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LinkedIn Business Model (2022)| How does LinkedIn make money?

Last updated: Out 9, 2021

Company: LinkedIn (a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation) CEO:  Jeff Weiner Year founded: 2002 Headquarter:  Sunnyvale, California, USA Number of Employees (Dec 2018):  13,000 Members (2020) : 722 Million Acquisition cost (Dec 8, 2016): $ 27 Billion Annual Revenue ( June 2020): $ 8.05 Billion

Products & Services:  LinkedIn Company Pages | LinkedIn Groups | Marketing & Development Campaigns | LinkedIn Recruiter | LinkedIn Job Slots | LinkedIn Career Pages | LinkedIn Recruitment Ads | LinkedIn Sales Navigator Competitors:  Zip Recruiter | Indeed | Career Builder | Glassdoor | Hired | Jobs2Career | Monster | Dice | Simply Hired

The benefits that a site like LinkedIn has provided to the business world is limitless. Instead of having to go outside for recruitment, business expansion and maintenance of professional network, people can simply log on to its site and enact the same deeds.

As online presence continues to expand among Internet users, so does the necessity of LinkedIn.

As of November 2020, LinkedIn is the 57 th biggest website in the world in terms of engagement and ranked 24 th in terms of global traffic. LinkedIn user statistics indicate that it increased by over 32 million in 2020 alone from 690 in Q1 to 706 in Q2 and 722 in Q3 . The company is projected to attract users more rapidly once the ongoing crisis is over, and companies start rehiring. [ 1 ]

Let’s explore the business model canvas of LinkedIn in more detail.

Table of Contents

Business Model Canvas of LinkedIn

1. Customers of LinkedIn

LinkedIn operates under four customer segments.

• Professionals (Users) – The first one is comprised of Internet Users who can access its site online and create their own profiles.
• Recruiters – The next ones are the recruiters who are searching for those who show the most potential, promise, and talent.
• Advertisers and Marketers – The next one is the advertisers and marketers who make it their responsibility to reach senior decision makers as well as a wealthier audience.
• Third-party developers – Finally, there is a developer community who is interested in developing and deploying software tools by utilizing LinkedIn APIs.

2. Value Proposition of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has different value propositions for its various customer segments.

• It provides them with the opportunity to display their talents, professional skills as well as expertise.
• It enables them to build new contacts and relationships. Users can leverage newly unveiled features like ‘ View Page Followers ’ to see all their followers, instead of an aggregate number of followers and general demographics. This functionality also allows users to analyze whatever information is publicly available about their followers, which makes it easier to build new relationships. [ 2 ]
• Many of its users have utilized its platform to build their own brands and secure new recruitment.
• The best thing about the LinkedIn platform is that its free of charge for the most essential features. No dime needs to be spent. All LinkedIn is really concerned with is ensuring that its user engagement remains consistent. And that the value of its user profiles increases.
• Professionals and colleagues can connect, interact, and collaborate using the ‘ My Company ’ feature that was unveiled in 2020. It includes a feature that highlights the milestones achieved by each employee in different ongoing projects as well as trending content from coworkers. This feature also provides an informal meeting space for employees of one company to engage outside work and celebrate accomplishments like promotions. It also recommends colleagues with each other to make it easier for professionals to connect with like-minded people in their company. [ 3 ]
• SlideShare – It acts as a slide hosting free service where its users can upload their own content to be viewed publicly or privately in PDF, PowerPoint or any other format.
• LinkedIn acts as an effective tool for them to find their respective candidates and evaluate them accordingly. Recruiters can use the ‘Events’ tab, which makes it easier to access the virtual event functionality on LinkedIn. The update separates virtual events on its page to make it more accessible to recruiters seeking to hold small interviews, webinars, and one-on-one meetings with potential candidates. Since it was introduced in May 2020, more than 200,000 Virtual Events have been hosted on LinkedIn and attended by nearly 10 million people. [ 4 ]
• Its database has a wealth of information and resumes with references . All these resumes/ CVs are easy to find and structures at a professional level.
• For recruiters, their job has been made more convenient . They no longer have to go out and create candidate lists through word of mouth.
• With a network like LinkedIn in their arsenal, they can have a wider reach in their listing.
• the same data can be used by advertisers to access a targeted audience
• You simply need to locate the senior executives of your companies of choice in order to set up the targeted advertisement.
• It will function without posing much resistance from the executives.
• Finally, developers can create software tools and solutions by leveraging LinkedIn APIs.
• Often times, these software tools are hosted on third party websites to support customers.  

3. Customers Relationships of LinkedIn

• LinkedIn heavily relies on social networks to pursue its customer relationships. The more there are users on these networks the more it wants them to participate in its own.
• Normal users regard this as the same side network which symbolizes the importance of its users more than the site itself.
• All they require is a platform which LinkedIn provides with its own set of rules.
• The presence or absence of recruiters and advertisers do not affect the site in any way whatsoever.
• However, recruiters and advertisers are utilized with respect to the site’s cross-side network effects. Even in this case, the users hold more importance than the latter.

4. Channel of LinkedIn

• Self-Serve Platform – LinkedIn’s main channels are its website and mobile apps . This lets people access and engage with the site’s platform.
• Offline Field based Sales – The sales organization directly deals with large and small enterprise customers.

5. Key Activities of LinkedIn

• Platform Development – The key activity of LinkedIn revolves around platform development and adding new features. The number of monthly users is its essential drivers. Naturally, it requires a platform which can increase its user base. One where they remained active and engaged with. It needs to keep increasing that number to prevent its competition from disrupting its market and displacing its momentum. In 2020, LinkedIn introduced several features, including My Company, Virtual Events, and View Page , on the platform to enhance transparency and understanding about connections, followers, and the information shared on the platform. [ 5 ]
• Hire and retain talented employees.
• Protect user information and address privacy concerns.
• Develop a strategic partnership with enterprises and universities.
• Conduct business-related research – LinkedIn is an expert on global business trends and exploits its data to deliver meaningful research to help businesses and professionals. For instance, its latest research conducted in August 2020 reveals that 69% of C-level executives believe that navigating the health crisis is the most challenging experience of their career, and 32% have had to make difficult decisions to protect the future of their business and workforce. Professionals can benefit immensely from LinkedIn’s research. [ 6 ]

6. Key Resources of LinkedIn

• Platform – LinkedIn’s platform serves as its primary resource. It is what builds the networks and connections that allow users to access its digital landscape.
• Network Effects – Compared to its network effect and its value; the LinkedIn brand, its employees and even the monetization channels are next to nothing.

7. Key Partners of LinkedIn

LinkedIn has managed to cement its partnerships to expand its business. Some of its partners are: 

• Companies –LinkedIn provides a company page to all its member companies, which provides a holistic view of a particular company to its employees, for example, information such as who joined the company, previous title, etc. Also, the Human resource department of these companies gets premium access for recruitment, which includes job posting, advanced searches, InMail, Talent Pipeline, and project management features.
• Universities – Similarly, universities get a university page, which provides a common place to access information about prospective students, alumni, student groups, campus news, etc.
• Content Providers – Some of LinkedIn’s key partners include the authors and publishers who provide learning and skill-based development material on its Lynda platform.
• Influencers – LinkedIn with the help of influencers, also acts as a content distribution network. It utilizes the content of experts to connect with more users and ensure that they continue operating on its platform.
• Marketing & Sales application partners – Companies such as Workday , SAP , HubSpot , Oracle , Salesforce , Zoom , Adobe , Microsoft , etc. utilizes LinkedIn APIs to connect their sales and marketing application to the LinkedIn platform.

8. Cost Structure of LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s cost structure is primarily tied with its platform development, maintenance, and expansion.

  Product Development – Its product development cost includes:

• Salaries for developers, engineers, and product managers
• Consulting and external agencies cost

Sales and Marketing – It’s sales and marketing cost includes:

• Salaries, commission, stock-based compensation for sales and marketing employees
• Travel and customer acquisition cost
• Branding, marketing, and advertising cost
• Public relationship cost and more

General and Administrative – it’s General, and administration includes:

• Salaries and Stock-based compensation of executives, finance, human resource, legal and other administrative employees.
• Legal and accounting services cost
• Office facilities maintenance cost
• Other overhead costs

Cost of Revenue – its cost of revenue includes:

• Salaries of infrastructure, customer support, and operations team
• web hosting cost
• credit card processing cost
• Content related expense – Author royalty expense

Depreciation – Finally, depreciation cost includes the depreciation of:

• Computer equipment
• Capitalized Software development cost and more

9. Revenue Stream of LinkedIn

According to the annual report, LinkedIn’s revenue increased from about $5.3 Billion in FY2018 to $6.74 Billion in FY2019 and $8.05 Billion in FY2020 . [ 7 ]

Let’s see how LinkedIn makes money in more detail:

How Does LinkedIn Make Money?

LinkedIn primarily has three sources of revenue or monetized solutions:

• Talent solutions
• Marketing solutions
• Premium subscriptions

Let’s explore each in more detail:

1. Talent Solutions

The LinkedIn business model would not be able to function without $2.3 billions of its revenue. This amount is mostly contributed to its Talent Solutions which serves as its most important premium recruiting tool .

Talent solution mostly operates for companies to help them locate their targeted employees and potential partners for their business. Some of the common services offered by Talent Solutions include job posting , career pages , referrals , recruitment media , etc.

Talent Solutions basically acts as the employee poacher of LinkedIn and drives a competitive environment in its domain.

Moreover, LinkedIn is considered internationally authentic , it allows recruiters to trust different brands with less suspicion and make the recruitment process more convenient. This is why LinkedIn has managed to get the best of its competition whether it be in the form of job portals like Monster Jobs or Indeed.

Learning & Development

Lynda.com – Lynda operates as an eLearning platform . It utilizes a subscription-based model that enables its users to learn everything they want through videos whether it be about technology, business, software or creative skills.

Talent Connect – Talent Connect is an event organized by LinkedIn to give professionals with unique business ideas and hiring strategies to share their practices. The event brings together a wide variety of radical, disruptive, and innovative ideas to address the key challenges and shape the trends in the corporate world. Talent Connect 2020 was expected to be held in Boston from October 14 to 16 and focus on talent acquisition, learning and development, and HR practices. [ 8 ]

2. Marketing Solutions

LinkedIn is also a social networking site besides being a recruitment platform. It is currently the most sought-after site by marketers who seek to expand upon their marketing campaigns.

Their Marketing Solutions services provide various features which allow companies to create their own respective pages and create sponsored content to advance their marketing prospects. This also includes sponsored InMails, Ads API and text ads.

3. Premium Subscriptions

Mostly catered to users of LinkedIn, Premium subscriptions allow them to access certain features. Some of the more prominent features in the premium subscription are:

• Who’s Viewed Your Profile
• How You Rank
• Direct messages to Recruiter
• InMail messages
• Online video courses
• Salary insight
• Profinder – hire freelancer service
• Sales Navigator – helps sales professionals to find and qualify prospects

The price point for different premium subscription options are:

• Career – $ 29.99/ month
• Business – $ 47.99/ month
• Sales – $ 64.99/ month
• Recruiter Lite – $ 99.95/ month

The features offered under each subscription vary. For Premium Career, subscribers get 3 InMail messages per month, an option to see who viewed their profile, and information on companies that post jobs. They can also access learning material like video tutorials and use Resume Builder to create CVs. For Premium Business, subscribers get 15 InMail messages, advanced search filters, unlimited searches, on-demand learning, and additional company data. Subscribers on the Sales Navigator Pro plan have access to personalized lists of potential clients, 20 InMail messages, exclusive information about competitors, and some features offered under the Premium Business plan. Lastly, Recruiter Lite offers 30 InMail messages , automatic tracking of candidates, view unlimited profiles, tools for talent pool organization, up to eight premium search filters, and the features offered in previous plans like advanced search. [ 9 ]

In Conclusion

LinkedIn has become inseparable for the business community especially those who wish to reach the pinnacle of their careers. Its business model has been constructed with excellence and will continue to hold merit for its users in the long run.

All in all, it’s good will always outweigh the bad.

