International Market Research

A reader recently asked me for my thoughts on international market research. He is an MBA student writing a paper:

To be comparable an international marketing research should be conducted applying the same methodology in all participating countries.

I do not agree with this statement as it is written here.

You can only apply the same methodology across different countries for specific tasks in international market research.

…And these are mainly for preliminary international market research – more on this tomorrow.

What You Want From Your Research

So, where can you use the same methodology across any given choice of countries?

And, when do you need to use different methods?

Well, my first question would be:

• What are the goals of your international market research?

And then, the next question is:

• Will different cultures interfere with the methods you get from this information?

What You Get From Your Research

When answering these questions, there is one thing that is obvious to me here.

The closer the information you need from your international markets…

…the more problems you will have at getting valuable information using a single methodology.

This is the thing international business blunders are made of.

Now,that does not mean you should not systematize your international market research.

And there definitely is a place for one single methodology across different cultures in international market research.

…Again, more tomorrow.

The Limits Of Methodology In International Market Research

Today I just want to say something  important first..

International market research for effective international business development has different layers.

• One methodology across the board can work with some of these layers.
• One methodology across the board could give you useful information in some instances.
• And using one methodology across the board could give the advantage to your competitors in other layers of this international market research.

Yes, some people can come up with sophisticated calculations to make methodologies work well.

And, some people will think there is flare involved in certain international successes.

I think there is a time a place when to follow the results from:

• Your international market research
• Specific knowledge acquired through international skills

And, the best international teams I have worked with know when to apply both of these.

More On International Market Research:

• 5 Factors To Consider When Marketing To Different Cultures
• Choose How You Connect With Your Foreign Markets
• Here’s A Blog To Help Your International Market Research
• How Do You Learn About Your International Markets?
• How Do Your Foreign Prospects Use Their Search Engines
• How To Know Where Your International Markets Really Are With Business Blogging
• Methodology For International Market Research
• International Market Research Essentials
• International Market Research Success
• Target Market Research Versus Persona Marketing, Or Both?
• Target Your Global Market With A Good Understanding Of Their Demographics
• Why Is International Market Research So Important?

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• International Market Research
• Design Your International Visibility
• International Web Marketing

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Methodology For International Market Research

International Business Development Strategy

When I first speak to clients who are not familiar with international business development I almost always have to do the same thing.

• Get back to basics.

You see most clients call me when they are ready to go into international markets.  They have already made a few outlines in their strategy, but they realize they need a stepping stone to help they get into action.

But their questions are already too far advanced.

They have not answered the more basic questions.  And you need the answers to these basic questions before you can go any further.

You know…

The difference between the questions most businesses ask me and the information they need to know before anyone can answer these questions reminds me of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid.

A Quick Exercise

Look at this pyramid and think of the questions you need to ask your foreign market with regards to the product or service you want to sell to them.

Yes, you do need to stretch your imagination a little.  But if you do this, you can see where a common problem lies.

Optimizing Business

You see…

Most of my clients start off by asking me questions that are too advanced for a new foreign business.  They assume that their new international business is an extension of their basic domestic business model.

So their questions fit more in the green or blue part of this pyramid:

• How do we sell our products to an international market?
• What do we need to sell our products abroad?

Understanding Your Foreign Prospects Uniqueness

But no one can answer these questions without looking at your international market through a different lens than the one you use for your domestic market.  Yes, it is a completely new market.

You need to know the answers to questions that fall in the red and orange part of this pyramid.

• What does your client need?
• Are your clients needs different?
• How will your prospects respond to you?
• Will they feel threatened in any way?
• Will you appear friendly, in the right area of communication they need?

Now, you do not always have the answers to these questions.  In fact you should not hang around to get them.  Besides, even if you do have answers, they may be wrong.

In Maslow’s pyramid these are after all very personal questions.

So…

How can we find out what the answers to these questions are?

Communication

The key is in the yellow part of the pyramid.  This is where you need to start.

Because you need to:

• Make contact with your foreign prospects.
• Communicate with them.

Before you can get anywhere else.

And…

This is very important…

During this “get to know each other” phase you must not forget to verify your assumptions about the answers to all the questions you can think of in the red and orange areas.

