One of the reasons why I started this blog 3 years ago was because I hear too many objections from businesses about why they’re not going international.

I live in an area outside of Paris where there are a lot of small and mid-sized businesses. And almost every time I leave my house I run into a successful business owner or local business man.  After the usual greetings, and given my international business background, this person almost always tells me they want to develop their business internationally…

But they always add an excuse.  And I don’t find most of the excuses I hear to be valid reasons to stop you from developing your business internationally if that’s what you want to do.

Here are the three excuses and objections I hear the most often.

#1: Fear Of Change

“We’d love to develop our international business, but you know what, our business is fine as it is. We don’t want to change anything.”

In order to get international clients you usually need to make changes in how you operate your business.  And although the businessmen I meet have successfully built companies they seem to be afraid of change when it comes to international markets.

Tip: Take things slowly.  The advantage to this is it will help you to acquire the change of mindset you need to adopt to develop your business in other countries.

A good first step is to ensure you don’t push away any international clients.

#2: It Costs Too Much

“We’d love to develop our international business, but we don’t have the money for it.”

This really depends on your particular business and the path you choose to take to get international clients. But don’t confuse things by making assumptions too quickly.

There are 5 different way to create an international business and 7 traditional paths to develop your international business.  You can sign a contract with an international sales distributor or open up shop in a foreign country and these options have different costs.

Do your research first and don’t assume you know how much it’s going to cost.

Tip: International content marketing for a broad international audience combined with proactive social media networking might be easy to include in your budget today… specially if you are already marketing online.  And this will help you find the best path to international sales for your business to take.

Strategic content marketing at this level can give you the feedback you need from international markets to make the right decision for your next step towards an international business.

#3: We’ll Do It Later

“We’d love to develop our international business, but you know what, we’ll do it later.”

Fair enough.  There’s a time to actively go after international clients.  You’ll need the right international resources and the right international business skills.  But there is something you can do beyond simply watching what your competitors are doing abroad.

Tip: Look for hidden opportunities to develop your international markets. If you’ve got an online presence the chances are that you’ve communicated with people from other countries.  But what have you done with this communication?  What have you learned from these interactions?

Many businesses don’t really do anything. In addition, so many businesses make the false assumption that a few international sales means they already have an international business and don’t need to do anything else.  But that’s not true.

Your business needs to learn how to market and sell your products and services in different countries before you can develop your international markets. And your initial communications are where you can begin learning how to do this.  You’ll figure out how to get more international business when you look for the opportunities that come to your doorstep.

Develop Your International Business

There are many reasons to seek international business and there are certainly some good reasons not to.  (I’ll write about those later.)  But as you can see from above, some of these excuses not to develop your international business can cost you sales.  It’s foolish to not do anything about developing your international business.

This is why I blog here.  To inspire and get businesses unstuck when it comes to getting more international clients.

Of course, it’s easy for me to think it’s simple. After all I’ve been in international business development for over 25 years in the field. And I know there are steep learning curves and some international markets are not always possible to develop and you need to recognize them.  But there’s no reason for you to add additional barriers.  And that’s where I try to help you here.

Please let me know more about you and where you’re stuck in your international business.

• What’s your excuse for not doing more to develop your international business?
• Are you learning about your international markets from the international clients you already have?
• What have you changed to get more international clients?

Please share your comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

3 Top Excuses For Not Developing An International Business

Have you got a great idea for an international business? It’s not always easy to find specific how-to information for international business development and this is why I provide some international business resources here on this blog, simply to help others.

But this leads to my getting emails with all sorts of odd international business requests. You see, I only help businesses at the point of new market entry, which is a very specific moment of time in the process of creating an international business… more about that below.

This is why I thought I’d share with you here the 3 main reasons why I won’t be able to help you with your international business. Here they are.