 References & more information

• Iqbal, M. (2020, Nov 6). LinkedIn Usage and Revenue Statistics (2020). Business of Apps
• Ahmed, A. (2020, Sept 4). LinkedIn is bringing three new features . Digital Information World
• Southern M. (2020, Sept 2). LinkedIn Adds 3 New Features to Company Pages . Social Engine Journal
• Ajay, D. (2020, Oct 20). What’s New With LinkedIn Pages . LinkedIn Business
• Valaitis, A. (2020, Sep 2). What’s New With LinkedIn Pages: “My Company” Tab, “Events” Tab, and View Page Followers . LinkedIn Business
• Laker, B. (2020, Sep 23). LinkedIn Research Reveals Rise Of Executive Imposter Syndrome . Forbes
• Clement, J. (2020, Sep 2). LinkedIn: annual revenue, 2017-2020 . Statista
• Anderson, B. (2020, February 27). Call for Speakers: Share Your Story at Talent Connect 2020 . LinkedIn Business
• Molina, G. (2020, Aug 10). LinkedIn Premium Cost and Benefits: Is it Worth it for your Business . Distant Job

 Tell us what you think? Did you find this article interesting? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.

Brianna Parker

She is a creative writer, corporate storyteller and global brand consultant, who has a unique combination of a business and creative mindset.

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Very helpful. Can’t even begin to explain just how so very.

Awesome information. Very finely written. No extra words. Just those which needed. Whoever wrote it…many thanks to him.

Thank you, glad you liked the article 🙂

Your article on the LinkedIn business model is informative and well-structured. I appreciate the clear explanation of how LinkedIn generates revenue.

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How to Build a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy [Free Template]

Build a LinkedIn strategy that will help you grow an engaged community and effectively promote your business on the leading professional network.

Table of Contents

Standing out online as a business owner is harder than ever. Not only are there more platforms, algorithms , and content types than ever before—but there are also more businesses competing for attention. In fact, more than 2.7 million companies post on LinkedIn, the most business-y of networks, every day.

Strategy matters, especially in the world of LinkedIn marketing. But, how do you know if you’re doing it right? What should you be prioritizing in order to leverage LinkedIn for your business or brand?

This cheat sheet will give you the do’s and dont’s of creating a stand-out LinkedIn marketing strategy, so you can get your brand noticed, followed, and loved.

Bonus: Get a LinkedIn marketing strategy template   to build and grow a winning presence on the platform. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is LinkedIn marketing?

LinkedIn marketing is the process of using the professional networking platform, LinkedIn, to promote and advertise your brand or business.

This can be done in a few different ways, from creating and sharing content, connecting with other professionals, joining groups and communities, and using paid advertising options.

Why is LinkedIn marketing important?

LinkedIn boasts over 950 million users , making it the largest professional networking platform in the world.

Not only that, but LinkedIn is also known for having a more engaged and affluent user base compared to other social media platforms.

This makes it an ideal platform for businesses and professionals looking to build their brands, generate leads, and establish thought leadership in their industry.

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

9 best practices and tips for LinkedIn marketing

Itching to get your LinkedIn strategy off the ground? Start with these best practices and tips.

1. Set clear goals

Like any marketing strategy, it’s important to have a clear goal for your LinkedIn presence. This could be anything from:

• Increasing brand awareness,
• Generating website leads, or
• Establishing thought leadership.

Once you have a goal, identify your target audience and tailor your content and messaging to appeal to them.

For example, if you’re an emerging entrepreneur looking to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, focus on sharing insights and knowledge related to your niche. If you’re a B2B business looking to generate leads, highlight case studies and customer success stories.

Keep in mind, people use LinkedIn differently from other social networks. Here’s are a few ways people use the platform:

• Keeping up with news and current events: 29.2%
• Following or researching brands and products: 26.9%
• Posting or sharing photos or videos: 17.7%
• Messaging friends and family: 14.6%
• Looking for funny or entertaining content: 13.8%

LinkedIn is also the social network most commonly used for recruiting, as well as the top platform for B2B lead generation.

Don’t know where to start? Check out our blog post on how to set goals for social media marketing .

2. Optimize your profile and page

No matter what goals you’re working towards, make sure you have a complete LinkedIn Page that takes advantage of all relevant tabs and sections. LinkedIn data shows that complete Pages get 30% more weekly views .

For larger organizations, Showcase Pages can be used as an extension of your main business page , to highlight specific business units, brands, or initiatives. For example, if you have an exciting Q4 campaign launching, or important resources you want to highlight, creating a Showcase Page can help draw attention to it.

Don’t let your main Page content get stale: LinkedIn recommends updating your cover image at least twice a year.

3. Share valuable content

LinkedIn is all about networking and building connections, so it’s important to share valuable content consistently . This could be blog posts, articles, videos, images, or even curated content from other sources.

The key is to provide value and insight to your audience , rather than just promoting your products or services.

Some tips for creating and sharing valuable content on LinkedIn include:

• Use eye-catching visual elements like images, videos, or infographics
• Share relevant industry news and trends
• Engage with other users’ content by commenting and liking
• Use hashtags to reach a wider audience

4. Understand your audience

LinkedIn user demographics differ from those of the other social platforms. LinkedIn users skew older and tend to have a higher income.

But that’s just a starting point. It’s important to understand who your specific audience is and what kind of information they’re looking for from your LinkedIn Page.

LinkedIn analytics are a good way to find the demographics specific to your audience. Within your Visitor and Follower dashboards, you can see what industries your followers are in, their job titles, and their location.

Use these insights to tailor your future content, but also to understand if your existing content is resonating with the right people.

For example, you might notice that your followers are mostly in the tech industry but most engaging with your posts about marketing.

5. Track and refine your performance

The best way to improve your LinkedIn strategy over time is to track and analyze the results of your efforts. LinkedIn Analytics provides a good overview of your page and post-performance, but platforms like Hootsuite Analytics help you go even deeper .

Use the insights from these tools to refine your LinkedIn marketing strategy . Experiment with different types of content, posting times, and messaging styles to see what resonates best with your audience.

For example, a quick look at your analytics might uncover that your page performance is dwindling .

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Did this happen just after you introduced a new content type? Or maybe a new campaign? Performance might also be the result of a recent algorithm update . Or, your audience engagement might be dropping off because you’re not actively engaging with them through comments or direct messaging .

All of these insights can help you make adjustments to your strategy and stay ahead of the curve.

Always remember to share your results ! Social media doesn’t exist in a silo, and sharing your LinkedIn marketing results with key stakeholders can help you gain buy-in for future initiatives and investments.

Hootsuite offers LinkedIn report templates you can customize and schedule to keep everyone in the loop.

6. Focus on leads, not sales

LinkedIn is more about social selling than social commerce . As mentioned earlier, it’s the top brand for B2B lead generation. It’s a perfect platform for building and nurturing connections that will lead to sales over time .

It’s less effective as a platform for spur-of-the-moment purchases. It’s just not the place people go when they’re looking for the latest trending items to buy.

So, rather than trying to sell directly on LinkedIn, focus on building relationships and credibility . Reach out when you see an opportunity, but offer expert advice rather than a hard sell. You’ll be front of mind when the time is right for a buyer to make the purchasing call.

That said, using LinkedIn to drive online sales is not impossible . If you want to take this approach, position your product or service in a business-appropriate context. It might be helpful to work with an appropriate influencer, KOL (key opinion leader) , or brand.

7. Build your employer brand

Building your employer brand is about more than just job postings. It’s all about showcasing what it’s like to work at your company so candidates feel motivated to join your team.

A strong employer brand makes life much easier for everyone working in your recruiting department. After all, no matter how great a particular role might sound, no one wants to work at a company that gives them doubts or seems like a poor cultural fit.

One of the best ways to show off your culture is to harness the enthusiasm of your existing employees. For example, at Hootsuite, employee advocacy accounts for 94% of organic employer brand content impressions. An employee advocacy tool makes it easy for employees to share approved brand content with their networks.

And a chorus of ringing endorsements of the corporate culture from people who work there provides exceptional social proof for potential new recruits.

Businesses can also add a Trending Employee Content galley to their LinkedIn Page. It’s based on associated hashtags, like this example from Google.

Source: Google on LinkedIn

8. Be human

LinkedIn research shows employee networks have an average of 10 times more connections than a company has followers. Not to mention, employee content gets twice as many click-throughs when posted by an employee rather than on the company’s business page.

On the recruiting front, employees are likely to have LinkedIn connections in their areas of expertise. When they share job opportunities, they reach a much more targeted audience than your LinkedIn company page.

That’s one of the many reasons why it’s important to include personal profiles in your LinkedIn marketing strategy. That might mean training your C-suite on how to use LinkedIn effectively for thought leadership content. Or it might mean encouraging your employees to share their work life on LinkedIn.

Remember that users can choose to follow personal profiles . This way, they see content from people they want to learn from but don’t know well enough to send a connection request. That further extends the reach of everyone who works for your company, from entry-level employees to the CEO.

Always make it easy for employees to share content on their LinkedIn profiles with an employee advocacy program. Hootsuite Amplify helps you manage and share approved content. You can also use this social media advocacy and marketing tool to measure results and increase employee engagement.

9. Engage with the community

Think of LinkedIn as a digital networking event. You wouldn’t just sit in the corner and wait for people to talk to you. You would actively join conversations, introduce yourself, and contribute valuable insights.

The same goes for LinkedIn marketing. It’s not enough to post content and hope people engage with it. Actively engaging with your audience shows that you value their opinions and are interested in building relationships.

Replying to comments on your posts, congratulating colleagues on their achievements, and showing support for those who may be newly looking for work are all ways to participate in the community and build a positive reputation .

Hootsuite Inbox makes it easy to stay on top of comments and direct messages on your LinkedIn content. You can also assign these tasks to team members or integrate your CRM for a complete view of your buyers’ interactions.

But don’t just focus on your own content. LinkedIn recommends sharing an update from an outside source and four pieces of content from others for every piece of self-promotional content you share. Using social listening streams in Hootsuite can help you find relevant content to share with your audience.

In addition, creating your own LinkedIn group can also help build your reputation as a thought leader and expand your network. Just make sure to actively contribute valuable insights instead of solely promoting yourself or your company. Remember, building relationships is key to long-term success on LinkedIn.

Manage all your messages stress-free with easy routing, saved replies, and friendly chatbots. Try Hootsuite’s Inbox today.

Paid LinkedIn marketing options

LinkedIn offers various paid options for businesses and professionals looking to reach a wider audience. Here are some of the most popular LinkedIn ads that can be used on LinkedIn.

Sponsored content ads

This type of ad allows you to promote your company’s content, such as blog posts or videos, directly in users’ feeds.

Currently, there are six types of sponsored content ads on LinkedIn:

Single image ads

Best for driving traffic to your website or landing page.

Source: LinkedIn

Carousel ads

Carousel ads allow you to include multiple images in one ad, which can be useful for showcasing products or telling a story.

Perfect for capturing attention and engaging viewers with dynamic visuals.

Promote your upcoming event and drive registrations directly within LinkedIn.

Document ads

Share your company’s whitepapers, case studies, or other informative materials with a targeted audience.

Thought leader ads

Target and promote content from influential industry professionals or thought leaders.

Sponsored messaging ads

LinkedIn’s sponsored messaging allows you to send personalized direct messages to targeted audiences , making it an effective way to nurture leads and drive conversions.

There are currently two types of sponsored messaging ads on LinkedIn:

1. Conversation ads: These use LinkedIn’s chatbot technology to deliver a guided experience for recipients.

2. Message ads: This allows you to send targeted direct messages with customizable CTAs.

Lead gen forms

With LinkedIn’s lead gen forms, you can collect valuable information from potential customers without them ever leaving the platform. Users simply click on your ad, and their profile information is automatically populated in a form they can submit with one click.

Text and dynamic ads

Text and dynamic ads allow you to create highly targeted and personalized ads based on user data , such as job title or company size. These can be an effective way to reach niche audiences with tailored messaging.

There are currently there types of text and dynamic ad options:

• Text ads: Simple, text-based ads that appear on the side of users’ LinkedIn pages.
• Spotlight ads: Great for sending direct traffic to your website or landing page with more prominent placement on users’ LinkedIn pages.
• Follower ads: Used to target and attract new followers for your LinkedIn Page.

How to create a LinkedIn marketing strategy

Now that you understand the various options available for LinkedIn marketing, it’s time to create a strategy.

Need help? Download our FREE LinkedIn marketing strategy template .

1. Define your objectives

Start by identifying your business objectives and how LinkedIn can help you achieve them. This could include increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry.

2. Identify your target audience

Use LinkedIn’s targeting options to identify who you want to reach with your content and ads . Consider factors such as job title, industry, seniority level, and location.

You may want to create two target audiences:

• The audience your content is currently reaching. Use this to determine the effectiveness of your current content strategy.
• The audience you would like to reach. Use this to identify any gaps in your current strategy and how you can adjust your content and targeting to better reach them.

3. Check out the competition

Take a look at what your competitors are doing on LinkedIn and identify any opportunities or gaps in their strategy. This can help you differentiate your content and stand out to potential customers.