This is why you must start here before you can answer any of the more advanced questions.  If anyone answers any of your green or blue questions before this, you risk making false assumptions.  And in cross-cultural business relations this can happen without you realizing it.

Ongoing market research and business intelligence limits this risk.

Don’t forget to have a look at these two articles.  They do not speak about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  But they also explain the sequences involved in international business and why certain questions need to come before others.

• The 7 Traditional Paths To International Business Development
• 5 Traditional Marketing Steps To Become An International Business

Start With Relationships

Let’s look at it another way.

• International business is based on international sales.
• International sales are based on relationships.
• And relationships need to start someplace and then grow.

When you begin to develop your business abroad you will have to do some very basic tasks first.

These basic tasks will involve market research or the gathering of information.

The problem is that most business forget to ask the basic questions, or enough of these basic questions, during this market research phase.

Without the answers to these basic questions you can easily assume your new international market is like the markets you are familiar with and get off on a bad start.

Both Sides Of The Coin

This can work for you and against you.

Of course, you can be lucky and make all the right assumptions.

But you can also waste time and money creating the wrong offer or the wrong sales message for your foreign market.

And don’t forget this last scenario…

I have come across a  number of businesses who do not believe they could sell their wares to foreign shores.  Business is a struggle in their own domestic market and they cannot believe all the hassle of foreign exchange rates and foreign clients can be worth the effort.

And yet, these are the businesses that miss real opportunities.

More On International Business Development Strategy:

• 5 Actions To Start Developing Your International Markets
• Action Strategy For International Business Development
• Aligning Your Questions To Build Your International Business
• Are People In Small Countries Better International Business Developers?
• Are You Outsourcing Too Much?
• Define International Business
• Global Or International Business?
• Is The Expense Of Foreign Travel Stopping You From Getting International Clients?
• Market Research For International Business Development
• New International Business Development Phase Today With The Right Marketing Mix
• Online Success? Study Traditional Paths To International Business Development For More
• Plans With Adaptability, Flexibility And Agility
• Small Businesses Need To Take Action To Uncover International Business Opportunities
• When Discrimination Is Useful In International Business

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• Discover Your International Business
• Plan Your International Sales Road Map
• International Market Research
• International Web Visibility
• Connect With Your International Markets

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Aligning Your Questions To Build Your International Business

Book & Product Reviews

It was a sunny afternoon here, south of Paris, today. Something we have not had many of recently. So I decided to read a book I bought earlier this summer.

• Online Competitive Intelligence, Increase Your Profits Using Cyber-Intelligence, by Helen P. Burwell.

Yes, I know it sounds like heavy reading for a lazy afternoon in the sun.  But I have some serious business research scheduled later this month, and I wanted to see if I could find a few new ideas on how to approach it.

And In the beginning, it was just for good conscience…

When I took this book outside in the sun to read, I also had a second “lighter” book with me.

I thought I would simply flip through Online Competitive Intelligence. Highlight a few places to search and then move on to a more entertaining read.

But, I found this book very useful… and full of inspiration.

Ideas were flying around in my head of places to go, angles to look at, questions to ask… every couple of pages.

A “why didn’t I think of that” came out a few times.  And I actually read through the main substance of the book – the lists of resources are for later this week.

I should say that I do have many years of successful international research under my belt. Market research was actually part of my job profile for the first half of my career here in Europe.

Yes, I have done my fair share on online research. But I noticed that although I am very good at quickly getting a certain type of information from online research, I found myself asking a friend who is better at getting a different type of information.

Now, I am not going to give a very detailed review – this book is so full of resources and ideas on where to search that it would be hard to do without copying large sections of the book.

But I would like to tell you who I think needs to read this book.

Well, it’s simple.

Anyone who wants to develop their business abroad should read Online Competitive Intelligence.

Inspiration For Your Own Business Strategy

First, let me go back a bit…

When I bought the book I noticed it was published in 2004.  I thought it might be “old” by Internet’s standards.

I will only be checking through the links later this month.  I might have a few surprise 404′s, but most of the resources here should still be around 4 years later.

Besides…

Although the book is chock full of web addresses and lists of resources, it does something else very, very well.

