International Web Marketing Mix

As a small business, if you want to get more international clients on a budget you will need the special turbo power an integrated marketing campaign can bring you.

Multi Channel Marketing

Marketing today is carried out using different channels. It is referred to as multi-channel marketing.

So if you have launched a multicultural internet marketing campaign, you might think it is simply a question of using a variety of communication channels and your message will get through better.

Well no. You might get lucky and you might create some buzz. But you would be wasting an even bigger opportunity.

You can actually stimulate feed back; create ways to move your readers to where you want them to go.

Integrated Marketing

Using different marketing channels enables you to create movement between the different channels. You can stimulate movement using various tools, such as free reports, surveys, fun tests, anything that can interest your reader enough for him to go to your other marketing touch.

This is important, because it takes a little longer to develop the trust you need for international clients to buy from you. You will need a number of client touches before he will buy from you.

Using these different tools and different channels in different kinds of marketing is called integrated marketing.

An Integrated Marketing Plan Is All About Strategy

Here are a few questions you will need to ask before setting up your integrated marketing plan.

• Where is your reader when he visits your business?
• What does he need to hear right now?
• What does he want?
• What does he need to hear next?
• How can I get him interested in the next thing I want to say to him?

This is your internet marketing lead generation plan.

If you test it, tweak it and get it right, it works. You will get more international clients.

More On International Web Marketing Mix:

• 3 Ways To Improve Your International Marketing Plan
• Choice Of Internet Marketing Methods
• Company Websites Still Brochures In Some Countries
• How To Give Turbo Power To Your Multicultural Internet Marketing To Actually Get International Clients
• Use A Multicultural Internet Marketing Strategy To Develop Your International Business
• Using Foreign Language E-Communication Tools
• Web Marketing For International Sales
• What Set Of Marketing Methods Do You Need For International Success

Business Guides On Get International Clients

• Multichannel Marketing
• Build Your International Marketing Strategy

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

How To Give Turbo Power To Your Multicultural Internet Marketing To Actually Get International Clients

International Web Marketing Mix

Relying heavily on internet marketing to develop new foreign markets can reduce your international development costs. It is also quicker and generally involves less risk compared to opening a foreign office or a foreign sales team, for example.

What are the choices in internet marketing strategies when opening your business into a new foreign market?

What are companies doing now? Many companies are still using a traditional marketing mindset. Let’s look at the options a company has when solely using internet marketing to start out with. There are three main options for first implementing an e-marketing campaign to open a foreign market.

One Social Media

Relying solely on one social media, such as a blog. You can create one company blog in French and target it to the French market for example. This is what Abercrombie & Fitch is doing, without having a physical presence in France.

Remember the foreign market you are targeting may not be a foreign language market. It could be in English targeting the Australian market for example. In both cases, you will need to find a native person with blogging skills to write your blog for you.

Many internet and business experts agree that all companies need to have a blog in 2008. Some go so far as to say that any company without an interactive presence or a blog will lose its market share if they do not start an interactive internet communication campaign soon.

Several Communication Tools

You can develop an online communication strategy based on several internet communication tools in the foreign language: a monthly newsletter, email marketing, a blog, online videos, articles.

This is the ideal solution. The synergy that can be created using several tools will bring you more prospects and clients faster. It can also easily be adapted to traditional marketing or offline marketing and become even more effective.

Implementing one foreign language campaign using several internet communication media does not have to be much more expensive than using one communication medium. If well thought out, foreign language content can be re-purposed to keep monthly costs to a minimum and implemented in a integrated marketing campaign designed for foreign market interaction.

This may take a few months to adjust and some extra strategy planning, but you will create a powerful foreign lead generation system. The valuable knowledge you will get from your foreign market potential will be an added bonus.

Localized Company Website

Some companies start here. And this is where you will aim for. A localized website will provide a base for all of your communication, marketing and campaigns in that country.

But website localization can be the most demanding, time consuming and expensive option to use at this stage when just starting out. It involves localizing your website and incorporating various e-marketing and Search Engine Optimization efforts to create a foreign country specific website.