4. Build a content calendar

Planning your content out in advance can help you stay on track and ensure you are consistently posting. Use a content calendar to map out what type of content you will post, when, and who will be responsible for creating it.

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5. Create great content

As mentioned earlier, consistently posting valuable and engaging content is key to successful LinkedIn marketing. Use a mix of written, visual, and video content to keep your audience engaged.

6. Prioritize audience engagement

Engaging with your audience is just as important as creating content. Make a plan for how you’ll respond to comments, messages, and mentions on LinkedIn. Set aside resources and talent to handle this aspect of your strategy.

7. Leverage LinkedIn-specific features

Your strategy should include utilizing LinkedIn features such as:

• Spotlight Pages
• Employee advocacy program
• LinkedIn newsletters
• LinkedIn events
• LinkedIn ad campaigns

Innovation on LinkedIn is constant, so it’s important to stay updated and take advantage of new features as they become available.

8. Measure and adjust

As with any marketing strategy, it’s important to regularly measure and analyze your results .

Use analytics tools like the native LinkedIn analytics , as well as more robust tools like Hootsuite Analytics or Hootsuite Advanced Analytics , to track the success of your LinkedIn marketing efforts.

Experiment with different types of content , targeting options , and ad formats to see what works best for your LinkedIn page.

LinkedIn content strategy tips

Need some LinkedIn content strategy inspiration? Here are a few tips to help you create compelling and effective content on the platform.

Write long posts (sometimes)

While other platforms may favor shorter posts, LinkedIn is known for its long-form content. From thought leadership articles to industry insights and personal stories, longer posts tend to perform well on LinkedIn . However, don’t just write long posts for the sake of it. Make sure they are relevant, valuable, and engaging for your audience.

Feel free to repurpose longer blog posts or articles and post them natively on LinkedIn. But don’t go too long too often. LinkedIn recommends articles be around 500 to 1,000 words .

Be sure to add SEO titles, descriptions, and tags for LinkedIn articles. This helps other users find your original content. If you regularly post long-form content, consider creating a LinkedIn Newsletter . LinkedIn saw 150 million newsletter subscriptions in Q1 of 2023.

Experiment with different content types

Don’t limit yourself to just written posts on LinkedIn. Experiment with different types of content to see what resonates best with your audience.

Keep in mind the types of content that perform well on LinkedIn:

• Text-based posts: shorter posts ( around 25 words ) tend to get more engagement.
• Long-form articles: Thought leadership pieces that dive deep into a topic.
• Carousel posts: A series of images or videos that users can swipe through.
• Video posts: According to LinkedIn, video posts are 5x more likely to convert .
• Newsletters: Use the LinkedIn newsletter feature to share long-form content with your network.
• Interactive content: LinkedIn polls, PDFs, and events can all help boost engagement and drive traffic to your page.

Stuck on what to post? Try this free AI-powered LinkedIn post generator to beat writer’s block.

Include a hook above “the fold”

Remember newspapers? As in real physical newspapers that were sold at newsstands? To grab your attention, they put the biggest story on the top half of the front page . That half, of course, is above the fold. You see it as soon as you glance at the paper, without picking it up, and it intrigues you enough to buy the paper to read more.

There may not be a literal fold on your screen, but there is a metaphorical one. In this case, “above the fold” refers to the content visible without scrolling or clicking “more.” It’s the content seen without trying to pick the metaphorical paper up and turn it over.

Make the value proposition for your content clear in this prime real estate . Why should someone read on? What do you have to say that’s worth scrolling for?

LinkedIn posting strategy tips

Strategy is important when it comes to posting on LinkedIn. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your LinkedIn efforts.

Understand the best time to post

Hootsuite research shows the best time to post on LinkedIn is 1 p.m. PST on Mondays . When you’re first getting started with the platform, that’s a good place to start.

But the best time to post for your particular brand depends on your particular audience. Specifically, when they’re most likely to be online and ready to engage.

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Post feature gives you a heat map that shows when your content is most likely to make an impression.

Free 30-day trial

Schedule your posts in advance

Of course, the best time to post for your audience might not be the best time to post for you. That’s one reason why it’s a good idea to create your posts in advance and schedule them to post automatically at the best time.

Creating your posts in advance allows you to dedicate regular chunks of time to creating LinkedIn content. This is easier and more effective than trying to post on the fly. Especially when you’re creating longer-form content, it’s a good idea to block off time on your schedule and really get your brain engaged.

Creating content in advance also allows you to get more of the team involved , from senior leaders contributing their thought leadership to editors going over your work with a fine-tooth comb.

Finally, planning and scheduling your content in advance lets you see how your LinkedIn posts fit into your larger social media calendar .

Hootsuite lets you schedule in bulk , so you can build weeks or months’ worth of posts in advance.

Set up a regular posting schedule

LinkedIn recommends posting once or twice a day . If that seems overwhelming, consider posting at least once a week —this is enough to double your content’s engagement .

Once you’ve determined the best times to post, post consistently at those times . Your audience will come to expect fresh content from you on your schedule, and they’ll be primed to read it and respond .

LinkedIn DM strategy tips

Sliding into someone’s DMs can be a great way to make new connections and build relationships on LinkedIn. However, there are some etiquette rules you should follow when reaching out to someone via direct message.

Send personalized messages

Bulk direct messages may save time, but they do not get the best results. LinkedIn data shows that InMails sent individually get 15% more responses than messages sent in bulk.

For maximum effect, mention a detail in the email that shows you actually read the prospect’s profile. Did they mention a skill that’s critical to the role? Have a particularly great LinkedIn bio? Highlight something that tells them why you’re interested, and that they’re not just a potential cog in the machine.

Send shorter messages

If you’re sending InMail to a potential connection, collaborator, or candidate, you might be tempted to pack the message with details about the potential opportunity. But LinkedIn research recently found that shorter InMails see a much higher response .

Messages up to 800 characters receive an above-average response, with messages under 400 characters performing best of all.

However, 90% of those recruiting on LinkedIn send messages longer than 400 characters. So sending a shorter message can really help you stand out from the crowd.

Don’t send on Friday or Saturday

It makes sense that weekends would be slower-response days for sending messages on LinkedIn. But, oddly enough, messages sent on Sundays significantly outperform those sent on Fridays.

Other than avoiding Fridays and Saturdays, it doesn’t seem to matter much which day of the week you send InMails. Remember, though, that this is different from the best times to post content to your LinkedIn Page.

Answer all DMs

A healthy LinkedIn presence should involve two-way communication between you and your audience, just like on any other social media platform. So, when people take the time to send you a private message, make sure you don’t leave them hanging.

Responding to messages is an opportunity to build stronger connections with your audience and show your brand values in action. But community management can take up a lot of your time… that is, unless you use a social media inbox tool like Hootsuite.

With Hootsuite Inbox, you can bridge the gap between social media engagement and customer service — and manage all of your social media messages, including LinkedIn comments and DMs, in one place .

The all-in-one workspace makes it easy to: 

• Track the history of any individual’s interactions with your brand on social media (across your accounts and platforms), giving your team the context needed to personalize replies
• Add notes to customers’ profiles (Inbox integrates with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics)
• Handle messages as a team, with intuitive message queues, task assignments, statuses, and filters
• Track response times and CSAT metrics

LinkedIn marketing FAQs

Is marketing on linkedin good.

Marketing on LinkedIn can be extremely effective, as it allows you to reach a highly targeted audience of professionals. 77% of content marketers say LinkedIn produces the best organic results , and ads on LinkedIn can reach 14.6% of the world’s population .

Is LinkedIn marketing expensive?

LinkedIn marketing can be more expensive than other social media platforms, with most reports saying cost-per-click (CPC) lands between $5 and $6 . However, it’s important to consider the quality of the audience you are reaching and the potential return on investment for your brand.

If your audience is very active on LinkedIn, or if you see great results on the ads you run, it may make sense to move your advertising budget to LinkedIn.

Easily manage your LinkedIn Page and all your other social channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, you can schedule and share content (including video), reply to comments, and engage your network. Try it free today.

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Easily create, analyze, promote and schedule LinkedIn posts alongside your other social networks with Hootsuite. Get more followers and save time.

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Hannah Macready is a freelance writer with 12 years of experience in social media and digital marketing. Her work has appeared in publications such as Fast Company and The Globe & Mail, and has been used in global social media campaigns for brands like Grosvenor Americas and Intuit Mailchimp. In her spare time, Hannah likes exploring the outdoors with her two dogs, Soup and Salad.

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What LinkedIn Plan is Best for Your Business?

LinkedIn is a vibrant destination for businesses and professionals , not just another social networking platform. It has developed into a potent tool for networking, lead generation, and brand visibility, with over 774 million users globally. As a leader in digital marketing, we recognize LinkedIn's relevance and its crucial part in fostering business success. In this blog post, we will examine the various LinkedIn plans that are offered and assist you in selecting the one that best meets your company's needs.

LinkedIn Plan Types

LinkedIn offers several plans to suit the various demands of businesses. Let's examine the main LinkedIn plans and their salient characteristics:

LinkedIn Free Plan

What you get:

• Primary access to LinkedIn's networking features is available with the free plan.
• Although it has some restrictions, such as restricted InMail messages and profile displays, it's a great place to start for startups with a small budget.
• Optimize your LinkedIn profile with a professional photo and thorough job history, and choose relevant keywords to get the most out of the free plan.

LinkedIn Premium Plans

LinkedIn offers three premium plans – Premium Career , Premium Business , and Sales Navigator – each tailored to meet the needs of different professionals, including digital marketers and businesses aiming to leverage LinkedIn for growth and networking.

1. Premium Career: Elevating Personal Branding and Opportunities

LinkedIn Premium Career is intended for people serious about developing their brands and careers. With the help of this plan, digital marketers and business owners can see who has visited their profile and assess the efficacy of their online presence. It provides sophisticated search criteria that let you find and get in touch with professionals in your field.

When applying for employment, Premium Career also enables job seekers to evaluate how they stack up against other candidates, giving them essential information about the competitive environment. Businesses that invest in employee personal branding can benefit significantly from Premium Career's ability to increase team members' visibility.

2. Premium Business: Facilitating Company Growth and Outreach

LinkedIn Premium Business is designed for companies wanting to expand their network reach and visibility. Digital marketers can establish direct connections with prospective customers, partners, or collaborators by using InMail credits to gain access to a broader network. Advanced insights into company pages and the ability to find people interested in your business improve lead generation efforts. In addition, Premium Business gives teams access to LinkedIn Learning , which helps them stay ahead of the constantly changing digital landscape. This plan is perfect for companies looking to grow their network, produce leads, and provide ongoing employee training.

3. Sales Navigator: Strategic Networking for Business Growth

Sales Navigator is an effective tool for digital marketers and companies prioritizing lead generation and strategic networking. It provides sophisticated lead and corporate search features that let you more precisely target your desired clientele. Sales Navigator facilitates prompt engagement and relationship development by providing real-time sales updates and notifications on lead activity. Tools like TeamLink , which helps find and use shared relationships for more cordial introductions, allow organizations to foster teamwork. Sales Navigator is a wise investment for companies looking to stay ahead of market trends, cultivate meaningful relationships, and optimize their sales pipeline.

In summary, while Premium Career enhances personal branding, Premium Business facilitates company growth, and Sales Navigator is tailored for strategic networking and lead generation. The choice depends on digital marketers' and businesses' specific goals and priorities in their LinkedIn journey.

Considerations for Choosing a Plan

Making the best LinkedIn plan choice for your company demands significant thought. The following are some essential considerations:

• Determine your budget and how much you are willing to spend on LinkedIn marketing. Although premium plans are more expensive, they offer improved features that may be worthwhile.
• Consider your target audience when using LinkedIn. Are you trying to make connections with business people, professionals, or a more extensive customer base?
• Specify your company goals on LinkedIn. Are leads, brand exposure, or hiring new people your top priorities?
• Assess your content plan. Content producers can benefit from premium plans' enhanced visibility and access to analytics.

Case Studies On LinkedIn Success

Let's look at a few real-world case examples to show how beneficial LinkedIn plans are:

1. Leveraging Sales Navigator for B2B Success

Company A (names have been changed)

Company A, a B2B software provider, aimed to enhance its lead generation strategy by targeting specific industries and job opportunities.

The company opted for LinkedIn's Sales Navigator, enabling them to precisely identify and connect with potential leads in their target industries. With advanced search filters and real-time updates, they strategically engaged with decision-makers and key stakeholders.

Within three months of utilizing Sales Navigator, Company A experienced a remarkable 30% boost in lead generation . The platform's targeted approach empowered them to nurture meaningful connections, increasing business opportunities and market expansion.