#1: Export Business Model

• “My grandfather has a cement company in Japan and I want to import his products in the US”
• “We are in Turkey and sell industry-specific pipes to manufacturing plants all over the world”
• “We are based in Mexico and produce large scale artwork and want to sell directly to international buyers”

In short, these examples are all about exporting and importing products.  To put it bluntly, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you here.

To be perfectly honest, I find import and export a bit boring. I do find this easy enough to do, but it’s just not what I like doing.

Besides, it’s a waste of my particular skills which allow me to get a much deeper understanding of:

• What would make people from a different country buy your products or services
• How to get them to buy
• What you need to do to get more international sales.

This is how I help businesses to adapt their products, marketing and sales tactics to get more international sales.

Now, I do occasionally help export businesses with general tips to get unstuck. But I can only do this if there is a real business functioning in the background, and most of these requests are only based on an idea of exporting products into a new market. There’s no actual business up and running yet, so I can’t help them get unstuck if they haven’t even started.

I can’t help people with ideas simply because it’d take up too much of my time, cost too much money and my interests are at another level as you’ll see below.

Tip

Get on the phone and talk to the people listed on my international business resources. Find the international trade lists for your industry. Talk with the Trade Commissioner from your country’s embassy in the foreign country involved. Listen and follow up the advice you get.

That’s just a starting point.

You’ll probably need to travel and meet with the right people.  You’ll need to hustle and learn how to ask the right questions in the right places. You’ll also need to develop your business knowledge. Commit to doing this preliminary business research properly.

#2: Unclear Business Model

Some requests are so fuzzy I have no idea what industry is involved and cannot get a good picture of where the business is and even if there is a business involved at all.

Brainstorming international business ideas can be fun, and I do enjoy this from time to time, but you need to articulate your idea well to get any value out of a brainstorming session.

If you are having trouble conveying your idea to others, you need to work on it some more. You should ask yourself whether you have a business idea at all, and if there is a business model somewhere behind this idea and one you can take abroad.

I often hear from people who do not have a clear understanding of the business model for their international business.  This is usually a company which “does everything” and wants to develop their international business on the same scale. This fuzzy bunch of “everything” translated into a big nothing. This just isn’t going to work. You need to start with a very clear business model.

Tip

Strengthen your primary business first. Before thinking about developing your international business you need to get a clear understanding of what you do, why it works in your country, who you sell to and why.  It’s scary the number of business professionals who contact me who do not know this. How can you expect to take your business into a different culture if you don’t understand what it is in your own culture?

And how well does your business work? If your business isn’t working in your own country, what makes you think it’ll work in another country? If you haven’t been able to resolve the challenges in your own cultural environment, how will you be able to do so in a foreign cultural environment? Hone your business skills first.

#3: No Business Model

Here’s my favorite “international business” request which comes in frequently:

• “I have a book and want to get it published in many different foreign languages.”

A book is not a business model. I’m sorry I can’t help you.  

Tip

Your publisher can probably point you in the right direction.

Bonus Tip

If you don’t have the money to invest in a professional translation by a native speaker, living in his native country with specific industry knowledge on the topic of the book, then don’t bother.

Where I Help Businesses Get Faster International Sales

I help established businesses at their point of new market entry when they are connecting with their new international clients for the first time. I help them to adjust their international business development strategy based on the initial feedback from this first connection with a new market.  I get sales and marketing tactics fine-tuned to bring in results from a new culture enabling faster international market penetration.

I usually only intervene for the first 6-12 months of a new market entry with the aim to provide the best operational guide to get sales in the new international market. I get involved in the international sales and marketing as this is where my cross-cultural and international skills enable me to interpret the real market feedback and learn how to adapt business tactics for best results.

Risk when managing the unknown and risk in cultural blunders are critical factors when entering new markets. So I also coordinate with senior management and other key players to closely monitor the risk factor. It’s valuable for risk evaluation to have people with strong international and cross-cultural skills involved at both the operational level and at the decisional level.

I have extensive experience in new market entry in traditional international business environments and I also have a few years in new media for international business development.

