I get this question constantly from clients coming into Peace and Profit. They’ve built a following on LinkedIn, maybe started a Substack, and they’re wondering if that’s enough to attract high level clients, or whether they need to be somewhere else too. So let’s settle it.
The Platform I’d Choose If I Could Only Pick One
If I had to choose just one channel to sell premium offers, even to $10 million CEOs, I would still choose Instagram. Here’s why.
Everybody checks Instagram and Facebook daily, often multiple times a day, including the people you think are too busy or too senior to be scrolling. Your high level clients are on Instagram, whether they admit it or not.
Instagram also gives you something LinkedIn and Substack can’t. It lets people see your face and hear your voice, and that’s how humans build trust. You don’t need to talk to camera constantly to get this benefit. You just need video content somewhere in your mix so people get to know the real you, not just your written thought leadership.
Why LinkedIn and Substack Fall Short on Their Own
LinkedIn is brilliant for building authority and making connections. Substack can be a great long form home for your ideas. But neither gives you the rapport building or the activation you need to convert an audience into a group offer at scale.
Substack in particular takes a long time to build the following required to convert consistently, and it lacks that human voice element that makes people feel like they know you.
The Ad Cost Problem Nobody Talks About
When you run ads, you’re generally sending people back to Instagram, not LinkedIn or Substack. If someone clicks your ad and lands on a ghosted profile with 40 followers, that reads as low credibility, even if your offer is excellent. An active, authoritative Instagram presence lowers your ad costs and lifts your conversion rates on lead magnets and webinars. This is exactly the kind of Instagram funnel thinking I break down for lead magnet growth, where your feed, stories and DMs all play a different role in getting someone from stranger to client.
You Need a Spiderweb, Not a Single Channel
A Google study found that converting a customer takes around seven hours of content across eleven pieces, spread over four different sources. One platform isn’t enough anymore. This is what I call a spiderweb strategy, and it looks different depending on who you sell to. A weight loss coach’s spiderweb won’t look like a career coach’s, and yours shouldn’t either.
At minimum, I recommend Instagram, a podcast, and Meta ads. From there you can layer on LinkedIn, Substack or Threads depending on your audience. I don’t love TikTok for high level client conversion, though it’s useful for top of funnel audience building.
What This Actually Looks Like in Practice
You don’t need to talk to camera five times a week to attract premium clients. Talking head content builds authority fast but it’s slow to produce, sometimes three or four hours per video. Carousels, single posts and B-roll reels can absolutely convert high level clients too, provided you understand your customer journey and where each piece of content sits within it.
Ask yourself, where am I growing my audience, where am I building authority, where am I converting through social proof, and where am I actually selling. For me, that’s ads for conversion and my podcast for authority, which frees up my Instagram content to focus purely on affinity and relationship building. If you want a practical example of how stories specifically fit into that funnel, this Instagram stories strategy is a good place to start.
The Bottom Line
It was never about choosing LinkedIn or Substack or Instagram in isolation. It’s about understanding your whole ecosystem and what each platform is doing to move someone from not knowing you to paying you. If you want the full breakdown of what actually creates demand for premium offers, I’m running a free training called In Demand, where I walk through exactly what has people sliding into your DMs ready to buy.