2. Personal Branding Success with Premium Career

Professional: Sarah Johnson (names have been changed)

Sarah Johnson, a self-employed graphic designer, sought to expand her client base and showcase her portfolio to a global audience.

Opting for LinkedIn's Premium Career plan, Sarah strategically utilized advanced search filters and personalized insights to identify potential clients. She displayed her impressive portfolio, leveraging the platform to enhance her personal brand and reach a broader audience.

By utilizing the Premium Career plan, Sarah received collaboration offers from clients abroad, significantly expanding her business. The plan's features allowed her to effectively showcase her skills and connect with a diverse range of clients, contributing to the substantial growth of her freelance graphic design business.

3. Premium Business Empowering Company Visibility

Company: ABC Marketing Agency (names have been changed)

ABC Marketing Agency aimed to strengthen its presence on LinkedIn, improve outreach, and generate leads for its services.

The agency subscribed to LinkedIn's Premium Business plan, providing increased InMail credits for direct communication with potential clients. The plan's advanced analytics empowered the team to refine their outreach strategy, ensuring they connected with the right audience.

By leveraging the Premium Business plan, ABC Marketing Agency witnessed a notable increase in company visibility and lead generation. The enhanced analytics and InMail credits facilitated direct engagement, allowing the agency to build meaningful connections and secure new business opportunities.

These case studies demonstrate LinkedIn programs' adaptability and influence in various industries and business sizes.

Further LinkedIn Tools

LinkedIn provides additional solutions in addition to subscription plans to help you with your marketing:

• Run specialized advertising campaigns on LinkedIn to reach a particular audience.
• Sponsored Content: By paying for your content to show in users' feeds, you can increase their visibility.
• Send customized communications with inMail campaigns to interact with prospects and decision-makers.

These resources can supplement the LinkedIn plan you've chosen and improve the visibility and engagement of your company.

Success Monitoring and Evaluation

Key performance indicators (KPIs) allow for measuring success on LinkedIn. Keep track of analytics like lead generation, relationship growth, engagement rates, and profile views. Make adjustments to your outreach and content strategy using this information. Adapt your strategies based on data-driven choices to guarantee ongoing success with your LinkedIn marketing initiatives.

Contact WSI for customized LinkedIn marketing strategies if you're ready to boost your company or client’s LinkedIn approach. You can develop a winning strategy with the assistance of our specialists as you explore the world of LinkedIn plans. 

About the Author

Part of the Marketing & Communications team at the WSI Home Office, Cecilia also heads up WSI’s Google Alliance Group.

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Business Plan Template for Linkedin

• Great for beginners
• Ready-to-use, fully customizable Subcategory
• Get started in seconds

Ready to level up your LinkedIn profile and showcase your business acumen? Look no further than ClickUp's Business Plan Template for LinkedIn!

Crafting a comprehensive business plan has never been easier. With this template, you can confidently outline your growth strategies, highlight your professional achievements, and attract potential investors or partners—all while impressing anyone who stumbles upon your LinkedIn profile.

This template helps you:

• Create a professional and engaging business plan tailored specifically for LinkedIn
• Showcase your unique selling points, target market analysis, and competitive advantage
• Organize your financial projections, marketing strategies, and milestones in a visually appealing format

Ditch the old-fashioned PDFs and stand out from the crowd with ClickUp's Business Plan Template for LinkedIn. Start building your LinkedIn empire today!

Business Plan Template for Linkedin Benefits

A business plan template for LinkedIn offers numerous benefits for entrepreneurs and business owners looking to showcase their professional profiles and attract potential investors or partners. Some of the key benefits include:

• Streamlining the business planning process by providing a structured template to follow
• Showcasing your professional background, qualifications, and experience to potential investors or partners
• Outlining your growth strategies, goals, and objectives to demonstrate your vision and potential for success
• Attracting potential investors or partners by presenting a comprehensive and well-thought-out business plan
• Increasing your credibility and professionalism through a polished and professional business plan template

Main Elements of Linkedin Business Plan Template

ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for LinkedIn is the perfect tool for entrepreneurs and business owners to create a professional business plan that stands out. Here are the main elements of this List template:

• Custom Statuses: Easily track the progress of your business plan with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
• Custom Fields: Use custom fields such as Reference, Approved, and Section to add important details and ensure your plan is comprehensive and well-organized.
• Custom Views: Access different views like Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide to help you navigate and manage your business plan effectively.

With ClickUp's Business Plan Template for LinkedIn, you can create a well-structured plan that impresses potential investors and partners, setting you up for success.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Linkedin

Follow these 6 simple steps to effectively use the Business Plan Template for LinkedIn:

1. Define your business objectives

Start by clearly defining your business objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your LinkedIn presence? Are you looking to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or establish yourself as a thought leader? Clearly identifying your goals will help guide your strategy and ensure that your business plan is tailored to your specific needs.

Use Goals in ClickUp to set clear and measurable objectives for your LinkedIn business plan.

2. Analyze your target audience

Understanding your target audience is crucial for any successful LinkedIn strategy. Take the time to research and identify the demographics, interests, and pain points of your ideal audience. This will help you create content and messaging that resonates with them and drives engagement.

Utilize the Table view in ClickUp to create a detailed profile of your target audience, including their job titles, industries, and interests.

3. Develop your content strategy

Once you know who you're targeting, it's time to develop a content strategy that will attract and engage your audience. Consider the types of content that will resonate with your target audience, such as blog posts, videos, or infographics. Plan out a content calendar and identify key topics and themes that align with your business objectives.

Use the Board view in ClickUp to create a content calendar and track the progress of each piece of content.

4. Optimize your LinkedIn profile

Your LinkedIn profile is the face of your business on the platform, so it's important to optimize it for maximum impact. Make sure your profile is complete, including a professional headshot, a compelling headline, and a detailed summary that highlights your unique value proposition. Use relevant keywords throughout your profile to improve your visibility in search results.

Use the Gantt chart in ClickUp to track the progress of optimizing your LinkedIn profile and ensure that all necessary updates are completed.

5. Engage with your network

Building relationships and engaging with your network is a key aspect of a successful LinkedIn strategy. Regularly engage with your connections by liking, commenting on, and sharing their posts. Join relevant LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions to establish yourself as a valuable contributor in your industry.

Use the Calendar view in ClickUp to schedule regular time for networking and engagement activities on LinkedIn.

6. Track and analyze your results

To measure the success of your LinkedIn business plan, it's important to track and analyze your results. Monitor key metrics such as the number of connections, engagement rates, and website traffic generated from LinkedIn. Use this data to evaluate your strategy and make any necessary adjustments to optimize your results.

Utilize the Dashboards in ClickUp to create visual reports and track the performance of your LinkedIn business plan in real-time.

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Linkedin

Entrepreneurs or business owners who want to create a comprehensive business plan to showcase their professional profiles, outline their growth strategies, and attract potential investors or partners, can use the Business Plan Template for LinkedIn.

First, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a compelling business plan:

• Use the Topics View to brainstorm and organize the key sections of your business plan
• The Status View will help you track the progress of each section, whether it's complete, in progress, needs revision, or still to do
• The Timeline View will give you a visual representation of your business plan's milestones and deadlines
• The Business Plan View will provide a comprehensive overview of your entire plan, including all sections and details
• The Getting Started Guide View will provide step-by-step instructions and tips on how to use the template effectively
• Utilize the custom fields, such as Reference, Approved, and Section, to add additional information and categorize your business plan
• Update statuses and custom fields as you work on each section to keep team members informed of progress
• Monitor and analyze your business plan to ensure it's well-structured and impactful for your LinkedIn profile.
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How much is LinkedIn: Premium account pricing

Staying up-to-date with the ever-evolving tools and pricing on LinkedIn can be a daunting task, as the platform frequently introduces new updates. One of the latest offerings from LinkedIn is the “I’m interested” feature, which enables candidates to express their interest in a company without submitting a formal job application.

To save your time and stay informed, you can rely on this article to get the latest information on LinkedIn plans, features, and pricing as of 2023. 

Key points: 

• LinkedIn offers a free version as well as paid solutions for business and recruiting. Even a free account can be used for lead generation (if you have a tool for secure mass auto-data collection like Linked Helper).
• The price for the most expensive social network plan, Recruiter Professional Services, is provided upon request to companies. However, some sources mention $1080 per month. This plan is the only one that allows reaching contacts beyond the 3rd degree of connection and provides a record-breaking 150 InMails per month.
• All subscriptions starting from Business Premium offer browsing without a commercial search limit.
• Below, we will provide a brief description of several important paid features that differ from each other, making it easier for you to prioritize.

People Browsing: This tool is great for discovering other professionals on LinkedIn based on various criteria such as location, industry, and job title. And the best part? You can do this every month for free! Well, sort of. The number of searches you get per month depends on your subscription level. If you have a higher-tier plan like Premium Business, you get unlimited search access. But even if you have a lower-tier plan, you can still find plenty of great contacts.

InMails are a great way to message other LinkedIn members and make new connections. The number of InMails you can send per month depends on your subscription level, but you might be able to send a complimentary InMail if the recipient’s profile is set to “open” status. 

You can learn more about all the InMail rules in our guide .

LinkedIn Insights provides a wealth of information depending on your subscription plan. For example, Company Insights can give you the lowdown on a company’s size, location, and industry, as well as employee demographics and performance metrics. Sales Insights can help salespeople tailor their outreach efforts to specific companies and users. And Career Insights is perfect for job seekers looking for the inside scoop on job titles, required skills, and salary information.

If you want to improve your skills, you might want to check out LinkedIn Learning, which offers a wide range of online courses to help you refine your talents and stay competitive in today’s job market.

If you really want to up your game, you might consider upgrading to a subscription level like Sales Navigator or Recruiter, which offers even more advanced options like Advanced Search and sorting people by lists.

Categorizing users in lists allows businesses to monitor potential clients effectively. However, this functionality is exclusive to subscription levels such as Sales Navigator and Recruiter.

Improved filtering: As a LinkedIn subscriber, you have access to a range of filters that can help you narrow down your search and increase accuracy. For example, if you’re a Sales Navigator user, you can search by groups, activity date, and work experience. And if you’re a Recruiter subscriber, you can search by skills.

Who’s viewed your profile: On a free account, you can only see the last 10 people who have viewed your profile (but not always, some enable Incognito mode). With paid subscriptions, you can see the audience for 90 or 365 days (starting with the Business Premium subscription). 

Hack: In Linked Helper campaigns, you can gather a list of people who have visited your account. This audience is often already warm to what you have to offer and may be looking forward to your invite or message.

LinkedIn subscription options overview

Check out the table below for a quick summary of the main differences between subscription options:

Is LinkedIn free?

LinkedIn offers both free and paid subscription options for professional networking. 

LinkedIn’s free features can provide valuable benefits to both CEOs and students, whether it be expanding their network, finding job opportunities, or staying up-to-date on industry news and trends.

For example, a CEO might use LinkedIn to expand their professional network and connect with other industry leaders, as well as share insights and content related to their business. They might also use LinkedIn to recruit new employees and stay up-to-date on industry news and trends.

Similarly, a student can use LinkedIn to connect with professionals in their desired field and potentially find internships or job opportunities. They can also use the platform to showcase their skills and experience, share content related to their academic interests, and network with other students or alumni from their school.

What is the LinkedIn free plan? 

Let’s talk about the LinkedIn free plan. This plan is great for those who are just getting started with LinkedIn or for those who want to use it casually. With a free account, you can create a profile, connect with others in your industry, browse jobs, and join groups. You can also send messages to your connections and view some insights on who viewed your profile.

However, there are some limitations to the features and benefits you can access with a free account. For example, you may not be able to see the full list of people who have viewed your profile, and you may not be able to send messages to people you’re not connected with. But don’t worry, there are still plenty of useful features available on a free account.

To enhance your LinkedIn experience, you can use automation tools like Linked Helper. With Linked Helper, you can create automated messaging funnels, send free InMails to open profiles, and even save user collections in your CRM. This can help you save time and make your outreach more efficient.

So, whether you’re using a free or paid account, LinkedIn has a lot to offer for your professional networking needs. Keep connecting and growing your network, and who knows what opportunities may come your way!

LinkedIn membership with Linked Helper

As a LinkedIn user, you have the option to choose between a free plan or a paid membership. While Linked Helper is compatible with any LinkedIn subscription, a paid membership can unlock a world of benefits, making your automation experience more streamlined and efficient.

If you’re considering upgrading to a paid plan, Sales Navigator and Linked Helper are great options to explore. Sales Navigator gives you exclusive access to filters that aren’t available in the free version, which can help you search and sort leads more effectively for your campaigns.