New media is taking up most of my time now. And to further develop these skills I also take on a few clients to hone specific marketing tactics such as blog editing, social media promotion and online community building.

So, if you have a new international business idea:

You’ll need to:

• Get a clear understanding of your business model
• Do all of the preliminary research for your new international business.

Look at the links under the resource section to get you started. But you’ll still need to dig further and do the groundwork needed to start your international business.

When you’ve done all of this preliminary work, set up a company and are just beginning to make sales in your new international market you’ll probably find that you need to adjust your tactics. You’ll find that all of the research you’ve done is not quite right, things are taking longer than expected, you’re not getting the results you expected. You might even hit a barrier or two. What works on paper and looks good in research usually needs adaptation when you start your real business.

And this is where my particular set of skills and expertise can help you.

Now, over to you…

• Do you have a clear understanding of your international business markets?
• What are you doing to develop your business into new international markets?
• What are your favorite resources for international business research?

Please share your comments below.

More On International Business Development Strategy:

• 3 Reasons Why I Won’t Help Your International Business
• 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

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

3 Reasons Why I Can’t Help Your International Business

International Social Media

How do you use Twitter? There are different ways businesses can use this social media platform:

• Branding
• Customer outreach
• Customer support
• Long term lead generation
• General business networking
• Strategic business networking for a specific goal
• Or as a social media tool to support other social media platforms

I mainly use Twitter as a strategic networking tool to build my international business network. Like most busy professionals it took me a long time to see the value in using Twitter. And even after I started rather reluctantly it took me a full two months to really understand what Twitter could do for my business.

But when I finally got over my own mind blocks something strange happened: within a week it brought in valuable contacts for my business. As soon as the light bulb turned on in my head, I spent an afternoon developing a tweet plan for strategic networking to build my business, and it worked immediately. My email inbox was literally flooding with businesses wanting to know more about my business. What surprised me was that these email were from the types of businesses I wanted to find through Twitter.

I thought I’d just been lucky, but later I realized there was probably more to why I got this Twitter marketing exercise right the first time. You see, I have a background of over 25 years field experience in traditional international business development. This enabled me to develop strong cross-cultural people skills and international business development skills.

• The cross-cultural skills are in-depth people skills and, when you use them in international business, you also learn to maintain a strong focus on the business results you want while connecting with people who are different to you. Twitter is about connecting with a wide variety of people and it can sometimes be challenging to find the right balance to use it successfully for your business.
• The international business development skills mean I know how to operate in a business capacity in “unknown” environments, where there’s a high level of risk, where you need flexibility and where you need to cultivate feedback, listen to it and then adapt your communication to get things right.

With hindsight I believe these skills helped me to “get it right” the first time round. I have since tweaked my orignal tweet plan and integrated different tactics make Twitter work even better for my particular needs.  Twitter is now a key tool in building my international business network.

Below are a variety of links to help you use Twitter successfully for your business. Remember to follow me on Twitter @CindyKing.

How To Get Started On Twitter Resources

Here’s a series of articles to help you get the most out of Twitter.

#1: Listen to what people are saying on Twitter
8 Easy Twitter Monitoring Ideas

#2: Set up your Twitter account
5 Simple Steps to Getting Your Business on Twitter
How to Create a Custom Twitter Background Design

#3: Find people you want to connect with on Twitter
How to Market Your Business With Twitter Lists

#4: Create a great tweet plan
8 Simple Steps To Grow A Quality Twitter Following

#5: Reach out to people on Twitter
12 Tips to Engage People on Twitter

#6: Start with networking great basics on Twitter
8 Easy Ways to Network on Twitter

#7: Find the best meeting places on Twitter
How to Use Twitter Events to Grow Your Network

#8: Take Twitter connections one step further
7 Steps to Successful Twitter Interviews

More Twitter Resources For You

Cross-Cultural & International People On Twitter
Are you interested in developing your cross-cultural skills for international business? Then here’s a list of people I recommend you follow because their Twitter feeds have interesting tweets.

Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews
Here’s a series of Twitter interviews with some of the people on this list.  Have a look at what I did after reading the article in step 7 above.

Now, It’s Your Turn

• What challenges do you face when using Twitter for your business?
• What Twitter tactics are you using successfully for your business?
• What successes have you had using Twitter for international marketing?

Please leave your comments below.

Tweet Plan

Are you stuck in figuring out how to use Twitter for your business? Create a tweet plan as mentioned in step 3 above and run it for a couple of months to get the feedback you need to figure out what would work best for your business. Need help in setting up your tweet plan?

Find out more about how I can help you set up your tweet plan

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Twitter Guide

International Business Development Strategy

In today’s economy, it seems that everyone is scrambling to keep existing clients and find new ones. And the question of getting international clients pops up.

The trouble is that some people seem to look at developing their international business with a little too much haste. The businesses that contact me for guidance on developing their international business almost always need to be reminded of the following three important points.

Find The Right Product

It’s easy to embrace international business when you already have something to sell.  If you are currently selling something to local clients, it’s easy to assume you can sell it abroad.

The problem is that your assumptions may be wrong.  And the problem gets bigger if you develop a marketing and sales plan based on these wrong assumptions. The sad thing is that wrong assumptions can keep you from identifying great market opportunities.

Key Point: Spend time to make sure your product is appropriate for your international market.  The amount of time you need to spend on market research here depends on your business, your product and many other factors.

Tip: There’s a balancing act to do in knowing when you have too little information or whether you’re expecting too much information at this stage. You may need a little bit of international marketing flair to know when you have enough information to proceed.

Position Your Product

Even when you’ve identified what you want to sell in a new foreign market, you still need to spend time to find the best way to position your product within this new market. Your sales success depends on how well you can position your product in your international market.

Key Point: Find the right way to position your product for international sales and use this in your international sales and marketing tactics.

Tip: Different cultures respond to different emotional buttons, so always listen to learn more about these emotional buttons and improve your empathy with these clients.

Adapting Your Product

When you sell to different cultures, you may need to adapt your product to increase your sales appeal to different clients. It’s not always an easy task and there are many little things that can be overlooked.

In addition to this, adapting your product to an international market can also impact many different areas of your own business. The process can take some time to get it right.

Key Point: Give yourself time and resources to learn how to adapt your product to sell well to different cultures.

Tip: Pay close attention to your assumptions about your international market and spend time cultivating and listening to feedback from you new clients.

Successful International Business Expansion

Many businesses spend time preparing to enter a new market only to realize they need to re-work their sales and marketing once they reach the entry point.

This is a direct result of cultural differences and the challenges faced when trying to sell to people who respond to different emotional buttons and live in a different environment.

What About You?

• Do you have any international business tips to share?
• How are you developing your international business?
• What are you doing to identify the emotional buttons that bring in international sales?

More On International Business Development Strategy:

• 3 Key Points For Businesses Going International
• 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

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Business: 3 Tips On Product Marketing

International Business Networking

Business networking habits play an important role in international business.  It’s how we discover international opportunities and avoid cultural blunders.  Our business networking habits help us to learn how to do business in other cultures.

One of the important things about international business networking is that it needs to be done consistently.  It needs to become a long term habit. You cannot jump in, network for a month or two, and then stop because you think you have all the answers you need to take action.  The risk of making a cultural blunder is too great.  Consistent networking ensures that we stay current and it’s how we verify our understanding of our international markets.

This explains why networking has become second nature. And why I’ve used this networking habit to build my international business network after first connecting online.

Daily Skype Calls To Connect With New People On Twitter

At the beginning of last year I decided to implement a new business networking habit by regularly speaking to interesting people I meet on Twitter. It was simple: I tried to Skype one person every day as often as I could.

