<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Kimmo Linkama</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.linkama.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.linkama.com</link>
	<description>B2B marketing</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 15 May 2012 20:19:59 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2</generator>
<xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" />
		<item>
		<title>Does your newsletter make readers happy, indifferent or annoyed?</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:52:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[email]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing message]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relevance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1351</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/">Does your newsletter make readers happy, indifferent or annoyed?</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>Maybe you’ve subscribed to newsletters you have deemed valuable to your business or self-improvement. How many of those newsletters actually provide the value you expect? If most of them do, that’s just fine. Chances are, though, that you’re facing the (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/">Does your newsletter make readers happy, indifferent or annoyed?</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>Maybe you’ve subscribed to newsletters you have deemed valuable to your business or self-improvement. How many of those newsletters actually provide the value you expect?</p>
<p>If most of them do, that’s just fine. Chances are, though, that you’re facing the same problem as I am.</p>
<p>Let’s say you regularly receive some 20 newsletters. The more often they appear in your inbox, the more you expect from them—after all, if somebody considers their messages so important that it’s justifiable to interrupt you daily, they’d better deliver. Right?</p>
<p>Yet many, if not most, of the newsletters you read fail to impress you. If your reaction is just “Blah, another five minutes wasted”, that’s not so bad, but if you’re more inclined towards “Why the deuce should anyone think I want to read rubbish like this”, they are not doing their job.</p>
<p>What’s funny is that the senders usually purport to be experts in their industry. Why else would you have subscribed to the newsletters in the first place?</p>
<p>Over the past few weeks, I personally have been particularly irked by two or three newsletters. Yes, when I first subscribed to them, the senders seemed to know what they’re talking about. Reading what they fill my inbox with, though, most often leaves me not even indifferent but downright peeved.</p>
<p>Either it’s nothing of value in itself, just a long-winded introduction to a webinar, video, podcast, whatever, which most often carries a price tag. Selling is all right, but if every mail does nothing but sell, it’s a pretty instant turnoff.</p>
<p>Or it’s a loosely written piece intended to be humorous but missing its mark altogether. The recipient doesn’t want to read a lot of fluff, and humour is a difficult art.</p>
<p>Going back to the assumption you get 20 daily newsletters and spend an average of 5 minutes reading each, it means <em>more than an hour and a half of your time wasted</em> each day.</p>
<p>I have only two things to say.</p>
<ol>
<li>If you’re sending out an e-newsletter, do make sure the recipients get some value out of each mailing you do. Not just becoming aware of the high-priced webinar you’re selling, but each of the emails in themselves.</li>
<li>If you receive newsletters that tend to annoy you more than you get value out of them, be ruthless in pruning your “mentors”. If you find yourself constantly deleting someone’s messages, unsubscribe. No scruples.</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Now over to you. If you’re collecting email addresses for your newsletter, how do you make sure you’re providing value? If you’ve subscribed to newsletters, what are your experiences?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/does-your-newsletter-make-readers-happy-indifferent-or-annoyed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Breathe new life into your old marketing materials</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:22:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relevance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[update]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1234</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/">Breathe new life into your old marketing materials</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>The marketing piece you put online or printed with lots of hassle and a hefty price tag a couple of years ago is so obsolete today you&#8217;re almost ashamed of yourself. Let&#8217;s hope you&#8217;re not having many hundreds of those (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/">Breathe new life into your old marketing materials</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/redpen.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1238 alignright" title="redpen" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/redpen-193x300.png" alt="Image courtesy of Paul Sherman" width="193" height="300" /></a>The marketing piece you put online or printed with lots of hassle and a hefty price tag a couple of years ago is so obsolete today you&#8217;re almost ashamed of yourself. Let&#8217;s hope you&#8217;re not having many hundreds of those brochures gathering dust in the archives.</p>
<p>Old marketing materials are a nightmare for a marketer. They piss you off even more when you remember how many thousands of dollars or euros you used for producing and printing. Were that money still left today, you could easily think of dozens of more productive uses for it.</p>
<p>The good news is you haven&#8217;t lost the game yet.<span id="more-1234"></span></p>
<p>Let&#8217;s take that product brochure—just as an example—and take a moment to read it through. What is it actually that&#8217;s obsolete today?</p>
<p>Of course, you have more and better customer cases today than those you had at the time the piece went into print. You have better, to-the-point testimonials. Naturally, the product has been improved and it now performs better and at a lower cost for the user. Or maybe R&amp;D has puffed new life into the basic model so you now need to market to new target groups you couldn&#8217;t even think of in those bygone days. Not to mention your company&#8217;s customer support and consultation services that have taken leaps forward by today.</p>