When you pair Sales Navigator with Linked Helper, you gain access to a range of useful features, including filtering and messaging group members, excluding certain criteria in filters, and collecting active users who have posted in the last 30 or 90 days. Plus, you can even use Sales Navigator links in Linked Helper on LinkedIn accounts without a Sales Navigator subscription!

*You can collect profiles from Sales Navigator, download them into a CSV file, and upload the URLs into a LinkedIn account campaign without a Sales Navigator subscription. Even with a free LinkedIn account plan, Linked Helper can still open these profiles through the Sales Navigator URLs, eliminating the need to purchase a Sales Navigator subscription for that LinkedIn account.

By leveraging the unique features and benefits of different subscription plans, you can take your outreach efforts to the next level and achieve your business goals on LinkedIn. So go ahead, give it a try, and see how using a LinkedIn membership and automation tools like Linked Helper can transform your LinkedIn game!

A detailed description of the features and advantages of working with different subscription plans can be found in the table below.

How much does LinkedIn Premium cost?

Upgrading to a LinkedIn Premium account can be a great way to enhance your LinkedIn experience and take advantage of a range of advanced features. LinkedIn Premium cost can vary depending on the subscription plan you choose, with options ranging from $29.99 to $59.99 per month (as of 2023). 

The first step that many regular users consider when upgrading their subscription is LinkedIn Premium. Typically, this plan is chosen by those who need to find a job quickly because it allows their profile to appear more frequently in searches and includes InMails (which can be used to contact recruiters).

In the Premium lineup, you may start to feel a bit confused because there are two solutions offered: Career ($29.99) and Business ($59.99). By the way, LinkedIn often changes the names of its subscription plans, so these are the current names as of the time of writing.

There are some differences between these sub-plans, not only in price but also in the included features. If you need to find a job, the Career plan’s features may be sufficient. It includes five InMails and has access to Premium Insights (for example, insights on companies that can help you assess your future workplace). LinkedIn promises to increase your account’s reach by two times.

At the same time, the Business plan can be useful for individual entrepreneurs or small businesses that are developing their networking. In addition to Insights, you will have 15 credits and more opportunities (which we will cover in the section below), as well as the ability to increase your account’s reach by up to six times.

LinkedIn Premium price: Career plan pros and cons

Price: $29.99

The LinkedIn Premium Career subscription offers multiple benefits to job seekers and professionals to enhance their career opportunities.

✅ Included InMail provides the freedom to message anyone who is not currently in your network. However, there are only 5 messages allowed per month.

✅ Profile Views will be visible for 90 days, as opposed to the free account where you are limited to 10 views. This feature can be useful for assessing your audience and gathering a following for campaigns to automate (e.g. mass invites and messages).

✅ You can compare yourself to other job applicants. In this regard, LinkedIn provides maximum opportunities for job seekers, as you will have access to statistics and your rank among other job applicants. 

For example, there’s a wealth of information available to help you make more informed decisions about your applications. Not only can you see how many people have already applied for a particular job, but you can also access a percentage-based ranking that compares your profile to other applicants, taking into account experience and skills. In addition, you can view a list of top skills among applicants, including those you share, as well as the education and experience levels of your competition. All of this information can be valuable in helping job seekers tailor their applications and improve their chances of success.

✅ The Job Insights feature in the premium subscription is more comprehensive than in the free version. This can be particularly useful if you apply for jobs directly through LinkedIn. By navigating to the Jobs page, you can get an overview of the positions that you have a higher chance of success with.

✅ With this subscription, you’ll also have access to Learning, which can be helpful in finding interview tips to improve your skills and increase your chances of landing your dream job.

❌This plan still has limitations on search . This limit is in place to prevent commercial use of the social network. A high volume of searches by users can signal such usage. In both the free and career plans, you can search for no more than 300 people per day.

❌  Some users may not find it worth the cost. We reviewed user opinions on forums such as Reddit to understand whether the investment in this plan is worthwhile.  Some users feel that there aren’t enough additional features beyond the free version.

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LinkedIn Premium pricing: Business plan pros and cons

Price: $59.99 

LinkedIn Business Premium is a subscription service for businesses that costs twice as much as the Career plan. It may not always be clear whether it’s worth paying double and what advantages this plan offers. As we mentioned before, it’s positioned as a solution for businesses.

This plan includes all the features of the Career plan. That means you’ll have access to the same insights, learning, and other bonuses. In addition to these features, there are also more advanced ones (described below).

✅ The ability to see profile views and insights for the past 365 days.On many LinkedIn resources, it’s stated that o nly the Business package provides access to these insights for 365 days. With this plan, you can see more detailed data on profile views by week. The key differences between the free plan and the paid plans for this feature can be found in the Help Center. 

✅This plan includes 15 InMails, which is three times more than the Career plan. This number of InMails per month may be enough to reach out to new leads and establish business connections.

✅ You’ll also have unlimited people search. Starting with this plan, you can search for people on the social network without worrying about hitting the 300-request limit.

✅You’ll have access to Business Insights. These insights are also called company data . The social network collects data on employees, markets, and investments over the years to support research and analysis.

❌You can only post one free job at a time, and additional job postings require an extra fee.

❌ You might need some extra training or support to use the tools effectively.

❌ Despite its better sales adaptation, you still won’t have access to all the possibilities. For example, you won’t have ultra-clear filters like Sales Navigator or the ability to create custom lead lists.

You can easily organize and manage leads within the CRM or integrate them with other familiar CRMs with LinkedIn Helper.

In summary, the distinction between the plans is illustrated on the pricing page. 

LinkedIn Sales Navigator cost

Purchasing LinkedIn Sales Navigator may require some research as it may seem costly. Prices start at $99.99, but this plan can significantly improve lead generation. Many recruiters also opt for this plan because it is cheaper than the Recruiter line but includes more InMail credits.

In terms of features, it includes everything available to Business Premium users. However, the main advantage is the unique filters. This plan can change your search experience as you can find people by group name or experience. The interface of this package is also different from the Premium line and is tailored more for sales. The account includes new sections such as lead lists and user recommendations. You also receive alerts about leads that are not available in cheaper solutions.

The difference between the Premium line and Sales Navigator is visible in the screenshot from LinkedIn Help Center.

Inside Sales Navigator itself, there is a gradation of plans with different pricing (which does not simplify your choice). Currently, the price for the most expensive and advanced package, Advanced Plus, is not listed on the official website. However, some sources report that the price starts at $1,600 per year. To order it, you will need to request a demo and contact a LinkedIn representative.

Sales Navigator Core

Price: $99.99

Opting for an annual subscription can result in a 25% cost savings compared to the monthly price. The current pricing for Sales Navigator Core pricing is $79.99 per user per month for an annual subscription, while the regular monthly rate without the discount is $99.99 per user per month.

✅ Unique and useful filters : Sales Navigator offers filters such as group search, work experience, geography (Zip code), and the ability to exclude unwanted search results. This subscription scores a 10 out of 10 for its ability to find the right person, which is essential as the number of sales depends on the quality of the leads found. The success of auto-campaigns in LinkedIn Helper also depends on this, as the software will not waste actions on irrelevant users.

✅ Access to Spotlights: The Spotlights feature categorizes search results using LinkedIn data, allowing users to locate potential clients who are more likely to interact with them. This feature can be accessed through a filter on the left-hand side of the lead and account search page. Spotlights offers a range of filters, including identifying leads who recently changed jobs, attended the same educational institutions or businesses as you, posted on LinkedIn within the last month, were mentioned in the news within the last month, follow your company on LinkedIn, or are connected to your colleagues.

✅ With a Sales Navigator subscription, users get access to 50 InMails per month, which can be used to reach out to potential clients or contacts. Additionally, they can send up to 800 free InMails to open profiles. By using LinkedIn Helper with Sales Navigator, users can parse the status of these InMails and sort leads in their CRM based on it.

✅ Lead lists and recommendations: You can create lists of people based on search criteria and add up to 10K people to those lists. Data about their companies is automatically saved, and you will receive all updates about these people. The social network will also recommend similar profiles to you, which will increase your chances of making sales and succeeding in lead generation.

✅ Tracking important people: You can receive notifications and leave notes about potential clients. Through alerts, you can learn about the latest updates about these people, their careers, content, and much more – check out the full list in the article.

✅ Integrations: For example, you may integrate Sales Navigator with Microsoft Office 365 . By using this integration, you can view insights about your prospective leads directly within Outlook for web, without leaving your workflow. You can also access information about a contact and connect with leads directly via Outlook.

❌No TeamLink: You cannot receive shared data about leads with your team. However, this can be done by working through Linked Helper CRM and setting it up through a dedicated server.

❌No more advanced insights: Advanced tools for a more in-depth evaluation of how leads interact with content are only available in advanced plans.

❌ No integration with SNAP: The ability to integrate Sales Navigator with your usual CRM via the Sales Navigator Application Platform is only possible on more expensive plans.

Learn all about Sales Navigator filters in our post .

Price: $176 

After the one-month free trial period ends, you can get the Advanced plan for around $136 per month if you choose to pay annually, which includes a 23% discount. The regular monthly cost without the discount is around $176 per month per license. You won’t be charged until after the trial period ends, and if you cancel within 30 days, you won’t be charged anything.

Each subsequent subscription sub-plan includes all the features of the lower-tier one, plus some improvements. So, the Advanced plan will include all the benefits of the Core plan described above. The number of InMails is the same for all subscription plans at 50. But in addition to these benefits, you can find the following advantages:

Buyer Interest alerts. Buyer Intent alerts are notifications that indicate when individuals from a saved account have interacted with your LinkedIn company page or website. These alerts are classified into two types: Leadership Alert and Employee Alert, which are based on LinkedIn Insight Tags. A Leadership Alert is generated when a VP, CXO, Partner, or Owner from a saved account visits your LinkedIn company page or website. Similarly, an Employee Alert is generated when a non-leadership employee from a saved account interacts with your LinkedIn company page or website.

Best path to a lead: TeamLink is a feature that utilizes the network of your team to help you find the best approach to a lead. It shows you Sales Navigator license holders on your team account who are 1st-degree connections to the lead, regardless of whether you are connected to your teammate or not. This helps you identify team members who can help you connect with potential leads. 

Better content sharing and tracking: A Smart Link feature is available to package and share content within your Sales Navigator workflow, monitor viewing behavior, and gain insights on your prospects’ and customers’ interests. These are unique URLs that allow you to share content and track user behavior. They enable you to personalize your content, gather detailed analytics, and optimize your posting strategy. Smart Links can also be used in conjunction with LinkedIn’s retargeting capabilities to reach users who have interacted with your content in the past.

Enhanced capabilities for larger organizations: Sales Navigator provides advanced features for enterprises to manage their Sales Navigator subscriptions more efficiently. The features include single sign-on integration, volume and multi-year discounts, invoicing, a dedicated relationship manager, and employee data integration. Businesses can monitor their accounts and usage through the account center and usage reporting. The additional functionalities aim to offer a more personalized experience for larger organizations.

Cater to the needs of large organizations: For instance, a large corporation can use it to connect with potential clients, track their competitors, and monitor the industry trends. The dedicated relationship manager can assist them in setting up their account, provide training, and help them with any queries or concerns. 

Advanced Plus

Price: Needs to be requested. 

CRM Sync feature: This would allow the head of sales to monitor their team’s lead generation efforts and ensure that they are targeting the right prospects. They could also access the information in real-time and have a complete view of all potential leads in one place, making it easier to prioritize and follow up with them.

Auto-Save, Activity Writeback, & ROI Reporting: Imagine you are a sales manager and want to track the performance of your sales team. You can automatically save your team’s searches, alerts, and leads to your CRM and track ROI reporting. This way, you can measure the impact of your team’s Sales Navigator efforts and optimize your strategy accordingly.

Advanced CRM Integrations: Suppose you are a marketer and need to find potential customers for your email marketing campaigns. With the Advanced CRM Integrations feature, you can seamlessly access your contacts, leads, and accounts within your CRM, such as HubSpot or Marketo. This way, you can easily import your leads into your email marketing platform and create targeted campaigns based on their interests and behaviors.

Data Validation & Contact Creation: Let’s say you are a customer service representative and need to update contact information in your CRM. With this tool, you can ensure your CRM data is accurate and up-to-date by validating contact information and creating new contacts when necessary. This way, you can avoid any miscommunications or lost opportunities due to incorrect contact information.

Personalized Insights: if you’re a sales representative, you can receive intelligent insights on potential leads that are likely to convert, such as alerts when past customers move to new companies or contacts leave an open deal. This can help you prioritize your efforts and gain a competitive edge.

