like “Sales Account Executive” or “Account Manager” – which can hurt LinkedIn profile visibility. Why? They now see “just another salesperson trying to prospect,” instead of a relevant connections sharing the information they need to make informed decisions.

So what can you do?

If You’re Not Looking for a Job…

Remember, if you’re happy in your current position, then your LinkedIn profile should not be constructed to read like a resume. You are not a job seeker. The last thing you want is a prospect heading over to your profile on LinkedIn and assume that you are looking for a job after reading your LinkedIn headline! They are not going to trust you with their business if they think you are looking for a job and getting ready to fly the coop.

Instead, consider positioning your profile – starting with your best LinkedIn headline – as a buyers’ resource page, and then secondarily, as your personal branding page.

What do we mean by this?

Simply that your whole profile, starting with your LinkedIn headline, should focus on the buyer, their challenges, and then how you can help with those challenges. And you need to do it in a way that really stands out from everyone else out there.

Hopefully, after reading this article, you won’t do ˥∀WɹON because you’ll understand that the objective with your LinkedIn headline is to showcase who and how you help in 220 characters or less. (It used to be 120 characters, but now you have even more real estate to work with).

With the additional characters you can usually include your company name in the headline as well. Further down, we’ll review some LinkedIn headline examples to reveal how these elements come together.

Your objective is to create an enticing profile that addresses the specific challenges of your potential buyer. This is a key element of our Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Profiles for Sales Professionals. Your buyers are searching for solutions to their business problems. When your LinkedIn profile addresses their concerns, you’ll gain more appointments. But first, they have to click through to your profile.

Your headline allows you 220 characters to show your potential buyers how you’re going to help them. With a professional headshot and a buyer-centric headline that shows who you help and how you help, you’ll entice more visitors to your profile. This is one of the trigger events we cover in our online LinkedIn Sales Mastery training.

Watch this video to see why your LinkedIn profile is so important if you are in sales.

Writing a LinkedIn Headline

Your headline should be an irresistible Call-to-Action that identifies:

  1. Who you help
  2. Their Point of Pain or Challenge
  3. How you solve their problems

Your goal is to get your potential buyers to click through and give your profile a fighting chance to encourage further engagement. Remember, you want to turn your profile into a machine for lead generation for everyone, not just people using LinkedIn Recruiter. So let’s write the best LinkedIn headlines now!

Elements of a Buyer-Centric LinkedIn Profile Headline

linkedin profile screenshot lori gabriel gama

A buyer-centric LinkedIn profile headline contains:

  1. Power verb
  2. Relevant keywords for LinkedIn Profile optimization
  3. Identifies your target audience (Who you help)
  4. Communicates value (How you help)
  5. Your company website without the “www” (if there’s room)

Now, your potential buyers have the information they need to make a decision if they want to see more. Don’t forget, you only have 220 characters. Make sure you’re economical with your words and you completely understand what problem you solve for your targeted buyers.

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Sales Reps

Look at what other “normal” sales reps are writing in their headline:

  1. Global Account Manager at Company ABC
  2. B2B Account Executive – West Coast at Company XYZ
  3. Internet Marketer

Now say it with me: “Don’t do ¡˥∀WɹON”

Our own Students:

Take a look at some examples from some of the clients who have gone through our LinkedIn Profile Optimization and now have amazing great LinkedIn headlines:

  1. Delivering an Infrastructure Refresh Strategy so You Can Stay in Control of Your IT Lifecycle Management | Cisco Capital
  2. Supporting Enterprises in IT cost reductions & Licensing Optimization Support | Sales Director | NPIFinancial.com
  3. Helping Businesses Lower Indirect Spending Through Discounts with Our GPO Programs & Procurement Expertise | CenterPoint
  4. Providing Management Consulting to Accelerate IT Transformation for Leading Organizations | ThinkWGroup.com
  5. Empowering Sales Leaders, Reps and Small Businesses to Connect with Modern Buyers Through Social Selling | Vengreso

Of course, LinkedIn isn’t just for sales people. Here are some great examples of how Entrepreneurs can use LinkedIn. Let’s take a look at some other LinkedIn headline examples according to their roles.

Get the best #tips & tricks to amp up your #Linkedin #Profile #Headline from the @LinkedinExpert hersefl! 👏 #linkedinprofile #linkedintips Click To Tweet

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats, including executive, sales, marketing and thought leader! As such, while you want to make sure you address your buyer and their point of pain you can choose to start with that or as an exec begin, like George, with your title.

linkedin profile screenshot george c huang

Founder & Chief Rocket Surgeon ♦︎ Stronger Cash Flow + More Profit for Entrepreneurs Motivated to Scale ♦︎ MoreProfitRocket.com

I love how Tina stitches her header image and headline to make a cohesive message. In it she has several calls to action, to become a partner and to download the License Partner Roadmap. She also shares who she helps and how she helps them: “Help Entrepreneurs & CEO’s share ideas, solve challenges and grow together.”