This may seem a lot, especially when you consider calls almost always last more than 30 minutes and often a full hour. But I’m lucky, the time difference plays in my favor. You see, I try to schedule these calls late in the afternoon just before wrapping up and this happens to be mornings on the other side of the Atlantic.  And I although I’m fairly flexible on the time, I always keep the calls limited to an hour.  So I aimed to spend an hour every day whenever possible to connect to someone I had never spoken to before.

The first 6 months of last year I probably averaged about 3-4 calls to new people I met on Twitter each week. After a while this lead to regular Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews. And again I called first and got to know each person before the Twitter interview.

In the second half of the year I paid less attention to how many new people I connected with. This was partly because I started speaking to several people on a regular basis and did not keep track of how many new people I spoke to during the week.  And after 6 months of consciously choosing to spend an hour to reach out and connecting with people on Skype it simply became a habit at the end of my day.

The results?  To put it simply: this works. While networking on Skype I meet valuable people to add to my international business network. I don’t add everyone I speak to.  But I now have a great list of valuable business contacts.

Weekly Guest Posts To Connect With A Broad Audience

As last year’s business networking tactic has now become a habit, I’d like to start using another business networking tactic on a regular basis. The habit I’d like to install this year is weekly guest posting. As you may know, I already write content on a regular basis for several different blogs:

• Social Media Examiner
• Top Sales Experts
• ClickInsights
• Bloggertone
• Sales Bloggers

But I’d like to add a bit more variety to this mix to fit some of my other online activities.  Two things happened recently to make me take this decision.

Guest Posting. I read Chris Garrett’s ebook which explains how to guest post and why you should do it. It costs about $10 and yes, this is an affiliate link.  After reading this ebook I was convinced of the value in adding more variety to my guest posting.

My Blog Guest.  I discovered Ann Smarty’s online community where you can both ask for guest posts and also find blogs open to publishing your guest posts.  It’s also a great place to share guest posting tips and experiences.  Ann has set up a grading system for the blogs open to accepting guest posts.  I have to say I’m impressed with how this is set up and the quality of members there.  My Blog Guest makes it easy to find guest posting opportunities.

My Guest Posting Plan

So this year my business networking plan is to write at least 1 guest post a week in addition to my current activities.  Why?

• To reach a wider audience
• To also write articles on 2 new web marketing activities: WishList membership sites on WordPress and product launch management

My core expertise is international marketing and sales strategy for international business development through social media.  This involves several different domains of competence and I need to stay current to apply these skills online.

This is why I’ve decided to use guest posting to expand my international network within the areas of my different skills.

What about you?

• What tactics do you use to grow your international business network?
• Do you think guest posting would help your online business networking?
• Would you like me to write a guest post for you on membership site marketing or business networking for product launches?

More on International Business Networking:

• Networking With The Wrong Questions
• 2 Habits To Grow Your International Network
• The Biggest Mistake In International Networking
• Follow Up With Your First International Clients
• Online Business Networking When Cultural Communication Styles Clash

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Two Great Business Networking Habits To Grow Your International Network

Resources

Darren Rowse over at Problogger asked for readers to share a list of bloggers relevant to their industry. A few readers have already shared some good lists.  I particularly liked reading the list of Translation and Localization bloggers.  So I decided to share the list of bloggers I read to stay current.

UPDATE: Darren Rowse has now compiled a list of 47 Lists of Bloggers to Watch in 2010 – well worth looking at!

Cross-Cultural & International Bloggers

You need cross-cultural and international business skills in order to develop your business internationally. What’s interesting is that I find these same cross-cultural skills also help me in social media.  Strong people skills are always useful.

No matter how strong these people skills are you still need to nurture them.  And it’s also important to do this to stay competitive in today’s changing international business environment. This is why it’s a good idea to follow a variety of blogs to help maintain these skills.

Here is the list of bloggers with strong cross-cultural or international profiles that I like to follow.