Online Competitive Intelligence stimulates your mind with regards to how you can go about getting information.  It shows you how you can use Competitive Intelligence to create better business strategies.

Also For International Competitive Intelligence

There are numerous references to international Competitive Intelligence research.  With comments on translation sources and how to use them.

Non-native English Speakers should also be able to use this book effectively.  It is basically an idea book and a resource book combined.

Foreign market intelligence is vital for international business development.  Online Competitive Intelligence lays out the groundwork, very clearly, for you to get started… and it also takes you along the road a bit further too.

Strategy For Businesses

Helen clearly defines the meanings for:

• Competitive Intelligence – a broad publicly available information for strategic decision making
• Competitor Intelligence – for specific company information
• Business Intelligence – broader information, not necessarily “competitive”, for industry trends for example.

There are a few case studies that show why Competitive Intelligence is important and even vital for any business today.

Helen Burwell goes into the strengths of Competitive Intelligence, and its limitations.  She shows you what you need to know before you go about your research.  And she shows you how to go about your research depending on what type of information you need.

And then there are literally dozens and dozens of ideas on how to get the information you need.  And tips on how to use each type of information in your business strategy.

Competitive Intelligence Made Easy

If ever you feel stuck about how to go about…

• getting information,
• how to avoid the paid resources or,
• how to use the information you find,

…then this is a very good book to read.

And if like me, you have a big project you would like to research a bit more thoroughly than you usually do and need a little motivation to get the job done well, then this is definitely a good resource to have at hand.

Read more Book Reviews:

Communication For International Sales

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with communication for international sales:

• A Writer’s Guide To Powerful Paragraphs By Victor C. Pellegrino
• Content Rich By Jon Wuebben
• Get Content Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett
• Letting Go Of The Words – Writing Web Content That Works By Janice Redish
• Stories That Sell By Casey Hibbard
• The Culturally Customized Web Site By Nitish Singh And Arun Pereira
• The Magic Of Pre-Writing By Steven Osborne
• The Secret To Writing A Successful And Outstanding Blog By Liz Strauss

International Sales

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international sales:

• All of the Little Sales Books by Jeffrey Gitomer
• Asinine Advertising By Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson – Joseph Grenny – David Maxfield – Ron McMillian & Al Switzler
• Sales Strategy From The Inside Out By Duane Sparks

International Web Marketing

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international web marketing:

• Bit Literacy Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload By Mark Hurst
• Dotcomology The Science Of Making Money Online By Stone Evans
• How The Internet Works By Preston Gralla
• How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders By Catherine Seda
• Landing Page Optimization By Tim Ash
• Mastering Online Marketing By Mitch Meyerson
• Multichannel Marketing By Akin Arikan
• Online Competitive Intelligence By Helen P. Burwell
• ProBlogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
• Stats Faceslap By Ed Rivis
• The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy By Ed Rivis
• Website Optimization by Andrew B. King

Here are some Product Reviews:

• Ed Rivis’ Stats Faceslap
• Success Chef’s Marketing E.S.P.
• The Management Tools I Use For Content Created To Be Re-Packaged
• The Ultimate Desktop Copy Coach By Tony Flores
  
• Web Video University And International Marketing
  

All of the book and product reviews here are totally unsolicited… spontaneous …and without affiliate links. These are books I have read recently and only the ones that I share with friends. So all of the reviews you find here are on books and products that I highly recommend.

Also, as these are books and products that I have recently read since, this is not a list of my all-time favorite books. Hopefully I will get around to reviewing my favorite culture and international business books sometime soon.

Use these skills in your international tactics on the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map:

Guide To Multichannel Marketing • Do you know how to communicate with different countries? This guide shows you how

Guide To International Web Marketing • Do you know how to pull all of your different international marketing pieces together? This guide shows you how

Step 5 – Connect With Your International Markets Connect… • With culture customized content • With trust and empathy • With strong cross-cultural communication

International Business Success Basics • Do you feel at a loss with regards to dealing with international business? This guide gives you the background information you need right from the start.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Online Competitive Intelligence By Helen P. Burwell

International Web Marketing

As a very small business owner, I do have more flexibility in certain business strategies than many bigger businesses.

Content Creates An Online Communication Base

It has now been 7 months since I started my business directory.

