Tuesday, December 23, 2014

The Book of the Blog






Publishing in 2015 a new book from Technical Marketing drawing on content from our blog.





Thursday, December 18, 2014

Five top content topics

Content development has become a bit of a buzz word in recent times. We have looked at five important areas of information content that prospects will usually be looking for when they access your web site.

1. Products and services

Explain clearly what products or services your company is offering. Provide details of the products, their specifications and offer downloads of relevant information.

2. User reference and endorsement

Provide reference to satisfied users of your products using third party endorsements, product reviews and case studies to build confidence in the products.

3. Influencers

Cite the views of recognised opinion leaders and gurus in your field, particularly where their opinion is considered expert and impartial and reflects favourably on your product.

4. Subject guide

Offer an impartial guide to the market in which you operate that provides a useful summary or introduction to the market and helpful information on how to go about selecting the relevant products. A White Paper that outlines the technology, the state of the market and background information also helps present your business as knowledgable and expert.

5. Call to action

 Because there are several stages in the buying process from early research through to closure and order placement, offer means to contact you easily and at all stages. And offer future keep in touch options such as email news and social media. 

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Competitive advantage


To avoid being lost amongst a mass of rival product or service suppliers, businesses should decide what can give them a competitive advantage. We can look at three different strategies for gaining such a competitive advantage - cost, specialisation or differentiation.

Today we will begin by talking about cost. Being the lowest cost producer is typically also related to volume. Investment in tooling, design for high volume production and cost effective routes to market are all factors in delivering the product at a low price. One company I  worked for, identified markets that needed high volumes of products. This suited a manufacturing strategy that enabled investment in specialised tooling, automated machinery and finely tuned assembly lines to turn out high volumes of products at the lowest cost in the market. Interestingly tenders were often won not on price, but due to the capability to deliver high volumes to customer timescales that competitors not set up for volume production couldn't meet. This not only generated a higher unit percentage gross margin , but also translated into higher cash earnings on the contract. And thanks to investment in production, usually a better quality, more consistent and reliable product than their competitors too.

In service industries the cost of supplying that service can be scrutinised at every stage in the process,  which may result in major changes to the way in which that service is delivered. Airlines provide an interesting example, where in recent years the established carriers have met tough challenges from low fare airlines. Referred to as disruptive innovation, South West Airlines developed a business model which others such as Ryanair and Easyjet have followed to grow into market leaders and at the same time expand the market by bringing  in customers who could not afford the fares set by the established carriers. By operating one type of aircraft, a point to point route structure, dispensing with inclusive passenger services such as meals and seat reservation, using smaller airports, fast turn arounds and many other cost-saving ideas, the cost of providing the service is significantly lower.

Interestingly, offering the basic product or service at a low price point results from stripping out all the so called 'frills'. The purchaser can then decide to buy these as an option. Things such as accessories that make the core product more useful which usually carry much higher margins than the the product itself. For airline passengers, buying food, checking in hold luggage, reserving seats rapidly rack up the total price of the ticket.

In short, low cost as a competitive advantage does not mean low margin. In fact the investment and volume can be a barrier to entry for other would be competitors, allowing the disruptive innovator to gain big shares of the market. The temptation is to try to take more of the market - the areas occupied by premium brands or businesses that specialise such a in custom products. That is a mistake that will confuse the customers.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Technical Marketing ideas for Engineers

When Andy, Steve and I set up Technical Marketing Ltd in 1999, b-2-b marketing communications were primarily display advertising in the trade press, exhibitions, mail shots, telemarketing, PR and product literature. The world wide web and email was slowly gaining traction, but use and acceptance was patchy at best.

We had arrived at TML  from running a global marketing team for a leading company in the entertainment technology sector. We had set up email piecemeal. The R&D teams in London and Los Angeles had an email set up which we linked up with a marketing network. Eventually the rest of the company realised the benefits of email and a company system followed. Web sites were not that impressive in the early days and print which was quite sophisticated was thought superior. Even then few people had PCs on their desk, mobile phones, or more often, car phones were still fitted into cars, or at least to some company cars.

It was into this background that  Technical Marketing Ltd was launched to introduce the emerging Internet technologies and indeed use them to run a 'virtual' business ourselves. In 2000 we launched a book - Technical Marketing Techniques - through Entertainment Technology Press which itself used then pioneering 'print on demand' methods. Fifteen years on, the Internet is an essential enabling technology for marketing - web sites, email and social media for a start. Updating the book became essential to recognise the massive changes in marketing possibilities. 