<p>Now grab the red pen.</p>
<ul>
<li>Right, that&#8217;s clearly outdated. <em>Strike.</em></li>
<li>This has been developed further. <em>Add.</em></li>
<li>That we have found better sales arguments for. <em>List.</em></li>
<li>Here we should bring a whole new angle based on what we know today. <em>Write a short outline in bullet points.</em></li>
</ul>
<p>Lo and behold! After the red-pen exercise it might just emerge that most of the material, already pronounced dead, is still very much alive. Your company is still one of the top players in the business, you can now create even more added value to your customer and the ROI of the product is pretty nearly as good as it used to be.</p>
<p><strong>Next step: contact your trusted writer.</strong> Brief him or her using the results of your brainstorm, ending with the assignment &#8220;get this updated&#8221;. Add the names, addresses and phone numbers of your in-house experts who can give more information and agree on price and schedule. Ask your writer to think of how the material could be repurposed for an article, a blog post, a series of tweets. Sit back and wait for a miracle to happen.</p>
<p>Most of the time, it is easier to work on material that&#8217;s badly outdated or otherwise useless as-is than start with an empty slate. If you&#8217;ve written marketing copy you will certainly know the &#8220;empty sheet syndrome&#8221;. And if you don&#8217;t stray too far from the original, your legal department won&#8217;t start giving you a hard time and make you jump through hoops to get the stuff approved.</p>
<p><a title="Editing" href="http://www.linkama.com/creative-services/editing/" target="_blank">Editing</a> old marketing materials will often be a very viable shortcut to timely, highly usable new marketing content at a fraction of the cost of starting from scratch.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/breathe-new-life-into-your-old-marketing-materials/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What to look for in a content writer</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Dec 2011 18:32:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Freelancing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[copywriting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[freelancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1210</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/">What to look for in a content writer</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>In his post What to Look for in Freelance Writers, the &#8220;content marketing evangelist&#8221; (his words) Joe Pulizzi advises content marketers and digital publishers on finding the right type of content writer for their specific need. Joe comes from the (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/">What to look for in a content writer</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>In his post <a title="Original article on Junta42" href="http://blog.junta42.com/2011/12/looking-for-freelance-writers/" target="_blank">What to Look for in Freelance Writers</a>, the &#8220;content marketing evangelist&#8221; (his words) <a title="Joe Pulizzi bio" href="http://www.joepulizzi.com/bio/" target="_blank">Joe Pulizzi</a> advises content marketers and digital publishers on finding the right type of content writer for their specific need.</p>
<p>Joe comes from the US. I&#8217;m European. So there might be a cultural disconnect of sorts here, but having read the article linked to above, I felt compelled to add my two cents.<span id="more-1210"></span></p>
<h3>1.</h3>
<p>Talking about hiring an external content writer, Joe&#8217;s number one bullet point talks about the writer&#8217;s personality trumping industry expertise. I have an issue with that.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re an industrial company, the right personality will be nice to work with, sure, but be aware that you will have to spend a considerable amount of resources—time if not money—to train your new-found writer in the intricacies of your industry, your competitive situation and your goals. Are you prepared to make the investment, or would you rather go with someone hitting the ground running?</p>
<p>No professional content writer would have attained his or her status or kept alive if they had constantly been at loggerheads with their clients. &#8220;With whom you can&#8217;t stand to be in the same room with&#8221; is, pardon me, ridiculously far-fetched. At least here in Europe, we writers can&#8217;t afford to have egos larger than our competence.</p>
<h3>2.</h3>
<p>Joe quite rightly emphasises that when you&#8217;re hiring, you should hire the type of writer who is best suited to the project at hand. Where I see it starting to go in a strange direction is &#8220;Understand that copywriters work very differently and have very different sensibilities than do journalists.&#8221;</p>
<p>It looks like someone is trying to squeeze us writers in far too small pigeonholes here. &#8220;If you&#8217;re looking for someone to write blog posts for you, a copywriter is probably not your best bet&#8221; leads me to assume Joe&#8217;s idea of a copywriter is someone with a dose of arrogance and high-flying &#8220;creativity&#8221; that is best suited for aggressive consumer advertising.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a common mistake to understand &#8220;freelance copywriter&#8221; as being some kind of a hack between jobs or a moonlighter. A serious, professional copywriter will naturally adapt to the circumstances, take into account on whose behalf he or she is writing and to what kind of audience. Let me give some examples of what I personally have written about:</p>
<ul>
<li>Customer magazine articles for an oil refining company</li>
<li>Article on deep-sea submersibles</li>
<li>Brochures and print ads for paper mill condition monitoring system manufacturer</li>
<li>Marketing material about cast iron, particleboard and building restoration</li>
<li>Direct mail campaigns for an aircraft manufacturer, industrial security company, internationally operating construction company etc</li>
<li>Website copy ranging from one-woman footwear company to Northern Europe&#8217;s largest IT services company</li>
<li>Email campaign for a business gift company</li>
<li>And so on</li>
</ul>
<p>As you can see, this spectrum calls for persuasiveness, the ability to grasp complex technical issues and the competence to write about a wide range of topics in a human-understandable voice. It looks like the niches on this side of the pond are more flexible.</p>