The Advanced Plus plan includes a demo feature, and the price can be obtained by contacting LinkedIn employees through the “Contact Us” option.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs. Premium

After reviewing all of the Premium and Sales Navigator plans it is clear that they differ significantly in several aspects.

Different Goals: Premium may be a good option for individuals and users seeking career growth, while Sales Navigator can significantly enhance lead generation. Additionally, Advanced plans are designed for teamwork, with shared access to leads and CRM synchronization.

Sales Functionality : The price difference between Core and Premium Business is $30, but the difference in functionality is significant. Starting with the search function, Navigator offers filters by groups, work experience, spotlights, and pre-made lead lists, improving audience management by focusing on them as customers rather than potential colleagues or influencers.

Interface :While Premium’s dashboard interface remains unchanged, even in the priciest Business plan, Sales Navigator offers a visually distinctive interface with a plethora of sales-focused tools and company access.

Number of InMails: With 50 InMails compared to 5 or 15 in Premium, your communication can reach new levels with Sales Navigator. Additionally, with Linked Helper for sending free InMails, you can parse Open Profiles and sort them in your CRM, improving your outreach metrics.

In conclusion, the Premium version may be a good option for individuals seeking career growth or personal use, while Sales Navigator can significantly enhance lead generation and sales functionality. Advanced plans are also available for team collaboration, lead sharing, and CRM synchronization.

LinkedIn Recruiter pricing: the most expensive subscription review

We have approached the most expensive plan, which starts at $170 per month. This investment may be suitable for individual recruiters or staffing firms. The lineup is divided into 3 different subscription plans : Recruiter Lite, Recruiter Professional Services, and Recruiter Corporate.

Recruiter Lite is the basic plan that provides access to 3rd-degree connections on LinkedIn, 20+ filters for candidate search, a limit of 10 candidate search alerts, and InMail messaging capped at 30 per month. However, it does not offer filters for skill assessments or the ability to add tags to candidates. The pricing for this plan is $170 per month or $1,680 per year. Despite being more expensive than Sales Navigator, it does not include some features that may be important to you.

Recruiter Professional Services is a higher-tier plan that offers access to 3rd-degree connections on LinkedIn, with 30 additional unlocks per month for out-of-network profiles. This means that you will have access to people who are not connected to you. This plan includes:

• 40+ filters (including advanced filters)
• The ability to filter candidates by their open availability for contract work
• Skill assessments, and the ability to add tags for filtering and categorization
• 100 monthly InMails
• Job postings
• 50 candidate search alerts 
• Recruiting insights
• Talent pipeline 

However, the exact pricing information is only available by contacting the LinkedIn team.

LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate is the most advanced plan, and it includes all the same features as the previous plan, but with additional options suitable for larger staffing firms. This plan offers the most InMails of all LinkedIn plans – 150 per month. It is also the only plan that provides you access to all LinkedIn users regardless of their level of connection. This means that you can contact anyone, which can be a key factor in recruiting.

The price for this plan is available by contacting LinkedIn, but according to some sources, it is at least $10,800 billed annually or $1,080 per month.

❗️To summarize, the plans differ in terms of access to LinkedIn’s network, search filters, InMail messaging limit, and additional features such as job postings and recruiting insights. The cost of the subscription varies depending on the plan, with Recruiter Corporate being the most costly.

Learn more at the link

LinkedIn Recruiter Lite pricing: Is it worth it?

✅ While LinkedIn Recruiter offers a skill filter that is not available in Sales Navigator, it may not always be the most advantageous choice for lead generation. 

In a previous article, we examined whether LinkedIn’s most expensive subscription capabilities are worth the cost. Learn why using Linked Helper in conjunction with Sales Navigator can often provide more advantages.

There are several drawbacks to LinkedIn Recruiter Lite, including:

• No Spotlight feature
• Filters that differ from Sales Navigator only by the Skill filter
• No extended insights on profile viewers 
• A limit on profile views
• Fewer InMails compared to Sales Navigator (30 vs. 50)

​​Due to these limitations, the high cost of LinkedIn Recruiter Lite subscription may not always be justified, and some recruiters prefer to invest in Sales Navigator instead. 

One alternative cost-saving strategy for recruiters is to use automation tools like Linked Helper and Sales Navigator. This combination can provide similar functionalities at a lower cost compared to LinkedIn Recruiter Professional Services or Corporate.

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Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Simple Business Plan

By Joe Weller | October 11, 2021

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A business plan is the cornerstone of any successful company, regardless of size or industry. This step-by-step guide provides information on writing a business plan for organizations at any stage, complete with free templates and expert advice. 

Included on this page, you’ll find a step-by-step guide to writing a business plan and a chart to identify which type of business plan you should write . Plus, find information on how a business plan can help grow a business and expert tips on writing one .

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a document that communicates a company’s goals and ambitions, along with the timeline, finances, and methods needed to achieve them. Additionally, it may include a mission statement and details about the specific products or services offered.

A business plan can highlight varying time periods, depending on the stage of your company and its goals. That said, a typical business plan will include the following benchmarks:

• Product goals and deadlines for each month
• Monthly financials for the first two years
• Profit and loss statements for the first three to five years
• Balance sheet projections for the first three to five years

Startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses all create business plans to use as a guide as their new company progresses. Larger organizations may also create (and update) a business plan to keep high-level goals, financials, and timelines in check.

While you certainly need to have a formalized outline of your business’s goals and finances, creating a business plan can also help you determine a company’s viability, its profitability (including when it will first turn a profit), and how much money you will need from investors. In turn, a business plan has functional value as well: Not only does outlining goals help keep you accountable on a timeline, it can also attract investors in and of itself and, therefore, act as an effective strategy for growth.

For more information, visit our comprehensive guide to writing a strategic plan or download free strategic plan templates . This page focuses on for-profit business plans, but you can read our article with nonprofit business plan templates .

Business Plan Steps

The specific information in your business plan will vary, depending on the needs and goals of your venture, but a typical plan includes the following ordered elements:

• Executive summary
• Description of business
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Description of organizational management
• Description of product or services
• Marketing plan
• Sales strategy
• Funding details (or request for funding)
• Financial projections

If your plan is particularly long or complicated, consider adding a table of contents or an appendix for reference. For an in-depth description of each step listed above, read “ How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step ” below.

Broadly speaking, your audience includes anyone with a vested interest in your organization. They can include potential and existing investors, as well as customers, internal team members, suppliers, and vendors.

Do I Need a Simple or Detailed Plan?

Your business’s stage and intended audience dictates the level of detail your plan needs. Corporations require a thorough business plan — up to 100 pages. Small businesses or startups should have a concise plan focusing on financials and strategy.

How to Choose the Right Plan for Your Business

In order to identify which type of business plan you need to create, ask: “What do we want the plan to do?” Identify function first, and form will follow.

Use the chart below as a guide for what type of business plan to create:

Is the Order of Your Business Plan Important?

There is no set order for a business plan, with the exception of the executive summary, which should always come first. Beyond that, simply ensure that you organize the plan in a way that makes sense and flows naturally.

The Difference Between Traditional and Lean Business Plans

A traditional business plan follows the standard structure — because these plans encourage detail, they tend to require more work upfront and can run dozens of pages. A Lean business plan is less common and focuses on summarizing critical points for each section. These plans take much less work and typically run one page in length.

In general, you should use a traditional model for a legacy company, a large company, or any business that does not adhere to Lean (or another Agile method ). Use Lean if you expect the company to pivot quickly or if you already employ a Lean strategy with other business operations. Additionally, a Lean business plan can suffice if the document is for internal use only. Stick to a traditional version for investors, as they may be more sensitive to sudden changes or a high degree of built-in flexibility in the plan.

How to Write a Business Plan Step by Step

Writing a strong business plan requires research and attention to detail for each section. Below, you’ll find a 10-step guide to researching and defining each element in the plan.

Step 1: Executive Summary

The executive summary will always be the first section of your business plan. The goal is to answer the following questions:

• What is the vision and mission of the company?
• What are the company’s short- and long-term goals?

See our  roundup of executive summary examples and templates for samples. Read our executive summary guide to learn more about writing one.

Step 2: Description of Business

The goal of this section is to define the realm, scope, and intent of your venture. To do so, answer the following questions as clearly and concisely as possible:

• What business are we in?
• What does our business do?

Step 3: Market Analysis

In this section, provide evidence that you have surveyed and understand the current marketplace, and that your product or service satisfies a niche in the market. To do so, answer these questions:

• Who is our customer? 
• What does that customer value?

Step 4: Competitive Analysis

In many cases, a business plan proposes not a brand-new (or even market-disrupting) venture, but a more competitive version — whether via features, pricing, integrations, etc. — than what is currently available. In this section, answer the following questions to show that your product or service stands to outpace competitors:

• Who is the competition? 
• What do they do best? 
• What is our unique value proposition?

Step 5: Description of Organizational Management

In this section, write an overview of the team members and other key personnel who are integral to success. List roles and responsibilities, and if possible, note the hierarchy or team structure.

Step 6: Description of Products or Services

In this section, clearly define your product or service, as well as all the effort and resources that go into producing it. The strength of your product largely defines the success of your business, so it’s imperative that you take time to test and refine the product before launching into marketing, sales, or funding details.

Questions to answer in this section are as follows:

• What is the product or service?
• How do we produce it, and what resources are necessary for production?

Step 7: Marketing Plan

In this section, define the marketing strategy for your product or service. This doesn’t need to be as fleshed out as a full marketing plan , but it should answer basic questions, such as the following:

• Who is the target market (if different from existing customer base)?
• What channels will you use to reach your target market?
• What resources does your marketing strategy require, and do you have access to them?
• If possible, do you have a rough estimate of timeline and budget?
• How will you measure success?

Step 8: Sales Plan

Write an overview of the sales strategy, including the priorities of each cycle, steps to achieve these goals, and metrics for success. For the purposes of a business plan, this section does not need to be a comprehensive, in-depth sales plan , but can simply outline the high-level objectives and strategies of your sales efforts. 

Start by answering the following questions:

• What is the sales strategy?
• What are the tools and tactics you will use to achieve your goals?
• What are the potential obstacles, and how will you overcome them?
• What is the timeline for sales and turning a profit?
• What are the metrics of success?

Step 9: Funding Details (or Request for Funding)

This section is one of the most critical parts of your business plan, particularly if you are sharing it with investors. You do not need to provide a full financial plan, but you should be able to answer the following questions:

• How much capital do you currently have? How much capital do you need?
• How will you grow the team (onboarding, team structure, training and development)?
• What are your physical needs and constraints (space, equipment, etc.)?

Step 10: Financial Projections

Apart from the fundraising analysis, investors like to see thought-out financial projections for the future. As discussed earlier, depending on the scope and stage of your business, this could be anywhere from one to five years. 

While these projections won’t be exact — and will need to be somewhat flexible — you should be able to gauge the following:

• How and when will the company first generate a profit?
• How will the company maintain profit thereafter?

Business Plan Template

Download Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel | Smartsheet

This basic business plan template has space for all the traditional elements: an executive summary, product or service details, target audience, marketing and sales strategies, etc. In the finances sections, input your baseline numbers, and the template will automatically calculate projections for sales forecasting, financial statements, and more.

For templates tailored to more specific needs, visit this business plan template roundup or download a fill-in-the-blank business plan template to make things easy. 

If you are looking for a particular template by file type, visit our pages dedicated exclusively to Microsoft Excel , Microsoft Word , and Adobe PDF business plan templates.

How to Write a Simple Business Plan

A simple business plan is a streamlined, lightweight version of the large, traditional model. As opposed to a one-page business plan , which communicates high-level information for quick overviews (such as a stakeholder presentation), a simple business plan can exceed one page.

Below are the steps for creating a generic simple business plan, which are reflected in the template below .

• Write the Executive Summary This section is the same as in the traditional business plan — simply offer an overview of what’s in the business plan, the prospect or core offering, and the short- and long-term goals of the company. 
• Add a Company Overview Document the larger company mission and vision. 
• Provide the Problem and Solution In straightforward terms, define the problem you are attempting to solve with your product or service and how your company will attempt to do it. Think of this section as the gap in the market you are attempting to close.
• Identify the Target Market Who is your company (and its products or services) attempting to reach? If possible, briefly define your buyer personas .
• Write About the Competition In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of the market by listing the current competitors and outlining your competitive advantage.
• Describe Your Product or Service Offerings Get down to brass tacks and define your product or service. What exactly are you selling?
• Outline Your Marketing Tactics Without getting into too much detail, describe your planned marketing initiatives.
• Add a Timeline and the Metrics You Will Use to Measure Success Offer a rough timeline, including milestones and key performance indicators (KPIs) that you will use to measure your progress.
• Include Your Financial Forecasts Write an overview of your financial plan that demonstrates you have done your research and adequate modeling. You can also list key assumptions that go into this forecasting. 
• Identify Your Financing Needs This section is where you will make your funding request. Based on everything in the business plan, list your proposed sources of funding, as well as how you will use it.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

Microsoft Excel |  Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this simple business plan template to outline each aspect of your organization, including information about financing and opportunities to seek out further funding. This template is completely customizable to fit the needs of any business, whether it’s a startup or large company.