Because we started from an engineering background and many of our clients are smaller engineering companies, the new title - Technical Marketing Ideas for Engineers - is now preferred. The original book started with marketing theory, worked through product development and marketing communications before concluding with predictions for the future, including making the case for web sites, email marketing and e commerce. The new title retains the marketing theory introduction, but now includes digital marketing as a mainstream subject and includes much more discussion of the evolving marketing space. 
Look out for further announcements.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Once you could only buy advertising space or ‘buy’ editorial mention

Before the widespread adoption of the web there were only two significant options for a business to gain attention for its products in the media – to buy expensive advertising, or buy PR for third party column space. It was ‘above the line’ and ‘below the line’ promotion. The glitzy world of advertising or the manipulative black arts of press and public relations.


Then into this expensive publicity mix of advertising and PR along came the Internet and the World Wide Web. The media opened up to even the smallest business, not just locally, but globally. Since we published Techniques in Technical Marketing in 2000, the web has moved to a new phase with social media offering very affordable alternatives to the main ‘above the line’ media options.

Our book was intended as a simple introduction to marketing, particularly for engineers needing to understand how to go about presenting their products in a fast changing world. But technology enabled marketing has also been rapidly evolving. So it is time for a new book. A book looking at where marketing has been headed in the last decade and some things that owners and engineers in small to medium size businesses in the B-2-B area should know.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

This week in marketing

It was the week BBC TV's Apprentice show had its annual go at advertising.

Whether it is a business programme or simply another game show loosely associated with business, the Apprentice is compelling viewing. Lord Sugar who presides as judge and jury - "You're Fired!" - has established himself as a celebrity business man, but what that business is these days is a bit vague since the distant days of Amstrad electronic consumer products. Of his two cohorts, Karren Brady is probably better known than PR veteran Nick Hewar who may have had the unenviable task of helping market the Amstrad stuff which Alan Sugar - as he was prior to his elevation to the peerage -memorably described in his first biography as "a mugs eyeful" to explain the point of LEDs blinking away on the front panel.  Karen meanwhile fronted Birmingham City FC at the time bank rolled by more interesting business men who were the real story for the press. If the 'board' are unusual business characters, the wanna be candidates are a potential employers worst nightmare.

After a recap of the previous week's disaster, the episode starts with a telephone call to the house where the would be apprentices are billeted together in ostentatious luxury. I thought it was said that the call was timed at 4.30 am, but maybe I  misheard, anyway the message is generally the same and along the lines that "the cars will be with you in 20 minutes", or "Lord Sugar will meet you in 30 minutes." How on earth they get showered, dressed and breakfasted in 20 minutes is intriguing and possibly the most challenging achievement of the task. Lord Sugar - everyone uses the 'Lord' bit as though he is real nobility - meets them at some well known London landmark each week to deliver the 'brief' - brief being just that and nobody ever has any questions despite the outcome for failure being a firing. Last night the venue was the American Embassy, the brief to develop a soft drink for the American market and create branding, TV ad and web site. His Lordship usually steps regally from a Rolls Royce, but due to some unspecified  reason appeared on a TV screen from some remote location, but still flanked by his two acolytes. Sufficient to say, the execution of the task was the usual fiasco and a lesson in how not to plan a product development and launch campaign.

Meanwhile over on Fox Business channel an executive of I think MCD Digital Agency in New York was being interviewed at top speed explaining the growth in digital adverting, citing Harvard research into investing in marketing during a recession and how those who over invested had gained market share. All good stuff and delivered in no more than a couple of minutes. Pity the apprentices sent to New York didn't look this guy up.

Finally another email from David Cameron. He likes sending me emails, but somehow it feels like stuff from an imaginary friend on Facebook. His friends, Boris Theresa and the rest email me too. it is well done and informative, yet somehow it doesn't have any emotional appeal that would motivate recipients to vote for Dave's party. It's business, factual logical and unemotional and well executed PR. But that's Dave's expertise. Interesting to see if it works at the General Election.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Time for budgets

For many companies the end of 2014 will also be the end of the budget year and marketing managers will be thinking about the budget for 2015.