<h3>3.</h3>
<p>Under &#8220;<em>Develop the right business relationship</em>&#8221; it seems the client gets to dictate the terms of the assignment. Sure, the client must always get what is required when it&#8217;s required, but what works when dealing with content farms won&#8217;t fly with a serious, professional writer. An assignment is always a two-way street. The writer commits to fulfilling his side of the deal, and so should the client. For example, if your piece is required in 2 days, it&#8217;s unfair to expect the writer to consent to payment in 90 days.</p>
<h3>4.</h3>
<p>The pay-for-performance model is a double-edged sword if there ever was one. The online success of any piece of content is dependent on so many factors outside of the writer&#8217;s control that it&#8217;s a professional suicide to accept payment based on performance.</p>
<p>What I wholeheartedly support is Joe&#8217;s last subhead: <em>Before Diving In&#8230; Test</em>. Yes. Because it will very soon reveal whether the work relationship is going to be a long-term one, taking into consideration both the personal chemistry and the quality of writing aspects.</p>
<p>What&#8217;s your view? As a content writer or someone hiring a writer? It would be great to have a comment from you.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/freelancing/what-to-look-for-in-a-content-writer/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>In defence of low B2B social media adoption</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/">In defence of low B2B social media adoption</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>B2B companies are often criticised for their low social media adoption rate. A case in point is a blog post entitled B2B Marketers Need To Wake Up and Get Social. It points to an Accenture report and tells us, for example, (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/">In defence of low B2B social media adoption</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>B2B companies are often criticised for their low social media adoption rate. A case in point is a blog post entitled <a title="Go to the B2B Marketing Insider article" href="http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/social-media/b2b-marketers-need-to-wake-up-and-get-social" target="_blank">B2B Marketers Need To Wake Up and Get Social</a>. It points to an <a title="Go to Accenture report" href="http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-making-social-media-pay.aspx" target="_blank">Accenture report</a> and tells us, for example, that</p>
<ul>
<li>Only 8% of B2B companies are heavily leveraging social media today despite the fact that almost 2 in 3 consider social media an important channel for customer engagement.</li>
<li>Only 5% reported a strong link between social media and strategy.</li>
<li>Just 11% reported having the systems and tools required to be effective.</li>
<li>Almost 20% of executives did not trust their companies’ ability to make the right social media investments.</li>
</ul>
<p>In this light, it is certainly justified to talk about B2B social media adoption being hopelessly low. But the question you very seldom hear asked is &#8220;<strong>WHY should they use social media?</strong>&#8220;<span id="more-1173"></span></p>
<p>I&#8217;m already hearing the cries &#8220;engagement&#8221;, &#8220;customer service&#8221;, &#8220;thought leadership&#8221;.</p>
<p>All fine and dandy, but there are a few things to consider:</p>
<ol>
<li>In B2B, <strong>engagement</strong> in many (if not most) cases means things the companies are not prepared to discuss in public. Measures to establish a competitive lead, exact specs, pricing, consultation.</li>
<li><strong>Customer service</strong> is fine as long as you provide how-tos, advice etc, but who wants to air their dirty laundry in public — like complaints or questions too detailed to be discussed in public? Even in the case of how-tos and advice, why put these in social media when you have your own website?</li>
<li><strong>Thought leadership</strong> is the only thing that really can work through social media. As an additional bonus, you get more search engine visibility.</li>
</ol>
<p>There&#8217;s also the fact that B2Bs seldom use the newest shiny thing. Their investment proposals go through multiple stages, and the ROI (as tired as the term is) will be asked about at every stage. As far as industrial companies are concerned, the latest-but-one generation of most everything is what they want to use — teething problems ironed out, and they don&#8217;t need to be the guinea-pigs that allow the vendor to find out whether the solution works or not.</p>
<p>So the findings of the report actually make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>Two out of three executives interviewed <em>consider social media an important channel for customer engagement</em> — but they are unclear on how and why to engage them.</p>
<p>Their long-term strategy was crafted long before the hype about B2B social media began in earnest. So obviously, there&#8217;s <em>no link between strategy and social media</em>, plus they are doubtful about social media being able to move the needle in the first place.</p>
<p>Because social media represent uncharted waters for them, they naturally <em>don&#8217;t have the systems and tools to be efficient</em>.</p>
<p>And because <strong>everything</strong> is looked at through the ROI magnifying glass, of course they <em>don&#8217;t trust their companies&#8217; ability to make the right social media investments</em>.</p>
<p>To summarise, if it doesn&#8217;t provide short-term income, why should we invest in it?</p>
<p>Your turn. If you&#8217;re a B2B marketer, does this describe your situation? If you&#8217;re a social media pundit, what&#8217;s wrong with my reasoning?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/in-defence-of-low-b2b-social-media-adoption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How much is too much social media?</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:12:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1159</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/">How much is too much social media?</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>As a small business owner or independent professional, are you spreading yourself too thin? With the proliferation of social networks these days, there’s a real danger that you are. Being “omnipresent” has its benefits. Cross-linking between your spaces on different (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/">How much is too much social media?</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>As a small business owner or independent professional, are you spreading yourself too thin? With the proliferation of social networks these days, there’s a real danger that you are.<span id="more-1159"></span></p>