• Some of these blogs are focused on personal relationships or travel. although this may seem to have little to do with international business, the truth is that you can often learn a lot by observing these different situations.
• Some of these blogs are very business focused, usually with a specific topic. And again, they often give insights into cultural barriers for international business.
• Some of the bloggers are new to international business and some are old pros.

This mixture works for me.  Let me know what you think.

1. Ad Sheik – this is a blog for advertisers who want to reach multicultural audiences
2. All About Race – a blog on race in America to share, discuss, argue, learn, teach, laugh and understand
3. All Things Workplace - Steve Roesler is an international management consultant and also blogs about topics with international insights
4. American German Business Blog – Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle are Germans based in the US helping businesses go international
5. Anastiasia Ashman – Furthering the Worldwide Cultural Conversation
6. Asia Biz Blog - Rich Kuslan blogs on China business and law
7. Bella’s Boliva Blog – a blog with trivia and news from the eastern region of Bolivia
8. Career By Choice - Megan Fitzgerald blogs to help expatriates improve their careers
9. Chanda Communications - Silvia Cambie blogs on cross-cultural connections
10. Chinese & Chosen – An interactive report on the intersection of Chinese & Jewish in NYC
11. Cross-Cultural Moments – Elizabeth Abbot’s blog on transforming international living into personal and professional progress
12. Cultural Realms – Rossitza Ohridska blogs about cultural discovery, the business of cultural tourism, emerging destinations, internet strategies and world travel
13. Culturally Teaching – Cate Brubaker share lots of cross-cultural insights here, not only for teaching or teachers
14. Deborah Swallow – Deborah Swallow blogs on intercultural communication
15. Dot Global – Joe Kutchera’s blog on marketing to Spanish-language consumers
16. Family On Bikes - Between North & South Poles, a family biking and blogging from Alaska to Argentina
17. Fluent In 3 Months – Benny Lewis’s blog of unconventional language learning tips as he travels the world
18. From Power To Poverty – interesting blog by Duncan Green, Head of Research for Oxfam GB
19. Fusion View - Yang-May Ooi’s blog on cross-cultural topics
20. Global Business Perspectives – Beverly Cornell interviews people with international profiles
21. Global Coach Center - Margarita Gokun Silver blogs about being a cross-cultural coach
22. Global Voices – A vibrant global community of more than 150 active volunteer authors and translators and more than 20 freelance part- time regional and language editors
23. globalEDGE International Business Blog - to keep current on international business and global trade
24. Gori Girl – A blog on interracial relationships and advice by a white girl with an Indian husband
25. Intercultural Eyes – Bettina Hansel’s blog with a geographic & interculturalist perspective
26. Intercultural Talk – The blog where Deanna Shoss teaches us to engage & delight in cultural differences
27. International Higher Education Consulting Blog – This is where David Comp blogs about studying abroad – great resource
28. International Trade Law News – Where Doug Jacobson blogs about news, analysis and information on export controls, sanctions, customs law, FCPA, antidumping and other international trade issues
29. Investing In Africa – Ryan Shen Hoover’s blog on Africa is an interesting read
30. Jack Yan – The Persuader – Jack has a strong cross-cultural background and shares a wide variety of interests on his blog
31. Maidsfield Blog – Donagh Kiernan blogs about partnering into international markets
32. Matthew Bennett – Matthew blogs on culture, law, business and politics in the UK and Spain, as well as the Spanish and English languages, English-Spanish translation and Spanglish Lex
33. Original Wavelength - Rana Sinha’s blog on cross-cultural issues, culture, psychology, inter-cultural management and communication, international business, team-working and human resource development and management (HRD and HRM).
34. Pocket Cultures – a great group of bloggers from all over the world
35. Racialicious – Carmen Van Kerckhove blogs at the intersection of race and pop culture
36. RW3 Culture Wizard – An interesting blog, stimulating cross-cultural skills for business
37. Southeast Schnitzel – Christian Höferle blogs about cultural topics and German business
38. Technicultr - Jessica Faye Carter’s blog on multicultural social media news
39. Textappeal – Elliot Polak shares insights on Culture Shocks in global media and marketing
40. The Art Of Nonconformity – Chris Guillebeau blogs about his travels and his cultural insights can help you open your own mindset
41. The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris often shares unique insights about his travels on his blog
42. The Global Small Business Blog – Laurel Delaney’s blog helps small businesses go global
43. The International Entrepreneur - Becky DeStigter likes to blog about international business
44. Touch Points – Steve Finikiotis has extensive international business experience and often shares useful insights on his blog
45. Translator Power – Amadou M. Sall is an active cross-cultural online connector and this is his blog