Hopefully there will be a formal budget and not just a sum of money allocated to marketing. And that budget should be detailed, typically on a spreadsheet to show how the investment is to be deployed in accordance with a marketing plan. I use the term investment because the whole point of a marketing plan and the accompanying budget to implement it, is to achieve a return on the investment just the same as if investing in new plant to improve efficiency for example.

A problem with budgets is the tendency to take last years' numbers and add a few percent for inflation. This lazy approach prevents new ideas being funded and perpetuates spend on things which may no longer be valid, so it pays to rethink the marketing strategy,  marketing plan and supporting budget.

A question I sometimes  get asked is how much should the marketing budget be? Some people would like this expressed as a percentage of sales, but this will vary from business to business and what needs to be achieved. One approach is to decide the marketing strategy and write the marketing plan, then figure out the cost of implementation - 'to cost the need.' The reality for most companies is driven by affordability and then prioritising the budget for most effect.
  

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Lest We Forget

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red



To the Fallen

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn;
At the going down of the sun,
and in the morning,
We shall remember them.








Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red



























Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red 11.11.2014.

Photos: David Brooks

888,246

Blood Swept Lands And Seas of Red. Tower of London. 11.11.2014.

  Paul Cummins & Tom Piper. Photo: David Brooks.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

It's a global market

The Internet has been a game changer for entrepreneurs by opening the door to a global market.

In a recent blog we reported on the growth of homepreneurs in the UK, some 2.9 million largely creative businesses operating from a home office. This group are distanced from the similarly large group of tradesmen - builders, painters, plumbers, gardeners and the rest serving very local customers. The home based entrepreneurial businesses are said to be contributing £300 billion a year to the UK economy, with one third operating in international markets. Interestingly 65% plan to stay home based.

Think about this for a moment. An important sector of the reviving UK economy is not based on a traditional business model and nearly two thirds plan to stay with this model and not convert to a 'bricks and mortar' operation. Clearly a lot of entrepreneurial talent finds the fluidity of this approach works for them. A big difference is that homepreneurs might be driving business forward in global markets, but are not necessarily creating new jobs on the traditional basis of providing premises to which employees can commute and earn a salary. Instead the work opportunities they create for others is more likely to be awarded to similar businesses or individuals who are not employees. In short the Internet has allowed home based entrepreneurial businesses to flourish without employees and the whole raft of management, personnel and legal issues that accompany the traditional model of providing employment. Entrepreneurs are not necessarily best at staff management any way and need to concentrate on the core aims of the business, not trying to do something they are not skilled at.

Now think about the approach of successive governments. Most have recognised the need to encourage new businesses to start up and over the years various incentives and support structures have been tried. But ultimately their goal seems to be one of providing employment opportunities. They actually talk about creating jobs. Do the entrepreneurs see that as their purpose, or are they thinking of wealth creation not job creation? Creating work for others is a consequence of the needs of a growing business rather than its purpose.

As we approach next year's general election, the European Union the source of most UK legislation is already a major issue with advocates  arguing that membership is vital since 3 million UK jobs are said to depend on the EU. What is not mentioned so often is that the UK is the EU's best customer and 5 million jobs are related to trade in this direction. Others draw attention to the huge membership cost to the UK and volume of legislation businesses have to comply with. Some 1,139 new business regulations were passed by Brussels in the last year alone. Meanwhile businesses are looking  at global markets, not just one geographic trade area.

So we have governments with a focus on finding ways to create jobs, not just via new businesses, but in the public sector. On the other hand businesses, certainly the new enterprises are pursuing wealth creation and ultimately that wealth will pay people and support public funds too through taxes. Whether the UK leaves the EU or not there will remain a big global marketing job to do, at home, in the EU and the whole world.


Supporting our troops & remembering the 888,246  British  fatalities in the Great War.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Are Homepreneurs the key to UK growth?

A new report suggests homepreneurs hold the key to economic growth. Hold on a minute, home what?  Homepreneurs. It was a new term for me and seems to have been coined to describe people who run an enterprise from home.

The report from Enterprise Nation numbers UK homepreneurs as 2.9 million contributing some £300 billion a year to the UK economy. So not just a bunch of eBay traders selling odds and ends from the home computer then? Interestingly the main occupations or entreprenuresare construction and services. And there are big differences between what I would call the building trades and the professional services offered by creatives, business services and consultants. Whereas the trades tend to operate locally while service providers are just as likely to sell services nationally and internationally.