• Writing and publishing an article each work day for 6 months
• Creating a business system
• Recently color-coding on the website to make this system obvious to the readers

Of course, with over 200 articles there is now an obvious editorial direction for the website.

But I have always wanted an online communication base for my own business.  Sure, I spent some time looking into the great Internet Marketing “Get Rich Quick” processes out there.  It is a good way to pick up a lot of knowledge on web marketing practices.

This is what lead me into copywriting 3 years ago.  But I chose to study copywriting because I already had good sales skills, and sales writing skills.  Of course, you need good copywriting to make money on the web, whether you are in a typical get rich quick internet business or a brick and mortar business using the web as a tool.  But recognizing good copywriting is already more than half the work done.

My situation was a little different.  I already have valuable skills.  I knew I wanted to use the internet primarily as a communication base for my own business services.  My websites are there to communicate my international business development system.

All well and good.  But how do you go about communicating your business system online to reach the right people, and to bring in the right clients?

Structure For Your Business

I found I needed matter to work with.  Content.  Lots of content. This took me 6 months of writing one article a day.

As a small business owner I had the flexibility to jump in and develop the structure on an on-going basis.

My primary focus was to write on and around my main business subject area.  My articles are not primarily determined by niche keywords and research.  Of course I tried to use appropriate keywords, and ran keyword searches from time to time.  These searches often proved to me that I knew my subject matter well.  My main focus was writing on my own clearly defined subject.

On a side note, my experience has shown this content strategy to give fantastic SEO results.  I have come up on the first page of many different search results from month 3 onwards.  Businesses from all over the world find me.

People pay money for SEO?  Why don’t they sharpen their business perspective and knuckle down to work on exploiting what is basically a communication platform?

Now that the content structure is there, the content is extremely easy to create.  This business directory has become very easy for me to feed.

Using the flexibility I had in the beginning probably gave me a better structure 6 months later than if I had planned everything offline first.

So, I now have time for the next business phase and it is now in progress.  This is the phase which links my business directory to my business.

What does that mean?

A Real Specific Business Offer And Not The Get Rich Quick Web Marketing

First of all I have a several new URL’s, or domain names, for very specific landing pages.  Now these landing pages are not the get rich quick type.  These are simply landing pages targeting each of the specific products and services I offer.

These products and services form a lead generation strategy.  This means:

• There are some landing pages for free products, some for paid products and services.
• There are also some landing pages for the same product, but written for different audiences.

This leads to a fair number of new websites, even if they are mainly mini-websites.

Ready Fire Aim

My immediate task is to set up 20 odd landing pages.  This takes time. I am doing just about everything single handed:

• Lead generation strategy
• Web marketing strategy
• Copywriting
• International SEO

Yes, it is a fair task, even just for mini-sites.

But as a small business owner I do have some flexibility.  Also as a small business owner I value batch processing.

So one of the first things I have done is to put all of the URL’s live.  I simply put all of the websites up with an article or two from my main business directory.

As a small business owner, I feel I can do this.

It is essentially a Ready Fire Aim approach.

Having all of the websites up early, means that Mr. Google will find them soon.  I will appreciate this when I actually get the website ready and want to promote it.  Tomorrow I start writing a new landing page website one after the other.

Online Flexibility Brings Success

One of the basics of international web marketing is testing and adjusting your communication. Your communication needs to be live before you get any real market feedback.

Market feedback often shows you how to improve your message.  The better your online communication is, the more sales you can expect.

Market feedback will also show you where your business potential lies.

So there will be lots of adjustments to the landing pages.  That is my second business phase.

More On International Web Marketing

• Define International Marketing
• How Too Many Contributions Spoil International Communications
• International Article Marketing
• International Email Marketing
• International SEO For Quick Results
• Marketing Segmentation
• Mindset Differences Between Offline Marketers And Online Marketers
• More Segmentation = More International Sales
• My Own Case Study – Small Business Flexibility In An Online World
• The Difference Between An eMarketer And A Geek Marketer
• Ways To Enter International Marketing
• What Is Marketing?
• What Is Your Definition Of International Web Marketing
• Your International Marketing Choice

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

My Own Case Study – Small Business Flexibility