And don’t forget this blog: CindyKing.biz

There’s More

You can also find some more links to interesting websites on the Resources page.  And if you want an easy way to connect with these bloggers, have a look at the Twitter Resources page for the links to the Twitter handles and Facebook & LinkedIn profiles for many of the bloggers listed above.

What about you? Do you have any favorite cross-cultural and international bloggers not on this list?  Please share them in the comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

45 Cross-Cultural & International Bloggers To Watch In 2010

Business Article Reviews

I‘ve started a new weekly article post over on Bloggertone. Each week I’ll share the business articles from the previous week that inspired me the most as a cross-cultural marketer and international sales specialist.

And there is also one other particularity. I’ve decided to only share articles I find on bizSugar.  This may seem a bit odd – there are many great business articles out there.  But the truth is, bizSugar has become my daily business “news reader”.

Bloggertone and bizSugar are simply 2 business networks I enjoy. There is no other connection whatsoever between us.

Have a look at the first weekly business article review:

• Cindy King’s Weekly Business Article Review

Articles To Inspire International Action

Remember, this weekly article review is based on articles I find inspiring as a cross-cultural marketer and from an international business development perspective. BizSugar runs their own top articles of the week… and there are other great business articles submitted each week on bizSugar.

As a person interested in cross-cultural marketing and international business some business articles inspire me more than others. And I hope these also ignite little sparks to give you ideas in how to approach different aspects of international business development.

Connecting 2 Business Communities

I decided to write this weekly review to network between 2 different online business communities.

• These are both business communities, but they are different activities.
• Both of these business communities are fairly small. And I like this.  It is easier to feel at home in small communities.

BizSugar Business Community

BizSugar is a social bookmarking platform.  This is the place to

• Find interesting news related to business
• Submit either your own business content or content from other sources
• Vote on business articles
• Network with other business professionals

BizSugar is tiny compared to Digg and Reddit.  But there is also a huge difference in the quality of interaction you get on BizSugar. It is easy to network with the other bizSugar members and the interactions are meaningful. Most bizSugar members come with similar expectations. This is why I like the bizSugar business community.

Bloggertone Business Community

Bloggertone is a new platform for business professionals to use as a blog and to post their articles.  It started barely 2 months ago.

What I like most about Bloggertone is their International Business section and the energy behind it.

The Bloggertone team is located in Ireland and all Irish companies need to be international to survive. The size of the Irish market is not big enough to sustain their business otherwise. So there is also a fair bit of knowledge and experience within the community about international business development.

This explains why this community has so much energy.  And this energy and direction in seeking international business opportunities and solutions is refreshing.  It stands out amidst the usual barriers I encounter:

• Overwhelm of everything foreign
• Apprehension of risk
• Action without any understanding of what business means in other countries

Bloggertone is also very lucky to have a very strong community in Ireland and I’m looking forward to networking within their international business community.

Bloggertone is actively looking for more bloggers to publish content on the Bloggertone website and is keen to get people from all over the world.  And although my interests are in their International Business section, they also have all of the other categories related to business. So if you would like to start business blogging, have click through and have a look.

What do you think?