Working from home, I have spoken with various building trade entrepreneurs such as builders, painters, plumbers, central heating engineers and landscape gardeners. Running their small businesses has many common features between their businesses and mine. Marketing is typically via 'word of mouth' with a web site as a reference resource for what we would call case studies and endorsements. Most do not advertise at all but rely pretty much on recommendations. Few employ staff and those who do seem to find management of employees a major headache. A typical scenario is a local tradesman who has a mobile phone book full of specialists that can be called in as needed and accounts at local wholesalers to buy products and materials at discount terms. Professionals such as accountants similarly work alone and get new business from their clients recommending to others.

When we set up Technical Marketing Ltd some 15 years ago, the Internet had become the enabling technology that allowed us to work without staff and and use a our own network of self employed specialists such as graphic designers, photographers, programmers, printers and many more. The business model is not encumbered by employment legislation, time spent on managing staff and organising employees. Instead we issue a design brief and request for pricing to our supplier and on acceptance issue Purchase Orders on a commercial basis. We had not thought of ourselves as homepreneurs, but  I  guess that's what we were!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Are online advertisements following you around?

Remarketing is probably responsible for the spooky way advertisements for things you have been looking at keep appearing wherever you go on the web.

Look at some options for holidays for example - flights, car hire, hotels - and the chances are that next time you browse online, advertisements for these specific services are shown to you. Not just generic content but flights to the particular airport you were researching. They are probably there due to Google Dynamic Remarketing which allows advertisers to slew their advertising dollars to find people who have already visited your web site and in effect put their hand up that they are in the market for your products or services. I  worked for a company where the financial director was fond of the quotation attributed to a John Wanamaker - "Half the money I  spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I  don't know which half." Dynamic Remarketing takes the guessing out by providing templates to show advertisements to people who already have been to your web site. So you slew advertising dollars to people who know you, have looked at your products, but may not have taken the desired step of actually buying the stuff. Or they may be existing customers who have consumed the product they bought from you before and are ready to buy a replacement.

Of course for b-2-b marketers, customers of high ticket items, or items of major capital investment may only have a need or indeed funding for a major piece of kit once every few years. The engineers who specified the original equipment may have moved on, or even retired when it comes to replacing major plant after say ten years. And of course unless your marketing communications has kept in touch with the company in the intervening years, your brand might no longer have any top of the mind awareness amongst the new specifying team. Remarketing could be used to keep the brand in front of them.

However the ethics of remarking have been called into question along with privacy issues that seem to allow advertisers to stalk prospects by kind of following them around the Internet. Individuals can tighten up their privacy settings and not accept cookies, but few actually bother. Then of course there is the subliminal effect of frequently being exposed to personally targeted messages - a technique not allowed in advertising. Your mind clocks all these ads and contributes to building top of the mind awareness for the brand.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

In search of excellence

Back in the early eighties, Peters and Waterman's best selling business book rapidly emerged as the new bible for how to excel in business.

When In Search of Excellence was published in 1982 the new managing director of Thorn Electrical Industries decided that the core theme that excellent companies succeed, was a culture the company should adopt. It was a time soon after the sort of retirement of founder Sir Jules Thorn when the old culture his 'hands on' approach had created, now left something of a gap where it was thought Peter's and Waterman's observations were just what was needed.

Thorn must have helped propel their book into the best seller list, since one day copies turned up on every managers desk with the instruction to read and absorb the key message. The book had 8 ideas which it was argued were the common threads that showed up in the most successful companies. It has to be said, Sir Jules own style which involved by-passing managers and talking directly to factory operatives, office clerks and researchers to get the real feel of what was going on had became legend. People at Thorn House arriving late might find JT  sitting at their desk and having to explain their tardiness was scary. Such tactics gave rise to a wealth of stories he happily encouraged and no doubt many had few a threads of truth, but it kept everyone on their toes.