<p>Being “omnipresent” has its benefits. Cross-linking between your spaces on different platforms may have a positive effect on your search engine visibility, and you may capture the attention of those parts of the audience you’re trying to reach in one place, but not another.</p>
<p>Then again, because it’s you who has to constantly provide content for all those places, how do you find the time to do it? Especially if you’re running a one-man operation or a small business, you are probably the person who will have to create that content. And as you know, it’s not a good idea to simply copy&amp;paste the same content everywhere unless you want to alienate your followers by repeating yourself too frequently. And, frankly, there may come a time when you&#8217;re feeling you&#8217;re having too much social media to work.</p>
<p>I’ve been wrestling with this particular problem for some time. Let me give you an overview:</p>
<h3>Blog</h3>
<p>I’m running my “main” blog here on <strong>www.linkama.com</strong>. Yes, this very blog you’re reading now. I’m trying to focus on what I term as business issues: B2B marketing communications, social media in relation to B2B topics, transcreation of B2B marketing texts into other languages, and notes on life as a freelancer.</p>
<h3>Another blog</h3>
<p>I started <a title="Mixed bag of thoughts" href="http://kimmolinkama.posterous.com" target="_blank">Mixed bag of thoughts</a> on Posterous as a place where I could more freely rant on all kinds of topics within my sphere of interest, pose questions, get technical and generally wonder about the ways of the (business) world.</p>
<h3>Twitter</h3>
<p>I’ve been on <a title="@kimmolinkama" href="http://twitter.com/kimmolinkama" target="_blank">Twitter</a> approximately two-and-a-half years now. It’s nice to be able to get recognition from people you’ve come to respect for their expertise and to bounce your ideas off people who are more knowledgeable than you. The truth is, though, that I’ve made a lot of friends, but zero business.</p>
<h3>Facebook</h3>
<p>Contrary to many other solo pros, I’m using Facebook mainly to keep in touch with my friends and acquaintances in Finland, myself living in Estonia. So my Facebook presence is not geared toward doing business, which is different from many other business owners I know.</p>
<h3>Google Plus</h3>
<p>I’ve had a personal account on Google+ from fairly early on, and now that business profiles were launched, I claimed my space there as well. Question: how to make the <a title="Kimmo on Google+" href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107220058444155954684/about?hl=en" target="_blank">personal</a> and the <a title="Linkama OÜ on Google+" href="https://plus.google.com/b/107943140059738861344/107943140059738861344/about" target="_blank">business account</a> differ from each other in significant enough ways to justify the existence of both?</p>
<h3>LinkedIn</h3>
<p>Presence on LinkedIn, the one-and-only professional network (at least up until now), is more or less a given if you’re looking to connect with clients, potential partners and peers. So <a title="Kimmo's LinkedIn profile" href="http://ee.linkedin.com/in/linkama" target="_blank">I’m there</a> as well. Not participating as much as I should, and even to my own dismay, neglecting many of the groups I’m a member of for longer periods of time than I should.</p>
<p>I don’t even do pictures, podcasts or video, which would add at least three new platforms to the mix, and I’m already exhausted. Too much social media for me.</p>
<p>I know, social network presence is a lot like a shouting competition. If you don’t have a big enough voice in one place, it is logical to make even a little noise in many places. But what do your followers say (and how does it affect your search engine rankings) if people have to look for you in several different places? Your total traffic may be OK, but if it’s divided in many small pieces, you’re not really important anywhere.</p>
<h3>What to do?</h3>
<p>Maybe at least I should start taking my own medicine. I’ve long supported the idea that every person – and even more importantly, business – should have one central content repository. All the other outlets should work as pointers to this self-owned, self-controlled content.</p>
<p>Time for an experiment, it seems.</p>
<p>How do <em>you</em> feel about your social network presence? Too much social media or are you comfortable being everywhere?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/how-much-is-too-much-social-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>B2B — alternatives to social media</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:15:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[b2b]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1078</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/">B2B — alternatives to social media</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>If you’ve been active in social media at all, you can’t have missed the debate on social media ROI. I think, though, that the discussion is missing an important point. We should be talking about marketing ROI in broader terms, (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/">B2B — alternatives to social media</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>If you’ve been active in social media at all, you can’t have missed the debate on social media ROI.</p>
<p>I think, though, that the discussion is missing an important point. We should be talking about marketing ROI in broader terms, not just focus on the ROI of one tool.<span id="more-1078"></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/either-way.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1114" title="either-way" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/either-way.png" alt="" width="298" height="150" /></a>You’re probably familiar with the term <em>alternative investment</em>. When I was working at an advertising agency a long time ago, one of my bosses put it succinctly when talking with a client about a campaign: If it’s cheaper to hire someone to throw stones at your competitor’s windows, you should do that.</p>