A localized website involves more than translation of your content and requires solid market research and a certain amount of time to achieve.

Remember to internationalize your website before thinking of creating a localized website. This will make your website localization go quicker and smoother.

Start Small And Grow With Your International Clientèle

If you do not have adequate knowledge of your foreign market to start with a localized foreign website, it would be best to hire a third party to do it. You can also ideally start off with an option requiring less investment.

As you can see, your e-marketing strategy can begin using with one communication tool in a foreign language and targeted to one country. You will then naturally develop your international communication with your international expansion.

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.

More On International Web Marketing Mix:

• 3 Ways To Improve Your International Marketing Plan
• Choice Of Internet Marketing Methods
• Company Websites Still Brochures In Some Countries
• How To Give Turbo Power To Your Multicultural Internet Marketing To Actually Get International Clients
• Use A Multicultural Internet Marketing Strategy To Develop Your International Business
• Using Foreign Language E-Communication Tools
• Web Marketing For International Sales
• What Set Of Marketing Methods Do You Need For International Success

Business Guides On Get International Clients

• Multichannel Marketing
• Build Your International Marketing Strategy

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Choice Of Internet Marketing Methods

Website Globalization

Your online business can have global visibility…. but is your message getting across to different cultures as you anticipate? Are you able to adapt quickly to global market opportunities you see pop up? Or would you like to know how to quickly target different international audiences, with little investment on your part?

With a little thought and some careful preparation you can have an effective international presence through your current local business. Sure, language skills can help you open doors, but careful consideration to different cultures can give you a great advantage.

Get More Business From Non-native English Speakers

Today there are more non-native English speakers in the global web market than there are native English speakers. And online business is expanding rapidly in many foreign language countries.

Today you need to know if your sales message is getting through to everyone, everywhere they have a market. You need to nurture communication with each specific cultural market.

Although a lot of foreigners do speak English, most of them don’t. And the people who do speak English as a second language, do not have the same level of understanding as native English speakers do. The problem is your international readers have different levels of English language skills.

Language is only one part of the complexity in multicultural communication. There are also the whole set of cultural differences in mindset, in habits, and in other aspects of communication as a whole. Miscommunication in some form or other happens very easily. Sometimes without either parties realizing they are not of the same understanding.

Written English also has its pitfalls in cross-cultural communication. Of course people have more time to understand when reading. But the person writing can’t tell the effect his writing is having on the reader. Is the reader understanding what the writer intended in the first place? Is he even interested? Remember, he reader can not hear your spoken tone of voice and has to pick that up from the written word.

Step 1 – Internationalize Your English

Avoiding miscommunication requires constant awareness at all stages of communication. The process is fairly easy:

1. Acknowledge constant risk of miscommunication

• Be prepared to be patient and forgiving

2. Clear communication

• Use plain English; avoid slang and local or national expressions
• Give clear explanations
• Always go through processes slowly, methodically, and logically
• Give full explanations; don’t assume everyone does things like you do
• Speak slightly above your listener’s level of English

3. Stay calm. Question your own communication first

• If your gut reaction is to respond aggressively, keep this in check and respond slowly
• Do not jump to conclusions quickly

4. Listen actively to everything

• Adjust your communication accordingly

The most difficult part is in the beginning when you train yourself to constantly keep this open mindset.

Practice brings you enriching experiences. The more practice you have in becoming familiar with communicating with other cultures, the better you become at establishing and maintaining effective communication cross-culturally.

As you can see, this is the process for improving your oral communication. But it can also be used to help you even further.  The first two steps of this process can be applied directly to your written communication. Don’t forget to be even more patient and to communicate clearly when you do get feedback from your readers, and listen attentively to what your readers have to say.

By paying close attention and adjusting your written communication to your readers’ responses you will get your message across better. Your communication with your international clients and prospects will evolve and you will become more familiar with how your business is perceived abroad. You will be in a better position to take advantage of global business opportunities.