To give just one personal example. One summer I was working as an apprentice in the lighting laboratories conducting measurements on a light fitting being developed for a major high street retailer. I  should explain everyone who worked in the labs wore a white coat, freshly laundered and starched each week and with a policy of recruiting many graduates with doctorates, the place was known affectionately as the 'hospital'. It was as much a marketing ploy as a scientific one that allowed customers to see products in development and question the scientists and engineers directly. Except I was merely a student apprentice, on this occasion alone in the lab making hundreds of measurements. Suddenly into this quiet backwater swept the diminutive Sir Jules who I  had never met, followed by Marcus Sieff head of his family business - Marks & Spencer - and an entourage of suits. Sir Jules barked a request for the manager and I  explained he was elsewhere on an important mission expecting the party to leave and return later. Instead Sir Jules asked my name and proceeded to introduce me to his guests as one of the company's top researchers. And so it was I  had to make an impromptu presentation which fortunately seemed to go down well. I was aware that my manger had by now reappeared in the lab his face a picture of horror and concern, not doubt wondering what I  was telling a very important client. Happily it ended well but it wasn't long before I  traded white coat for a suit and joined the marketing department.

Interestingly the differentiation through excellence advocated by Peters and Waterman soon started to lose its gloss when it was pointed out that several of the companies held up as success stories had actually achieved very modest results and some had even gone bust! The new culture was quietly forgotten and the books found their way to charity shops.

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Not everything is what it seems - advertising in disguise

Between display advertising and PR  is a shadowy place occupied by paid for content in disguise.

What's that all about then? In a simpler world advertising is clearly identifiable in no small part because the advertiser wants the message to stand out from the surrounding editorial content. The space is paid for and consumers of the media whether it be in print, television or online recognise and can distinguish the advertising slot and that this is someone selling stuff and presenting the content to their best advantage.

PR works on the premise of persuading the editor that the story being pitched is of interest to the readership because it is news and relevant. Getting a story published within the editorial pages benefits the manufacturer whose products are featured with the apparent independent endorsement of a trusted publication. In b-2-b typically we are talking about printed media which is a mixture of editorial content and various forms of advertising i.e. content approved by the editor and advertising placed by the Advertising  Manager. The latter not deemed to influence the editorial in any way.

However, because of the value of what is perceived as independent endorsement conferred by appearing on editorial pages 'advertorial' content has for many years proved attractive to camouflage advertising as news. Some journals actually mark such pages as 'Advertising Feature' but by matching layout, font and editorial house style, many readers will accept advertorial as being part of the editorial content and therefore unbiased. Particularly in the online world this has evolved into 'native advertising' which Wikipedia describes as where "the advertiser attempts to gain attention by providing content in the context of the user's experience. Native ad formats match both the form and function of the user experience in which they are placed." Because it is not a banner ad, appears less intrusive than advertising it is argued people are more likely to click on the link. It is referred to as native advertising because it looks like the other native content and importantly in the style and format the reader is expecting to see for the particular media.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Social media - Facebook revisited

Recent blogs have looked at my experiments with social media for b-2-b . Now we come to Facebook.

I set up a Facebook account in February 2009 - so over 5 years ago. At that time it was a personal account and creating a page for business was the only way to have company information published on the platform. Inconvenient and mixed up with pictures of babies, horses, dogs and cats - so not a promising start.

What is it?
Good question.Wikipedia simply describes it as a "social media network." Founded in February 2004, it was initially contained in the university space before being opened up to everyone over 13 in September 2006.

How is it used?
Initially for social messaging - mainly gossip, but of late I  seem to see a weird mix of stuff. From individuals usually passing on video links, allegedly amusing pictures, long drawn out jokes and amazingly private announcements. From businesses - unsubtle advertising.

What does it do?
It reaches vast numbers - think billion plus world wide. So it offers an alternate advertising model in so far as target audiences can be identified by the personal information they have revealed about themselves, their interests, location etc. It seems to have evolved as a billion page web site for user generated content. 

Does it work?
Unlike Twitter (news headlines), YouTube (video demos etc) and Blogs (news from company insiders) Facebook's rationale is like all things to all people but does it deliver? There are some enquiries from Facebook, but in the b-2-b world I have not really seen any business getting loads of new customers. I long ago gave up the experiment of using Facebook as a useful marketing tool. At best it raises brand awareness, but whether this works for the target audience is hard to determine.

















Friday, September 19, 2014

Very Pinteresting - or is it?

Pinterest is a more recent addition to my social media portfolio and is still very much in the early experimental stage. As a matter of fact apart from setting it up and adding a few pictures I  have done little with it.

What is it?
Wikipedia seems confused. 'Pinterest is a company that provides an Internet service that they describe as a visual discovery tool. People use Pinterest to collect ideas for projects and interests. Users create and share collections (called “boards”) of visual bookmarks (called “Pins”) that they use to do things like plan trips, develop projects, organize events or save articles and recipes. There is also a like feature to save certain pins that may not fit with a board.