• Do you have any suggestions on how to improve this networking exercise?
• What kind of business articles inspire you to take action to develop your international business?
• Did I miss any other business article last week on bizSugar relevant to international business?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Weekly Business Article Review On Bloggertone

International Networking On Social Media

For various reasons I have only just got around to setting up my Twitter Lists. They have been active for several weeks, and although I have tinkered with them a little, I had not really taken to the time to think about how I wanted to use them. You see I already have my own hand picked list of people I recommend you follow to develop your Cross-Cultural and International skills. I use this list to network with peers in related industries. And lately I’ve been having lots of fun doing Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews with the people on this list.

My Twitter List Strategy

Now, I’ve read a few articles on how to use Twitter lists, but I have to say there are too many social media cheerleaders out there and very few business savvy people who know how to apply social media to business goals. So I decided to spend some time sorting out the Twitter Lists on my @CindyKing profile and deciding on the best Twitter list strategy for my own business.

And this is what I decided:

My own list of Cross-Cultural and International People published here on this blog is expanded to include links to everyone’s blogs, websites, Facebook and LinkedIn pages. This is a much stronger networking tool for me than the Twitter Lists found on my Twitter profile and it deserves the extra special attention. The relationships I have with most of the people on this list are now also very much outside of Twitter.

For my blog readers, this is still probably the most valuable list of the three. There is also a link to my TweepML list, which has the same people listed as here on my blog. The TweepML list makes it easy for others to follow everyone if they want to.

Public Twitter Lists – I came up with 4 public lists and I will try to keep them limited to this small number.

• Culture Tweets – On a wide variety of cultural topics
• Interesting Tweets – Places to go to open your mindset to different points of view
• International Business – From professors, active professionals and other various experts
• International Social Media – Social media savvy people with cross-cultural networking skills

Everyone on the main Cross-cultural and International people list on my blog is also here on at least one of these Public Twitter Lists. And I also follow a few more additional people. These are the people I’m currently checking out before adding them to the Cross-cultural and International people list on my blog.

Private Twitter Lists – This is where I have many different lists. These are for my different networking buddies and they are separated by group.

• Authority Bloggers
• Bloggertone friends
• Probloggers
• Product Launch Managers
• Remarkable Marketers
• Special sales expert friends
• Special social media friends
• WishList friends
• and a few private group projects

My Two Main Twitter List Objectives

A Branding Tool – I decided to keep my public lists limited to 4 very easy to follow lists that represent why I am online. Let’s face it, international business is a vast area, and when you mix this with soft cultural skills it can be confusing to passers by.

When Twitter friends want to find out more, they get lots more detailed information on my list of Cross-Cultural and International People over on my blog.  They find this as soon as they click on the link in my Twitter profile.

With only 4 Twitter Lists it also makes it easy for people on Twitter to choose whether they want to connect with me or not.  This short list positions me more strongly.  It’s a good sign post for people who do not know me very well.

A More Efficient Networking Tool – I like networking with a variety of different groups online. Where the public groups are limited in numbers, I decided to go for a large number of Private Twitter Lists.  So I separated people into very specific networking groups in these private lists. This makes it very easy to dive into these private Twitter Lists for a quick 2-minute visit: “let’s see if there is anything new happening in this group right now”.

I also use the FireFox Bookmark feature for networking with these groups.  This allows you to open all the windows in a bookmark group at the same time.  This is great to follow what others have been up to, but it takes up more time.  With the Private Twitter Lists I can have a quick look at the latest news and be in and out within a few very short minutes.

Developing My Business Network

My primary business goal is still to develop my business network on social media within a manageable amount of time.  This is why I chose to set up my Twitter Lists like this.  But it’s not the only way to set them up…

What about you?

• How have you set up your Twitter Lists?
• How do you use your Twitter Lists for your social media networking?
• What other ways do you network with your Twitter Lists?

More on International Networking On Social Media

• Links And International Social Networking
• Is Social Media Changing Business Networking?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Social Media Networking With Twitter Lists