Step 2 – Create Localized Websites In English

Developing an international company can be made in steps. Once you get to know your different international markets, you can develop localized websites for individual countries. Cultural differences in non-native English speaking countries are strong enough to merit adapting your English language website to each country.

This would also give you the time to get to know your particular marketing strengths in each country before investing in full blown multilingual sales and marketing efforts and making mistakes.

An English language website targeted for the specific needs of each different culture will bring you better results than one main website in your home territory serving the world. What is considered polite in one country can be offensive in another. What is considered normal sales practices in one culture can come across as a very aggressive intrusion by another culture.

The best way to quickly grasp what makes your international clients tick, is to be interested in them. Have a look at some of their local websites. Don’t worry about not understanding them. Just notice how different they look in general. How do the graphics affect you? If there is any audio online, what is the general sound? Try to identify different tastes.

Be interested in reading about anything from that particular culture. Ask questions. Keep an open mind. Show your interest. And then listen to any feedback you have from your clients.

Before long you will see recurring questions. You may even be able to identify misunderstandings as they arise. Return to your website and try to answer these questions simply and clearly.

Adapt each localized English language website for your message to be understood as best as possible by your native readers. This will limit the risk of cultural misinterpretation as much as possible.

Your sales message may not be as strong as if it were in the reader’s native language. But it is often easier and quicker to adapt your English language website to the cultural specificities of your local target market. Your adapted, localized English language website will also convey a stronger message than a bad translation.

This process will also give you credibility within each different cultural group. People often do web search first in their own country search engines. People are not stupid. It will be hard to hide the fact you are a foreign company. But they will recognize your willingness to make an effort in understanding them and appreciate you for it.

Step 3 – Multilingual Websites

Of course, with a little bit of effort you will develop your market in each individual country. You will begin to understand any differences in buying habits, tastes, difficulties. At this stage you will ask yourself if you could get more business with a website in your readers’ native language.

Going through the first two processes of making your website Non-native English Speaker friendly and localized will save you a lot of time when it comes to the writing of your website into different materials. You will probably understand how the differences in your markets will require material specifically written for each market. You will be able to evaluate whether you can get away with simple translations of your current website and sales materials or not.

Part English Part Multilingual

Depending on your particular market you may decide to translate parts of your website, all of it, or only translate parts of specific local marketing campaigns.

There are various tactics companies use and the choice really depends on your market. Two of the options are:

• Keep your main localized website in English and have a direct sales page online in the local language, with email campaigns in local languages
• A specific area of your localized website in local languages to provide key information to your international clients in their own language.

Thought should be given to strengthen you cross-cultural communication at its weakest points.

Fully Multilingual Presence

Localized websites in solely in native languages are ideal for international business. They are the longest program to implement, and carry the highest risk of making your company look bad. The reason is because translations do not do the job. Full cultural customization comes with an intimate understanding of the local market for your products and services.

The writing of a website for a different culture and in a different language needs to be written by someone with all three of the following criteria:

• Intimate local market knowledge, to be able to write to the target audience
• Understanding for both cultures, to understand the differences in messages to be delivered and change them when appropriate.
• Native speaker

Having your website written by someone who meets all three of these qualifications will give you a good website. The trouble is it will take you time to find the right person for the job. And you need to find a different person to write your website for each different language.

To give all of your readers a great multilingual experience and ensure your company’s superior international presence, you also need someone to coordinate the writing of all websites. This person will cover branding issues, and consistency. Simple things such as specific industry vocabulary need to be coordinated throughout all languages.

A fully integrated multicultural strategy is a great benefit to international business. It will also keep you from cultural blunders.

Global Market Communication Takes Time And Practice

Don’t let your own lack of language skills stop you, instead focus more on building relationships.

Show your willingness to do business internationally. Listen attentively to any feedback you get. Your product or service may have a brand new market in a different cultural environment. You may need to adapt your services or your product.

With increased multicultural marketing experience you will develop new opportunities in unthought-of places.

Don’t Miss…

• How To Internationalize Your Website
• Website Internationalization
• Website Localization

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

3 Easy Steps To Attract International Business Through Your Website