How is it used?
Basically you post, or in their terms 'pin' pictures on a 'board' and look at other people's photos. Sounds pretty dull.

What does it do?
Lets you 'pin' images (or videos) on boards. So do a lot of other systems, so why is it so popular? Business Insider reported it was the fastest growing content sharing platform. Another report reckons 80% of users are women.

Does it work?
I ask the question in connection with business and sales leads. So far it's difficult to see how it can.

So one for the back burner I  guess.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Being your own movie director

YouTube is next up in my review of social media experiments.

I added a YouTube channel to my portfolio of experiments in the social media space in 2009, but have to confess that have made very little use of it since. My own channel that is, not YouTube itself. There are two main reasons for this. First YouTube's benefits were very obvious, so beyond the initial posting experiment I  felt quite confident in recommending it to clients. The second reason was one of time. Putting together even a modest video can be quite a commitment in time and resource. Some of our clients have done this to great effect. We did think about a video blog, but plans to launch this seem to have gone permanently on to the back-burner.

What is it?
YouTube is a video-sharing web site owned by Google which allows the upload of video content and makes use of Adobe Flash Video and HTML5  technology. 

How is it used?
For our clients the most popular videos are customer testimonials, typically conducted on site, production demonstrations and service guides. For these three applications YouTube is a great resource. Since YouTube's debut in 2005 the way we view video and broadcast content has migrated from dedicated  televisions to computers and mobile devices. Consequently user generated content is just as likely to be viewed on the same platform as professionally created content from the legacy broadcasters and judged accordingly.

What does it do?
In a word, YouTube shows and tells without the bother of reading. But in reality it does a lot more than this. For clients who install products and systems it allows prospective customers to view the work and hear and see user feedback. It brings products to life in a way that static, 2D images in a catalogue or on a web site can't do and it can offer step-by-step guides to show how to operate a product, or to service it.

Does it work?
It certainly, in the case of our clients, gets thousands and thousands of visits which are no doubt a positive in search. For clients who track this data 20 or 30,000 views are common, but links on to their web site from this source, likes and subscribers are all just a few.

My view on YouTube
A great marketing tool to better demonstrate your product, to get user endorsement and offer first line service support.


Next time - Pinterest

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Is LinkedIn linking you up with useful contacts?


Continuing the review of social media, we take a look at LinkedIn.

LinkedIn joined my portfolio of social media experiments in February 2008. At the time it appeared to offer unique networking opportunities through connectivity to current and past work colleagues who via endorsements could vouch for my skills and credibility. It offered more than the local breakfast club, more than a showcase for my CV and the potential to link to people who might have use of my services. Unlike Facebook with hundreds or indeed thousands of 'friends' LinkedIn offered a degree of exclusivity and access via real contacts to fellow professionals. But somehow along the way the original concept seems to have been quietly abandoned as it becomes yet another platform for advertisers and digital marketers.

What is it?
Launched in 2003 LinkedIn is described as a business oriented social networking service. It is about finding a job, discovering sales leads and connecting with business partners.

How do I us it?
Once I had set up my profile I waited for a deluge of enquiries for marketing services. Nothing happened. I am not fond of asking for people to recommend me, but it was apparently necessary to complete my profile. It's a bit like asking friends if they know a good plumber. From time to time I  return to LinkedIn and send invites to people I know, have met, even one or two I  only know via the Internet, to join my connections. So there are waves of new people joining, but in the main all contacts are people I actually know. I don't use it proactively to publish information or news. Perhaps I  should.

What does it do?
My home page tells me my 152 connections somehow links me u to 5.4 million professionals in my network. You can join groups, you can publish stuff and it is this ability to publish that is making it look more like Facebook as the days go by. And because digital marketing companies are pushing the same stuff out to all the social media channels, there is a repetition of content. Via email I  regularly receive prompts to congratulate a contact on the occasion of an anniversary,  to endorse their skills simply by checking a box (not by writing a contact specific endorsement) or inviting someone to be a contact

Does it work?
Has it brought me in work? No. But neither did the breakfast networking clubs where you actually met people, but generally people like myself offering services, not people requiring them.

My view on LinkedIn
Kind of a background tool to provide anyone who does want to talk about marketing services the references to my experience, work and general professional environment.

Next time - YouTube.