Read our article offering free simple business plan templates or free 30-60-90-day business plan templates to find more tailored options. You can also explore our collection of one page business templates . 

How to Write a Business Plan for a Lean Startup

A Lean startup business plan is a more Agile approach to a traditional version. The plan focuses more on activities, processes, and relationships (and maintains flexibility in all aspects), rather than on concrete deliverables and timelines.

While there is some overlap between a traditional and a Lean business plan, you can write a Lean plan by following the steps below:

• Add Your Value Proposition Take a streamlined approach to describing your product or service. What is the unique value your startup aims to deliver to customers? Make sure the team is aligned on the core offering and that you can state it in clear, simple language.
• List Your Key Partners List any other businesses you will work with to realize your vision, including external vendors, suppliers, and partners. This section demonstrates that you have thoughtfully considered the resources you can provide internally, identified areas for external assistance, and conducted research to find alternatives.
• Note the Key Activities Describe the key activities of your business, including sourcing, production, marketing, distribution channels, and customer relationships.
• Include Your Key Resources List the critical resources — including personnel, equipment, space, and intellectual property — that will enable you to deliver your unique value.
• Identify Your Customer Relationships and Channels In this section, document how you will reach and build relationships with customers. Provide a high-level map of the customer experience from start to finish, including the spaces in which you will interact with the customer (online, retail, etc.). 
• Detail Your Marketing Channels Describe the marketing methods and communication platforms you will use to identify and nurture your relationships with customers. These could be email, advertising, social media, etc.
• Explain the Cost Structure This section is especially necessary in the early stages of a business. Will you prioritize maximizing value or keeping costs low? List the foundational startup costs and how you will move toward profit over time.
• Share Your Revenue Streams Over time, how will the company make money? Include both the direct product or service purchase, as well as secondary sources of revenue, such as subscriptions, selling advertising space, fundraising, etc.

Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Download Lean Business Plan Template for Startups

Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF

Startup leaders can use this Lean business plan template to relay the most critical information from a traditional plan. You’ll find all the sections listed above, including spaces for industry and product overviews, cost structure and sources of revenue, and key metrics, and a timeline. The template is completely customizable, so you can edit it to suit the objectives of your Lean startups.

See our wide variety of  startup business plan templates for more options.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Loan

A business plan for a loan, often called a loan proposal , includes many of the same aspects of a traditional business plan, as well as additional financial documents, such as a credit history, a loan request, and a loan repayment plan.

In addition, you may be asked to include personal and business financial statements, a form of collateral, and equity investment information.

Download free financial templates to support your business plan.

Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Outside of including all the key details in your business plan, you have several options to elevate the document for the highest chance of winning funding and other resources. Follow these tips from experts:.

• Keep It Simple: Avner Brodsky , the Co-Founder and CEO of Lezgo Limited, an online marketing company, uses the acronym KISS (keep it short and simple) as a variation on this idea. “The business plan is not a college thesis,” he says. “Just focus on providing the essential information.”
• Do Adequate Research: Michael Dean, the Co-Founder of Pool Research , encourages business leaders to “invest time in research, both internal and external (market, finance, legal etc.). Avoid being overly ambitious or presumptive. Instead, keep everything objective, balanced, and accurate.” Your plan needs to stand on its own, and you must have the data to back up any claims or forecasting you make. As Brodsky explains, “Your business needs to be grounded on the realities of the market in your chosen location. Get the most recent data from authoritative sources so that the figures are vetted by experts and are reliable.”
• Set Clear Goals: Make sure your plan includes clear, time-based goals. “Short-term goals are key to momentum growth and are especially important to identify for new businesses,” advises Dean.
• Know (and Address) Your Weaknesses: “This awareness sets you up to overcome your weak points much quicker than waiting for them to arise,” shares Dean. Brodsky recommends performing a full SWOT analysis to identify your weaknesses, too. “Your business will fare better with self-knowledge, which will help you better define the mission of your business, as well as the strategies you will choose to achieve your objectives,” he adds.
• Seek Peer or Mentor Review: “Ask for feedback on your drafts and for areas to improve,” advises Brodsky. “When your mind is filled with dreams for your business, sometimes it is an outsider who can tell you what you’re missing and will save your business from being a product of whimsy.”

Outside of these more practical tips, the language you use is also important and may make or break your business plan.

Shaun Heng, VP of Operations at Coin Market Cap , gives the following advice on the writing, “Your business plan is your sales pitch to an investor. And as with any sales pitch, you need to strike the right tone and hit a few emotional chords. This is a little tricky in a business plan, because you also need to be formal and matter-of-fact. But you can still impress by weaving in descriptive language and saying things in a more elegant way.

“A great way to do this is by expanding your vocabulary, avoiding word repetition, and using business language. Instead of saying that something ‘will bring in as many customers as possible,’ try saying ‘will garner the largest possible market segment.’ Elevate your writing with precise descriptive words and you'll impress even the busiest investor.”

Additionally, Dean recommends that you “stay consistent and concise by keeping your tone and style steady throughout, and your language clear and precise. Include only what is 100 percent necessary.”

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

While a template provides a great outline of what to include in a business plan, a live document or more robust program can provide additional functionality, visibility, and real-time updates. The U.S. Small Business Association also curates resources for writing a business plan.

Additionally, you can use business plan software to house data, attach documentation, and share information with stakeholders. Popular options include LivePlan, Enloop, BizPlanner, PlanGuru, and iPlanner.

How a Business Plan Helps to Grow Your Business

A business plan — both the exercise of creating one and the document — can grow your business by helping you to refine your product, target audience, sales plan, identify opportunities, secure funding, and build new partnerships. 

Outside of these immediate returns, writing a business plan is a useful exercise in that it forces you to research the market, which prompts you to forge your unique value proposition and identify ways to beat the competition. Doing so will also help you build (and keep you accountable to) attainable financial and product milestones. And down the line, it will serve as a welcome guide as hurdles inevitably arise.

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'Where do you see yourself in five years?': Recruitment expert on why you shouldn't care about this age-old question

"Where do you see yourself in five years?"

It's a question that most people have asked themselves or been asked in job interviews, by mentors, career advisors or even just their parents.

But it's not a question people should really be worried about, Aneesh Raman, vice president and workforce expert at LinkedIn, told CNBC Make It in a conversation on the sidelines of LinkedIn's U.K. Talent Connect event last month.

"Don't worry about five years or 10 years from now," he said.

That might seem counterintuitive at first, but as the labor market and jobs themselves are evolving rapidly thanks to technological developments like artificial intelligence, planning for the future can be tricky.

Put simply, we just do not know which jobs will even exist in a few years, Raman said. "The only constant for the coming decade will be change," he added.

But where does that leave those who are about to start their career?

Instead of thinking about what job title or role you want, Raman suggests focusing on what you want to do, what skills to develop, and using them in an impactful way.

"The thing that matters most is skills," Raman said. Developing those should be the focus of anyone's early career, he explained, adding that where and how that happens is secondary.

"Employers are interested in all the skills you'll bring to the organization, regardless of where you've learned them," he said. "Take stock of your top skills and get really good at telling a story around where you built them and, more importantly, where you applied them."

Data shows that employers are placing an increasing amount of attention on skills — for example, recruiters are five times more likely to search for candidates based on skills than other accolades like college degrees, LinkedIn has found.

"Once you've built up some true expertise, the next step is to ask yourself how you can apply what you know to a specific issue or a topic you're passionate about," Raman said.

Next to skills, learning should be another key focal point and goes hand in hand with being able to adapt in an ever-changing job market.

"Find your way to a love of learning, where you are excited about learning because you are curious and determined to get better at certain skills or in certain areas of expertise," Raman said.

He has said that asking about the culture of learning is the most important question job seekers can ask in interviews. This is due to the changing nature of jobs and the labor market, Raman said. LinkedIn research has also found that learning boost workers' sense of connection to their employer and adds purpose to their jobs.

LinkedIn account types 2024: detailed comparison of all LinkedIn premium plans 

In total, there are nine different LinkedIn account types 

Wondering how much does LinkedIn Premium cost? Or if it’s worth it for you and your sales team?

If you’re looking for the exact LinkedIn premium price, scroll below to get an overview of the different account types and the cost of each.

But in reality, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Technically, you can use a free LinkedIn account at no cost to get most things done. But if you want to scale your business, you’ll want to cover the LinkedIn premium cost, it’s going to be worth it.

First, here are nine different LinkedIn account types, and their LinkedIn premium price:

• Free LinkedIn Account (basic)
• LinkedIn Premium Career: $29.99/month
• LinkedIn Premium Business: $59.99/month
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core: $99.99/month
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced: $149.99/month
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced Plus: Custom pricing
• LinkedIn Recruiter Lite: $170/month
• LinkedIn Recruiter: $835/month
• LinkedIn Learnings: $19.99/month

But as mentioned above, the LinkedIn Premium pricing differences isn’t the main thing you should be looking at here.

Instead, keep in mind that each version of LinkedIn premium comes with different features, offerings, objectives, and more.

Now that you know how much does LinkedIn Premium cost, it’s time we learnt about their offerings, differences, and use cases. 

Let’s take a look at the types of LinkedIn accounts in detail without further ado. We’ll be covering how each account type works, what it offers, and of course, all of the LinkedIn premium costs and pricing models.

But before we dig in, have you joined our LinkedIn Outreach Family Facebook group yet? You can learn all the insider tips and tricks to social selling, LinkedIn, and outreach. Join now!

Table of Contents

Free LinkedIn account

A free LinkedIn account is a great start if you’re a beginner. 

But since it’s completely free, it comes with a few limitations.

A free account helps you grow your network, connect with people in your industry, and find old friends and alumni.

Free vs. paid account

Here are some limitations of having a free LinkedIn account type:

• You can’t send messages to people you’re not connected to
• You can’t always see who visits your profile
• Your searches are limited
• A free LinkedIn account is unsuitable for recruiters and business owners using LinkedIn for hiring due to its limited search and outreach capability 

As a rule of thumb, if you’re doing a lot of outreach, lead generation, and booking sales calls from LinkedIn with a free account, you might want to consider paying the LinkedIn premium cost.

Because, over time, you’ll start feeling the limitations of a free account.

LinkedIn Premium account types

LinkedIn Premium is an often thrown-around term. But the truth is, it’s an umbrella term with multiple LinkedIn account types under it. 

So which account type should you choose? You must consider your main objective. 

For example, if you’re a salesperson looking to generate leads and target very specific ones, you could try the Sales Navigator Core or Advanced. Similarly, if you want to grow your business by onboarding new people, then LinkedIn Recruiter may be your calling. 

But how much does LinkedIn Premium cost, you ask?

Well that depends on a specific account type and its features. 

In the following sections we compare the use cases, pricing, and differences for each LinkedIn account type. 

Before that, here’s a quick comparison table for a sneak peek into every LinkedIn Premium account:

Now, let’s analyze these LinkedIn premium costs in detail, as well as what kind of features they offer for the price.

LinkedIn Premium Career: $29.99/month – To get hired quickly

A LinkedIn Premium Career account is perfect for you if you’re looking to stand out from the crowd for potential recruiters or if you want to grow your network by connecting with like-minded people. 

As per a recent survey by LinkedIn, job seekers with a LinkedIn Premium Career account get hired 2x faster than the ones that don’t. 

Here’s everything you get with a LinkedIn Premium Career account missing in a free account:

• Access profile viewers over the last 365 days

• Get unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning and upgrade your skills to stand out
• Get 5 InMail credits each month and use them to reach recruiters or actively-hiring business owners
• Get Applicant Insights to understand how you rank from other applicants

The best part? LinkedIn Premium Career is the cheapest of all LinkedIn account types and costs $29.99/month with a month’s free trial. 

LinkedIn Premium Business: $59.99/month – For sales professionals generating leads

LinkedIn Premium Business is ideal for sales professionals and business owners on the hunt to connect with high-quality leads or partners on LinkedIn. 

Did you know InMail is almost thrice as effective as emails or cold calls ? With a LinkedIn Premium Business account, you can send InMails to your dream clients or partners and get instantly noticed. 