<p>In the context of social media marketing, alternative investment means things you can do instead of investing your time — and, indirectly, money — in trying to &#8220;engage&#8221; people on social media platforms. In many cases, your time could produce more results if you spent it on alternatives to social media, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>learning about your potential clients<br />
(to be able to approach them in a way that really speaks to them)</li>
<li>doing email prospecting<br />
(still one of the most efficient marketing methods)</li>
<li>sending out good old direct mail<br />
(when everybody and his cousin are on social media, you have an opportunity to stand out of the crowd, plus it makes a deeper psychological impact), or</li>
<li>putting yourself in front of your audience by giving talks and presentations<br />
(great for instant one-on-one feedback and warmer leads).</li>
</ul>
<p>There are many other ways, of course, but you get my point.</p>
<p>So why am I swimming against the tide? After all, it seems to be the prevailing truth that every company should engage online like mad. True, a social media presence in some form is good, for SEO, if not for other reasons, but community-building is awfully slow and costly.</p>
<p>My own experience, based on more than two years’ adventures in a variety of social media hangouts, is that it gets you friends but not a lot of business. Results, of course, will vary depending on the business you’re in, your clout and whether you can find the right people. Still, about one-third of the effort I’ve put in social media allocated elsewhere (email, blogging, commenting on other blogs etc) has produced the same result.</p>
<p>Before putting too many eggs in the social media basket, analyse whether your targets are active in social media in the first place. If you can&#8217;t find a sufficient audience or don&#8217;t seem to get any results, move on to something more productive. In other words, with higher ROI.</p>
<p>Food for thought?</p>
<p><em>(Further reading:</em><br />
<em> Just for fun, read <a title="Bob Hoffman's Blogger profile" href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/05158827977385952634">Ad Contrarian</a>&#8216;s piece on <a title="The Ad Contrarian: Social media's massive failure" href="http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/2011/03/social-medias-massive-failure.html" target="_blank">how Pepsi did</a> when diverting most of its Super Bowl budget to social. Okay, this is B2C, but you can draw conclusions. Also, there&#8217;s an article in Forbes by <a title="Steve on LinkedIn" href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveolenski">Steve Olenski</a>: <a title="Forbes.com" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/marketshare/2011/10/18/in-this-land-of-digital-lets-not-forget-the-physical/" target="_blank">In This Land Of Digital, Let&#8217;s Not Forget The Physical</a>.)</em></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/social-media/b2b-alternatives-to-social-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The 2011 Single Market Forum in Krakow promises improvements for small businesses trading across borders</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2011 19:30:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EU]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invoicing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SIMFO 2011]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1051</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/">The 2011 Single Market Forum in Krakow promises improvements for small businesses trading across borders</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>Just back from the European Commission&#8217;s 2011 Single Market Forum in Krakow, Poland, where I received my award for being one of the five winners of the  Commission’s Tell Us Your Story writing competition, here is a summary of what (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/">The 2011 Single Market Forum in Krakow promises improvements for small businesses trading across borders</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><div id="attachment_1095" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 208px"><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0055.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1095" title="0055" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0055-198x300.jpg" alt="" width="198" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Receiving my prize from Michel Barnier, Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, with Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Waldemar Pawlak, watching.</p></div>
<p>Just back from the European Commission&#8217;s <strong>2011 Single Market Forum in Krakow</strong>, Poland, where I received my award for being one of the five winners of the  Commission’s Tell Us Your Story writing competition, here is a summary of what happened at the conference and of its results.</p>
<p>First of all, I was surprised at the drive for making the Single Market really work that permeated the whole event. From EU decision-makers to individual participants, everyone was intent on demolishing existing barriers to trade across national borders within the union—indeed, relaunching the Single Market, which is the goal of the European Commission in 2012.<span id="more-1051"></span></p>
<p>I was also pleasantly surprised that political mumbo-jumbo was kept to a minimum. Naturally, politicians must carefully weigh what they say on public forums, but apart from this understandable caution, what was said actually made sense.</p>
<p>Finally, I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty and friendliness of the city itself. It helped, of course, that the weather was more than fine. I can’t remember ever walking around in Central Europe wearing just jeans and a T-shirt in October! The mini-holidays I spent in Krakow with my wife after the conference were really a great experience.</p>
<h3>Why does the Single Market need to be “relaunched”?</h3>
<div id="attachment_1094" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 210px"><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0001.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1094" title="0001" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/0001-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The venue, Jagiellonian University in Krakow</p></div>
<p>During its 50 years of existence, the Single Market has proved to be one of the EU’s main achievements, creating jobs and business opportunities.</p>