linkedin profile screenshot tina corner stolz

Become a LXCouncil Licensed Partner | The Global Leader in Peer Advisory Councils | Help Entrepreneurs & CEO’s share ideas, solve challenges and grow together | Download The License Partner Roadmap 👇🏻

https://www.lxcouncil.com/

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Thought Leaders

As a thought leader, you should use your LinkedIn profile to showcase your expertise.

linkedin profile screenshot jeffrey e reevesIn the image above, you can see that Jeffrey suggest that: “Life is the Outcome of Your Decisions. While There are Decision Engines in Business, There are None for Individuals. I Provide That Engine | Coach, Advisor, Teacher, and Guide | Decisions Without the Limitations of a Box”. I love how his statement gets the viewer to pause and think about the fact that “Life is the Outcome of Your Decisions” and then speaks to a unique solution. Which is also his thought leadership.

Rico is a thought leader in his very specific Restoration industry. His podcast helps Restoration business owners dominate their market by taking control of their brand, marketing & sales. Not only that, but he adds the CTA to DM him to learn more:linkedin profile screenshot ricardo garcia jr

I Help Restoration Business Owners Dominate Their Market by Taking Control of Your Brand, Marketing & Sales. DM me to learn more | Podcast Host for Restoration Domination | Course Creator & Coach | Founder of EcoTek Pro

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Executives

If you are an executive at your company, of course it is fine to lead with your title. But you still want people to know who you help and how you help them.

In her Linkedin headline, Sandy establishes the raison d’etre of ASCD – empowering all educators. She also pulls in AVID, which AVID helps students overcome obstacles and achieve success. And combines them both in her headline.

linkedin profile screenshot sandra husk

Chief Executive Officer | Changing the Way Children & Educators are Educated and Educate | Making the World a Better Place | Board Member | Always Be Learning (Abl) | ASCD | Avid.org

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Marketers

One wouldn’t expect any less from marketers than to make full use of the branding benefits LinkedIn offers. And yet you will find that the LinkedIn headlines of most marketers are subpar at best. But not the following examples.

In the first one, Chris uses all the elements of a good LinkedIn headline including his title, what Pipeline 44 does: “Straight To The Point Digital Marketing Education & Agency Services”, who they help, and how they have gotten there. As well as a few emojis for visual interest!

linkedin profile screenshot chris taylor

CMO at Pipeline 44 | Straight To The Point Digital Marketing Education & Agency Services | Here To Share Every Step Of Our Business Journey. 250 Clients & Counting, But This isn’t all ☀️ & 🌈! Great To Meet You.

In the LinkedIn headline example below, Jerome does a great job of marrying his background image, photo and LinkedIn headline. As global VP of Marketing and CMO, (it’s important to have both because he has both a US and European market, and they address heads of Marketing differently,) he transforms brands and organizations for the future, creating Consumer-Centric, Global Business Growth models that meet Digitization & Sustainability Challenges. Want to know more about it? Then keep reading his profile!

linkedin profile screenshot Jerome Butez

Global VP of Marketing | Chief Marketing Officer | BU Lead | Transforming Brands & Organizations for the Future | Creating Consumer-Centric, Global Business Growth Models Meeting Digitization & Sustainability Challenges

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Authors

Our very own Debra Eckerling is both a Thought Leader and an author!

linkedin profile screenshot debra eckerling

You can easily see who she helps and how she helps. And she differentiates herself not only with her topic, but her expertise citing both her award winning book and Ted Talk. All in 220 characters! (See how happy we are that they expanded the 120 characters limit?) She also does a great job of pulling her background image and title together.

Specializing in Goal-Setting Simplified & Event Outcome Optimization for Teams, Entrepreneurs & Consultants | Workshop Leader | TEDx Speaker | Award-Winning Author: Your Goal Guide | TheDEBMethod.com/goals

Below we see Author and Thought Leader Bernadette McClelland differentiate her book and subject matter expertise – moving beyond storytelling to storySELLING! That speaks to a lot more than just “Founder of 3 Red Folders”!

linkedin profile screenshot bernadette mcclelland

Bringing StorySELLING (not just storytelling) to the B2B sales conversation so that revenues increase without sacrificing profitability

LinkedIn Headline Examples for Association Leaders

We love how Kurt not only shares the value of his association, but invites you to engage with him as a “free resource courtesy of Sonoma County DMO”

linkedin profile screenshot kurt shaver

SO many great headline examples! So little time! Make sure to share your favorite Professional LinkedIn headline in comments below 👇🏻

So let’s go back over what we covered.

LinkedIn Headline Checklist

Now ask yourself – do the above examples contain:

  1. Power verb:
    • The Answer: Yes
  2. Keywords for searches within LinkedIn and for Google
    • The Answer: Yes
  3. Identifies the Target Audience (Who they help)
    • The Answer: Yes
  4. Communicates Value (How they help)
    • The Answer: Yes
  5. If enough room – Displays the Company Website (without the “www”)
    • The Answer: Yes

Create Your New Headline

When writing your headline, not only on LinkedIn, but in any social media platform, a good writing habit is to open a new Word document or Google doc and make a shortlist of words and phrases for each element (power verbs, keywords, who you help, and how you help). If you’re wondering what power verbs are, copywriters use persuasive verbs to trigger a response. Some examples are: deliver, help, advance, enhance, expand, and empower.