Here’s everything you get with a LinkedIn Premium Business account:

• Everything included in LinkedIn Premium Career
• 15 InMail credits each month perfect for reaching out to potential clients or partners who you’re not connected with
• Unlimited browsing to find prospects faster 
• Key Business insights , such as competitor analysis, industry news, and other company analytics.  

LinkedIn Premium Business costs $59.99/mo which is more affordable than Sales Navigator. However, some businesses may find the number of InMails provided each month limiting.

Regardless, it’s a great investment if you need advanced browsing and business insights which you cannot get with a Premium Career or Basic LinkedIn accounts. 

If you’re into building a personal brand using LinkedIn, we recommend you read 5 steps to becoming an influencer on LinkedIn .

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core: $99.99/month – Best for sales teams and business owners looking to scale social selling

When it comes to making the optimum use of LinkedIn, there’s no match to the LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core account is a go-to for sales reps to find leads, connect, and build healthy relations from the get-go.

It also suits startup business owners with a limited budget but need a premium LinkedIn selling experience. 

Here’s everything Sales Navigator Core offers to improve social selling and lead quality:

• 50 InMail credits each month , which is perfect for sales teams sending outreach messages
• Advanced filters and a Sales spotlight to churn out your dream clients on LinkedIn 
• Save lead information to keep track of people and companies you’re reaching out to or targeting 
• Set up alerts and notifications to get notified on lead activities on LinkedIn. For example, when they change jobs, post an ad, etc.
• Get lead recommendations delivered each week based on your previous searches

Is this worth the LinkedIn premium pricing?

The only downside to the Core account is it does not offer a functionality to scrape and export your lead lists into a CSV file. 

But with a LinkedIn automation tool like Expandi , you can scrape lead lists and automate outreach in a wink.

So, if you’re constantly doing outreach and lead generation, LinkedIn Sales Navigator price could pay for itself.  

What if you’re looking for something more advanced?

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced: $149.99/month – An upgraded version of Sales Navigator Core for sales teams

The LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced, just like its name, is an upgraded version of the Core account as it offers additional sales functionalities for teams and business owners. 

A LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced account gets you:

• Everything under LinkedIn Sales Navigator Core except Job seeker and LinkedIn Learning subscriptions
• LinkedIn Teamlink that detects warm introduction opportunities with prospects on LinkedIn, for example, it identifies prospects who are first-degree connections of your teammates 
• Smartlinks for an advanced outreach experience that helps track prospect interactions with its auto-generated sales presentations 
• Advanced reporting to access valuable sales insights

One major cons of this LinkedIn premium account is the lack of CRM integration for the price point.

You could try the LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced account if your goal is to increase collaboration and step up your outreach processes, considering you do not require a CRM sync.

Read more: How to manage multiple LinkedIn accounts for outreach

While this LinkedIn Premium price is $149.99/mo, it still offers plenty of features to supercharge your lead generation and outreach. While this LinkedIn premium pricing might seem expensive at first, as long as you land just 1 client per month with this account type, it’ll be paying for itself.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced Plus: Custom pricing – Suitable for larger enterprises

LinkedIn Sales Navigator Advanced Plus is the ultimate social selling tool LinkedIn offers with enterprise sales teams in mind. 

For example, if your company uses a CRM and needs data synced to enable social selling and collaboration on LinkedIn, choose the Advanced version over Core or Plus.

With Advanced Plus, you get:

• Everything from Sales Navigator Advanced 
• CRM sync to auto-save LinkedIn activities and search for leads already present in your CRM
• Advanced CRM integrations for Salesforce Data Validation and Contact Creation and Microsoft Dynamics

For this account type, there is no LinkedIn premium pricing mentioned. Instead, you’ll have to contact the LinkedIn sales team and see if it’s a right fit for your business.

If LinkedIn is your ultimate sales channel, then investing in a custom-made Sales Navigator account for your business may be the best decision you could make, regardless of how much does LinkedIn Premium cost. 

LinkedIn Recruiter Lite: $170/month – For individuals with small to mid-scale hiring efforts

LinkedIn Recruiter Lite suits recruiting teams, HR professionals, and business owners hiring at a smaller scale and that are comfortable with minimal LinkedIn Recruiter features, such as:

• 30 InMails per user each month for a maximum of 10 users
• 20+ advanced search filters to drill drown the perfect candidates to reduce hiring time
• Unlimited browsing up to third-degree connections and LinkedIn Learning
• A multi-user dashboard for team collaboration and boost shared hiring 
• InMail and Job analytics reports
• View who visited your profile over the last 90 days
• Save candidate searches and set up alerts for their LinkedIn activities up to 10 daily or weekly

This LinkedIn premium pricing starts at $170/mo or $1,680/year for a single license. One drawback of this pricing model, however, is that this account type doesn’t come with Applicant Tracking System (ATS) integration, which many recruiting teams use to speed up hiring.

LinkedIn Recruiter: $835/month – For staffing firms and corporate companies’ hiring at a large scale

LinkedIn Recruiter premium accounts are of two types Recruiter Professional Services and Recruiter Corporate.

Since this LinkedIn premium pricing starts at $835/mo, it’s ideal more for big recruiting firms and staffing teams. It also saves time as it promotes collaboration and cuts down hiring time with options like message sharing, multi-user dashboard for collaboration, and note-taking. 

Here are the LinkedIn Recruiter plans’ features that are missing in Recruiter Lite:

• Recruiter Professional Services allows up to 100 InMails a month , while Recruiter Corporate allows 150 InMails
• Lite’s candidate search alerts are limited up to 10, while the Recruiter allows 50 alerts daily or weekly
• You can bulk send up to 25 messages at once
• Recruiter data is solely owned by you and not LinkedIn
• ATS integration with 28+ tools

This LinkedIn premium pricing type is custom. Meaning, LinkedIn doesn’t explicitly mention  its costs. However, online reports and research suggests that LinkedIn Recruiter pricing starts at $835/mo, making it suitable for corporations and enterprise teams with larger budgets.

LinkedIn Learning: $19.99/month or free with some Premium accounts – To develop individual and team skills

LinkedIn Learning offers a pool of high-value 21,000+ courses curated and taught by industry professionals. It focuses on interactive, hands-on learning and is worth the investment if you’re looking to upgrade your teams’ or your skills. 

The platform’s courses are spread across fields like creative, business, technology, and design. 

Finally, this LinkedIn premium cost starts from $19.99/mo and offers a free 7-day trial.

With this LinkedIn premium account type, the platform offers a completion certificate post-course that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.

Which LinkedIn Premium Account Type Is Right For Me?

Now, to recap, wondering how much is LinkedIn premium and which account type is right for you?

First, the answer to your question about the LinkedIn premium pricing is that it depends on the specific account type.

In total, there are nine different LinkedIn premium types, each with different features, use cases, and pricing plans.

And as you’ve noticed, picking the right LinkedIn account type depends on your goals and needs.

If lead generation is your goal, try a Sales Navigator plan that fits your budget. But what about other goals? The only way is to compare each plan and re-visit our in-depth comparison.

In other news, there’s one goal that’s common for recruiters as well as sales teams. That’s generating LinkedIn leads on auto-pilot with less effort and time. 

That’s what Expandi is for!

With Expandi, you can set up smart outreach sequences based on several conditions and actions . Doing so helps you target an audience using the LinkedIn Sales Navigator or other LinkedIn pricing plans (including the free version) and use Expandi to book meetings automatically. 

Want to learn more?

Get a free, 7-day trial or book a demo to talk to an expert on how to make the most of LinkedIn.

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House Republicans have a wacky new plan to finally pass Ukraine aid

• For months, Israel and Ukraine aid has been stalling in the House. That may be about to change.
• Speaker Johnson is planning separate votes on the aid in order to ease GOP opposition.
• It's a complicated process, but it could work. Here's what to know about the plan.

For months, the House has been sitting on a bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and humanitarian funding for Gaza.

The Senate passed the $95.3 billion package in February after a plan to attach the bill to increased border security measures failed. But many, if not most, House Republicans are opposed to further Ukraine aid, and House Speaker Mike Johnson now has to deal with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's threat to call a vote on his ouster if he allows more Ukraine aid to pass.

So Johnson has a plan: hold separate votes on the key parts of that package — one for Israel, one for Ukraine, and two more on other major components — and then bundle it up and send it to the Senate.

I have just spoken with the @HouseGOP conference on my plan to address national security supplemental legislation on the growing security crises.   This week, we will consider separate bills with a structured and germane amendment process to: •Fund our ally Israel •Support… — Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) April 15, 2024

House Republicans released the text of most of the bills on Wednesday afternoon, and votes are slated to take place on Saturday evening.

The devil's in the details here, and Democrats are still reviewing the legislation. But while they're generally skeptical of the plan, and would prefer that the House simply pass the Senate's bill, Democrats in both chambers sound willing to hear out Johnson.

"I'm willing to keep an open mind, but man, why not just do the easy thing?" Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters on Tuesday, saying Johnson's plan doesn't "sound like a recipe for success."

Johnson also has to contend with anger from the hard right, and potentially growing support for Greene's ouster effort.

Here's what's in the four bills

The contents of the four bills largely mirror the contents of the Senate-passed bill, just broken into parts. Each will receive an individual vote.

Israel aid: $26.38 billion total, including $14.1 billion in military aid to Israel, $2.4 billion for US military operations in the Middle East, and $9.2 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza. Funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains prohibited following a report that some employees participated in the October 7 Hamas attack, a move likely to anger progressives.

Ukraine aid: $60.84 billion total, $23.2 billion of which will go toward replenishing US weapons stockpiles. It also allows the aid to Ukraine to be structured as a loan.

Taiwan aid and Indo-Pacific military funding: $8.12 billion total, including $3.3 billion for US submarine infrastructure, $2 billion in military aid for Taiwan, and $1.9 billion to replenish US weapons already given to Taiwan and other countries.

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TikTok bill and other provisions: A package that includes a recently passed bill to force the sale of the popular app TikTok, a bill to confiscate Russian assets , and more. The text of this bill has not yet been released.

Many Republicans oppose Ukraine aid, while Democrats are increasingly skeptical of Israel aid

Johnson's plan is aimed at addressing two separate pockets of opposition to the foreign aid package.

After October 7, the Biden administration and Senate leaders insisted on tying Israel and Ukraine aid together, with the idea being that including Israel aid would incentivize Republicans to swallow more Ukraine aid.

Republicans, hoping to avoid that, have made numerous attempts at passing Israel aid on its own , but they've either failed or been stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Democrats unanimously support Ukraine aid, and there are plenty of Republicans — including Johnson, a former Ukraine skeptic — who feel the same, meaning a majority of the House would vote to approve it.

But as the war in Gaza has unfolded, and the Democratic base has increasingly turned against the war as civilian casualties mount, Democrats have grown to be either outright opposed to the Israel aid or supportive of conditions.

Johnson's plan is designed to allow progressive Democrats to vote against Israel aid, while hard-right Republicans can vote against the Ukraine aid — all while allowing the whole package to move forward.

Nancy Pelosi pulled off a version of this back in 2007

There's some precedent for what Johnson's trying to do here.

After retaking the House in 2007, Democrats faced pressure to continue funding the War in Iraq — but most House Democrats were opposed to that.

To solve the issue, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tied the funding to an increase to the federal minimum wage, while keeping the votes separate.

Thus, Democrats got a win — increasing the minimum wage by $2.10 — while Iraq war funding passed the House and made it to then-President George W. Bush's desk.

The hard-right is still furious, and Johnson could face a vote to oust him

Many hard-right Republicans remain opposed to this plan, and on Tuesday, Greene won a new ally: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who is co-sponsoring the Georgia congresswoman's "motion to vacate" and is now calling on Johnson to resign.

I just told Mike Johnson in conference that I’m cosponsoring the Motion to Vacate that was introduced by @RepMTG . He should pre-announce his resignation (as Boehner did), so we can pick a new Speaker without ever being without a GOP Speaker. — Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2024

Of course, both Greene and Massie are outliers among House Republicans — they were the only two lawmakers to vote against every single Russia-related bill following the start of the Ukraine war in 2022 — but Johnson has little room for error given Republicans' dwindling vote margin.

Several Democrats have said they would oppose an effort to oust Johnson, a break from their unanimous support for Kevin McCarthy's ouster in October.

But some of those Democrats have conditioned that promise on the passage of more Ukraine aid , and it's unclear if Johnson's plan will satisfy them.

"In the absence of an organized, logical demonstration of leadership, I'm not making any promises," said Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who previously indicated a willingness to save Johnson in exchange for more Ukraine aid.

Watch: Speaker of the House finally elected, ending three weeks of leaderless chaos

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