<p>Yet, the problem seems to be that once the initial regulations and legislation were in place, not much was done to further the cause, so to speak. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising the people who have worked on the Single Market within the European Commission; their work has been largely hampered by circumstances beyond their control, such as member states’ national politics preventing EC recommendations from being adopted in their legislation.</p>
<p><a title="The Monti Report" href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/strategy/docs/monti_report_final_10_05_2010_en.pdf" target="_blank">Mario Monti’s report</a> (pdf) on the relaunch of the Single Market was published only in May 2010, and the <a title="Single Market Act" href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/smact/" target="_blank">Single Market Act</a> with its accompanying “twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence” was issued in October 2010.</p>
<p>Indeed, this is what the European Commission’s publication <a title="The 20 Concerns" href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/strategy/docs/20concerns/publication_en.pdf" target="_blank">A Snapshot of Citizens’ and Businesses 20 Main Concerns</a> (pdf), published in 2011, identifies as the main obstacles:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>An information gap:</strong> People often do not suﬃciently  know  or understand their rights and do not know where to look for information or help. Likewise, local authorities often fail to suﬃciently understand the rules and how to apply them in practice;</li>
<li><strong>An implementation gap:</strong> In many areas, a gap can be noted between the EU legal framework and the way it is implemented and applied in practice. This may be due to incorrect or incomplete transposition and application of EU rules, inconsistencies between EU and national laws, a lack of co-operation between  relevant administrations operating in a cross-border context or diﬃculties in resolving problems and obtaining redress where things go wrong;</li>
<li><strong>A legislative gap:</strong> In some areas, the EU legal framework itself does not match citizens’ and businesses’ expectations. Sometimes, this is due to the fact that the EU has no or only limited powers to legislate. In other areas where the EU does have such powers, there may be no legal tools yet to bridge the gap between what Europeans expect from the Single Market, and what they can obtain in reality.</li>
</ul>
<p>As the speakers at the conference repeatedly said, the economic crisis and Europe’s dwindling possibilities to counter competition from other parts of the world demand quick and decisive action.</p>
<h3>So when will we see some action?</h3>
<p>The European Commission aims to deliver on the “twelve levers” to relaunch the Single Market for 2012.</p>
<p>This commitment is made even more urgent by the end result of the SIMFO conference, the <a title="The Krakow Declaration" href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/docs/simfo-declaration-op-conclusions_en.pdf" target="_blank">Krakow Declaration</a> (pdf), calling upon:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>EU Heads of State and Government</strong> at their next summit to commit to a speedy implementation of the Single Market Act;</li>
<li><strong>European Institutions</strong> to adopt measures in order to bridge the gaps we have identified as a matter of urgency;</li>
<li><strong>National governments, regional and local entities, businesses,  trade unions and non-governmental organisations</strong> to cooperate to ensure that Single Market rules work effectively on the ground for citizens and businesses;</li>
<li><strong>All the partners</strong> to involve citizens more closely in the development of the Single Market; to do so by providing clearer information; by  fostering dialogue and communication with citizens in order to better understand their expectations and by helping business and citizens exercise their rights and obligations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Is there hope?</h3>
<p>I don’t blame you if you’re skeptical. On the other hand, the economic climate seems to favour quick action even on the national level. Poland gives the impression of taking its presidency of the European Council seriously. If we as small businesses contribute by putting pressure on the decision-makers (after all, SMEs account for <a title="Financial Times" href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/772fec40-0b63-11df-8232-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank">two-thirds of the economic output of the EU</a>, so our voice should be important), we might see the Single Market take forward steps.</p>
<p>To round off, here’s the policy of the <a title="Programme of the Polish Presidency" href="http://pl2011.eu/sites/default/files/users/shared/o_prezydencja/programme_of_the_polish_presidency_of_the_council_of_the_eu.pdf" target="_blank">Polish Presidency</a> (pdf) with regard to the Single Market:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/polish-policy.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1072" title="polish-policy" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/polish-policy.png" alt="" width="401" height="693" /></a><br />
If you want to take a look at a slideshow of the event, my wife as a professional photographer made one: <a href="http://www.villaottilia.ee/winners/">SIMFO 2011 slideshow.</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/news/the-2011-single-market-forum-in-krakow-promises-improvements-for-small-businesses-trading-across-borders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Quick update to how cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work within the EU</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:55:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EU]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invoicing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SIMFO 2011]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1015</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/">Quick update to how cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work within the EU</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>Not long ago, I wrote about the workings—or, rather, the non-workings—of the Single Market under Cross-border e-invoicing doesn’t work—or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow. The short films shot for EU&#8217;s Single Market Forum, an approximately 1,000-delegate conference to be (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/">Quick update to how cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work within the EU</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>Not long ago, I wrote about the workings—or, rather, the non-workings—of the Single Market under <a title="Permanent Link to Cross-border e-invoicing doesn’t work—or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow" href="../../news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/" rel="bookmark">Cross-border e-invoicing doesn’t work—or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow.</a></p>