Other action words to amp up your LinkedIn Headline:

list of action words Action Words to Amp Up Your LinkedIn Headline Examples on purple background

Next, create three different good LinkedIn headlines that fit the criteria above. Make sure to keep track of the 220-character limit! What we’ve found is that when you’re stuck on one, it’s best to start a new headline. This technique has helped many of our trainees find words or phrases they can cut or help them come up with a new way (and shorter way!) of saying something.

Add some Visual Interest with Emojis

While I understand emojis aren’t for everyone, you can really make your LinkedIn headline pop by adding some emojis to it.

Check out the LinkedIn headline example below where Ivonne uses a branded orange circle to draw you eye👇🏻

linkedin profile screenshot ivonne ribeiro

You can see where I have used emojis combined with my Call to Action to encourage you to “click on the link below”:

And of course – you’ve already seen my headline with the emojis pointing out what to click on 👇🏻

Helping Entrepreneurs, Salespeople and the 1 Billion Knowledge Workers to be More #Productive ! | Click the link below👇🏻 to learn more about investing in FlyMSG.io 👐🏻 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐃𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞!

Change Your Font, Change Your Views

While you can’t technically change the font on any field within LinkedIn, there are third party apps that allow you to create a font that pops. You can see what I have done that with “𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬. 𝐃𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞!” How? A third party app.

There are a few different tools online that will help you do this. Just access the software, add your text and it will adjust your text to a different font, bold and/or italicize it. Then you can copy and paste the formatted text back into your LinkedIn Headline field. LinkedIn reads it as an emoji, so it won’t help with LinkedIn search results, but it will draw the eye of your audience. Consider some fun and funky text for your LinkedIn headlines!

One website where you can change your text is YayText https://yaytext.com/bold-italic/

YaYText example

How to Update Your LinkedIn Headline

So – now that you know WHAT to create for a LinkedIn headline, HOW do you add it to your profile?

It’s easy to change your headline on LinkedIn. The steps are the same on mobile or desktop:

  1. Go to your LinkedIn profile.
  2. Click the “edit” pencil below your background image.Linkedin headline example viveka von rosen pencil
  3. Under your name, you’ll see a section to edit your headline.
  4. Delete what is currently there.
  5. Add your new Headline following the tips above.
  6. Hit Save.linkedin headline update screenshot

To Review:

1. Identify WHO they help

2. Identify HOW they help

3. Begin with an action verb

4. Leverage keywords in your headline but never just insert keywords into the headline

5. If room allows add in this priority: “…| Title | CompanyName.com

But wait – there’s more!

Your 10 Second Mini Elevator Speech

Once you have your headline, why not use it as a script for the “Name Pronunciation” feature on LinkedIn. As the name describes, you can – or course – share your name. But, you can do so much more. You have 10 seconds to – you guessed it – tell people who you help and how you help them!

Click on the audio icon to hear my "mini elevator speech"

You can listen to a few different name pronunciations here. Just click on the audio icon:

www.linkedin.com/in/linkedinexpert/ 

www.linkedin.com/in/bernadettemcclelland/

www.linkedin.com/in/lorigama/

www.linkedin.com/in/mthreejr/

www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/

Learn how to use the LinkedIn name pronunciation feature with our own CEO, Mario Martinez, Jr. He will demonstrate not only to record and display your name on LinkedIn, but to also introduce yourself as subject matter expert to your audience to continue directing people to your profile.

Watch the video here:

LinkedIn name pronunciation is essentially a 10-second advertisement that someone can hear “right on your profile.” And you can use your LinkedIn headline as a script!

💥 This new LinkedIn feature will definitely make your profile look more professional for client prospecting.

Follow these LinkedIn tips and tricks, watch the whole video, and learn:

1. Step by step on how to set up your LinkedIn name pronunciation audio.

2. What to say in those 10 seconds

3. Best practices and tips to record your name on LinkedIn.

Learn to leverage your #Name Pronunciation #feature of your #Linkedin #profile as a mini elevator pitch & many more #Linkedin #NinjaTricks from @LinkedinExpert 🤯 Click To Tweet

Now It’s Your Turn

woman smiling in front of laptop with other people in the background talkingShare with us a great LinkedIn Headline example! But don’t stop with your headline, your whole LinkedIn profile, including your LinkedIn Summary, should attract buyers and start conversations with them. You should become a LinkedIn expert. Comment below your experience improving your headline!

Also, find out what you need to know to create the best first impression with your LinkedIn profile by downloading the Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn Profiles for Sales Professionals now!

Table of Contents

Copy + Paste is such a waste.

As your personal productivity app, FlyMSG automates the written word by removing the time drain it takes to find, copy, paste or write messages with just a few short keystrokes.
Add FlyMSG to Chrome. It's Free!