<p>The short films shot for EU&#8217;s Single Market Forum, an approximately 1,000-delegate conference to be held in Krakow, Poland, in October 2011 are now published on YouTube.<span id="more-1015"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/simfo-film.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1018" title="simfo-film" src="http://www.linkama.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/simfo-film.png" alt="" width="399" height="222" /></a></p>
<p>If you want to see and hear what the problem is, it&#8217;s here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qi3iOBLQbY">The EU Single Market: Kimmo (Finland) tells his story</a> (Me talking live, now go get a load of that&#8230;)</p>
<p>Other problems chosen for the conference are presented by:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Aatv5ea0Y" target="_blank">Karolina</a> (Poland)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGpSpicZC8Q" target="_blank">Alvaro</a> (Spain)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g22ydMKWLxU" target="_blank">Barbara</a> (Austria)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLSmhUzzNvc" target="_blank">Christos</a> (Greece)</p>
<p>Maybe it&#8217;s just five people trying to move a mountain, but at least it&#8217;s a start. I&#8217;ll keep you posted on how the conference goes.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/news/update-how-e-invoicing-doesnt-work/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>In business, fall in love</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:30:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=1002</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/">In business, fall in love</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>When you fall in love with someone, what do you do? You forgive shortcomings, you see best intentions in everything he or she does, you sacrifice your own comfort and rethink your priorities for the benefit of the person you (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/">In business, fall in love</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>When you fall in love with someone, what do you do? You forgive shortcomings, you see best intentions in everything he or she does, you sacrifice your own comfort and rethink your priorities for the benefit of the person you love.</p>
<p>So, fall in love in your business relationships.</p>
<p><strong>You&#8217;re a corporate marketing person</strong> trying to get the best out of your marketing materials. Fall in love with your writer, designer, consultant. Carry him over obstacles, smooth his way, whisper kind words in his ear. Devote yourself to him.</p>
<p><strong>You&#8217;re a marketing service provider.</strong> Fall in love with your client. Think of what makes her happy. Take every opportunity to make her happy, be there when she&#8217;s having a hard time, bring unexpected gifts. Devote yourself to her.</p>
<p>You might not go to bed together the first night. But instead of a half-ashamed, hurried goodbye the next morning you just may find yourselves married for the rest of your lives.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/marketing/in-business-fall-in-love/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work – or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow</title>
		<link>http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/</link>
		<comments>http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:04:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kimmo Linkama</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Estonia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EU]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[invoicing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SIMFO 2011]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.linkama.com/?p=989</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/">Cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work – or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p>When you complain about invoicing and payment difficulties in the euro area, you may end up at an EU forum on the workings of the Single Market. Some time ago, I ran into a message on LinkedIn that invited people (&#8230;)</p><p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/">Read the rest of this entry &#187;</a></p></p>]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/">Cross-border e-invoicing doesn&#8217;t work – or how Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow</a> by <a href="http://www.linkama.com">Kimmo Linkama</a></p><p><em>When you complain about invoicing and payment difficulties in the euro area, you may end up at an EU forum on the workings of the Single Market.</em></p>
<p><img class="alignleft" title="EU flag" src="http://www.linkama.com/fi/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/euflag.png" alt="" width="269" height="179" />Some time ago, I ran into a message on LinkedIn that invited people to write about their experiences regarding the EU single market.</p>
<p>The brief said the stories should present citizens or businesses acting in cross-border situations, facing obstacles to the proper functioning of the single market.</p>
<p>It just so happens that my one-man enterprise has all its clients in other EU countries and has difficulties in both cross-border e-invoicing and receiving payments.</p>
<p>So, off I go and write a rant.<span id="more-989"></span></p>
<h3>Invoicing thrown back 200 years</h3>
<p>In olden days, invoicing worked by you writing the invoice, printing it on paper, putting it into an envelope, licking a stamp and taking the envelope with the invoice to the nearest postbox. The post took days to be delivered, the client&#8217;s approval process might be completed before the due date and the money arrived on your bank account some time thereafter.</p>
<p>Then email became ubiquitous, and spreadsheet and word processing software began to allow saving into the pdf format. You as the invoice sender wrote the invoice, saved it into a pdf file and sent it to the recipient as an email attachment. Delivery was instant, and the client&#8217;s payment process started immediately when the recipient had read her email and approved the invoice.</p>
<p>Some time goes by. Client companies outsource their financial services. The outsourcing partners won&#8217;t accept email attachments. In fact, the invoice sender doesn&#8217;t even know who the outsourcing partner is—the only thing you know is the postal address. Not the name of the company, not its contact details, not even who&#8217;s responsible.</p>
<p>This makes pdf attachments history and the entrepreneur is left at the mercy of the financial services company.</p>
<p>Again, you write the invoice, print it on paper, put it into an envelope, lick a stamp and take the envelope with the invoice to the nearest postbox. The post again takes days to be delivered, the client&#8217;s approval process just might be completed before the due date and the money arrives on your bank account some time thereafter. Despite advanced computer technology, you find yourself in a situation similar to 200 years ago: the whole thing is based on using paper and someone taking the paper physically from one place to another. Clip-clop, clip-clop.</p>
<h3>Outsourced financial services delay payment</h3>
<p>The antiquated working methods of the outsourced financial services have proven seriously substandard. The invoice does not get passed on to the client for approval in time and/or the invoice does not get paid in time.</p>
<p>The more my clients have outsourced their financial services, the more delayed the payments have become. The usual payment time in my market is 14 days; yet there are cases where the payment has not arrived until after almost two months.</p>
<p>A very unpleasant situation arises. The service provider (me) has to pester the client because the client is the only identifiable person in the process. Because the outsourcing partner is impossible to contact, the client—who until my complaint has been totally unaware that anything is amiss—has to both listen to my complaints and then start wasting her time on detective work to rectify the situation. The outsourcing partner, of course, couldn&#8217;t care less about the customer relations between me and my client.</p>
<p>What are these outsourced financial services getting paid for?</p>
<h3>The bank&#8217;s fingers in my wallet</h3>
<p>Not only is invoicing or payment a problem. The banks make things even worse with alacrity.</p>
<p>For a micro-company like mine, no electronic invoicing service is available. There is financial software and financial portals for large corporations, but no bank or other institution offers small businesses a reasonable way to e-invoice across borders. The small guy pays the most, in the form of delays and uncertainty.</p>
<p>The banks also generously provide another hurdle to the process. For some reason, transferring a sum from my company&#8217;s Finnish bank account to its Estonian bank account takes three banking days. Banking days, mind you—when I hit <em>Enter</em> in the Finnish internet bank late in Friday, the sum is withdrawn from the Finnish account instantly but arrives on the Estonian account next Thursday (unless there are any bank holidays in-between). This deprives me from the availability and use of my own money for almost a week. Heck, even snail mail is faster.</p>
<p>The Single European Payment Area was supposed to make international bank transfers as smooth and fast as transfers within one country. Moving money from one account to another in either Finland or Estonia takes about 10 minutes. Even taking into account the banks&#8217; security measures, there shouldn&#8217;t be any reason why a transfer couldn&#8217;t be completed within one day.</p>
<p>There is a reason, however. In addition to charging a service fee for the money transfer, the banks are protecting their float. (Float here means the time when a sum is not in any account, no interest is paid on it and it can be used by the bank for short-term investment.) The longer the float period, the more the bank wins and the customer loses.</p>
<h3>The unexpected results of ranting</h3>
<p>Now follows the most exciting aspect of the story.</p>
<p>It turned out I was participating in a writing contest organised by the European Commission.</p>
<p>One story was chosen from every EU country, and this lot then pared down to five &#8220;best stories&#8221;. The five writers are invited to Brussels to make a short film of their stories, and the films will act as an introduction on the Single Market Forum, a 1,000-delegate conference in Krakow, Poland, in October 2011.</p>
<p>So instead of <em>Mr Smith Goes to Washington</em>, it&#8217;s now <em>Mr Linkama Goes to Krakow</em>.</p>
<p>Wow.</p>
<h3>Can you help me please?</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m sure hundreds of small businesses are having the same type of problems I outlined above. If you&#8217;re one of them—or know someone else wrestling with similar issues—I&#8217;d be more than grateful if you could let me know. Those stories would be powerful ammunition at the Krakow conference. You can contact me confidentially either by email to <a href="mailto:kimmolinkama@gmail.com">kimmolinkama@gmail.com</a> or through the <a title="Contact me" href="http://www.linkama.com/contact/">contact page</a> on this site.</p>
<p>And as always, if you want to air your views about the subject here, the comment field is right below&#8230;</p>
<p>My winning story is <a href="http://www.tellusyourstory.eu/content/businesses-hamstrung-e-invoicing-not-working-across-borders" target="_blank">Businesses hamstrung by e-invoicing not working across borders</a>, and you can read about the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/top_layer/single_market_forum_en.htm" target="_blank">Single Market Forum</a> here.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Update 4 months later:</em></p>
<p>Strange how this post is a real spam magnet. Absolutely tops the list of spammers to my blog. They all get caught in the moderation queue, but I&#8217;m still wondering why. Must be some really hot keywords here I&#8217;m not aware of.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.linkama.com/news/cross-border-e-invoicing-doesnt-work-how-linkama-goes-to-krakow/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

