Website Promotion Strategy

If you want to incorporate international marketing into your marketing plan, there are different things you need to consider. There is more involved in this than your domestic marketing plan. It will be very important that you remain flexible in your international marketing plan since so many things can change. You will need to incorporate a means of gaining feedback as well as marketing accountability. You will then need to use the results of these to tweak your marketing plan as needed to make sure you maximize its marketing potential.

When you have a flexible international marketing plan you will be more capable of adjusting your market as you learn more about the different foreign markets, avoid embarrassing cultural blunders or mistakes through your feedback, and avoid bad business decisions based on the feedback you get.

Having flexibility in your marketing plan will help you to change. Change is key in getting the perfect plan for your company. Sometimes you will need to try something, evaluate the results, and then make changes based on these results to get the best procedure possible. Flexibility allows you to do this.

As you may already know, however, it’s important to have marketing accountability, especially for the company trying to remain on budget. How can you be flexible and still maintain this marketing accountability?

It’s important to create a process for your international marketing plan to ensure that you remain on target and have marketing accountability while still remaining flexible. For example, you need to start with feedback. This is an important part of the process. You should gain feedback from anyone and everyone. Every piece will count towards an overall understanding of how well your international marketing plan is working. This is all part of acquiring international business intelligence. It’s a necessary part of every international marketing plan.

Next you need to assess the information that you gain from your feedback. The feedback doesn’t mean anything if you don’t know how to digest it properly. Your assumptions of the feedback could be biased based on your own culture. The feedback needs to be assessed by someone who is objective. This objective assessment of the feedback will lead to understanding.

Understanding of the feedback will help you see things the way your foreign target market sees it so you can better appeal to them and their needs. This is when you can implement change through flexibility to make adjustments to your original marketing plan and get the most benefit from your foreign marketing efforts.

This process is sometimes done best by a professional company with experience in international marketing and making it work for companies just like yours. Don’t be afraid to seek the help of a professional when you want to do your international marketing right. It will save you in the long run when compared to trying unsuccessfully because you don’t have the knowledge to pull off the campaign the right way. If you are committed to stimulating your international sales, these tips will help you find the way.

When you need international marketing, you need to work with a qualified service provider that you can trust. You want to work with someone with years of proven experience in the industry to make sure your marketing plan is carried out properly.

Look for specialists in Internet marketing and website promoted advertising as well as search engine marketing, email marketing and press release distribution. If you have a web business and you want to get the word out about who and what you are, you need help to do it right.

When you first look to market to an international audience, there are some things you need to know. It will greatly benefit you to lay out a plan before starting anything. One of your first decisions will be in how you market to them. Will you communicate in English or in another language?

Typically it is advised that you communicate in your target market’s native tongue, but what if you don’t have enough foreign market knowledge? What if your budget doesn’t allow for this? You often have to take a stepping stone approach to your international marketing if you want to do it right and meet with success.

There are many businesses that get international sales through their English websites. There are also many other countries you can market to that speak English. When this happens, these companies may assume that they are getting international business and feel they don’t need to market specifically to their international audience. However, this could be a mistake that is causing you to lose business.

If you tweaked your current marketing efforts a little, you could greatly increase your international sales. By widening your focus you could create a broader audience of people interested in your product. An international website is your first step to broadening your international marketing campaign.

You should consider a separate international website or sub-domain from your main English-based website or domain. When deciding what will make your international website successful, you need to look at what is working and what is not. Take time to evaluate your business on an international scale or seek the help of a professional qualified to help you.

If your business well known enough that you need international sales? Is there something in your company values that might appeal to other cultures or other countries? Which, if any, other countries are cultures are you trying to market to? After determining the answers to these questions, you will need to create a country-specific marketing plan complete with a country-specific website and country-specific content. If you are trying to market to multiple countries, this may require multiple websites or sub-domains to successfully complete your marketing plan.

International marketing done right requires you to establish a value for your international markets and then work to bring in as much information as possible. This can be a difficult task and may require the help of a professional to make sure it is done right and you get the best results for your efforts.

Making a good first impression is an important focus for international marketing success. If you plan an international marketing campaign for expanding your business, then your first international marketing plan should include greeting new customers with gusto. You want to make sure during your international marketing strategy stages that you include plans for the “meet and greet” sessions you will have as you introduce your products and services to your clients and prospects.

There are many ways to successfully hold “grand openings” or welcomes for international prospects.

* Make your website friendly and accessible to all international visitors.

* Provide international visitors a special place they can submit queries or questions.

* Invite your international visitors to comment and provide their feedback on your site and about your products and services. Also invite them to ask questions and let them know of any translation or customary accommodations you may make for individuals with culturally diverse backgrounds.

* Make sure you are collected and patient when conversing or interacting with international clients that may need 10 minutes to talk about something that normally might take 3 minutes because of language barriers. Make sure you put your prospects at ease so they do not feel uncomfortable during these long intervals.

* Make sure you thank your international clients for participating and sharing in your website and offering their comments and feedback. Invite them to sign your guestbook and thank them again for visiting. Make them feel important and show your gratitude for their visit. This will encourage them to come back.

* Make sure you always are honest in your business relationships and convey the message that you truly have an interest in getting to know your clients. Most people can detect a phony ten miles away. If you are not genuine then your international clients and prospects will immediately pick up on your negative or false energy. Don’t allow this to happen. Have an open and honest relationship from the very start and everyone wins.

When engaged in international marketing, it is critical that you pay attention to local customs and culture if you want to successfully expand your business. When in another country, many businesspeople find they have much more success luring prospects when they respect and adhere to the cultural customs of the international company with which they conduct business. International marketing is as much about respecting culture as it is about expanding your business in the international markets.

Making Cultural Accommodations

Cultural misunderstandings often result in frustration and the loss of business. International marketing aims to help people communicate clearly and be mindful of their business partner’s cultural ideals, because they often impact how one business partner or client engages when conducting business and why they hold the beliefs they do.

For example, one business partner may find it acceptable when making purchases to pay the highest price possible because they are raised in an environment that teaches that you get what you pay for. The other business client may have been raised in a culture that teaches to pay the cheapest price for the best quality product. When it comes to doing business, the two may be at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

If these cultural differences are not known at the time of negotiations, this could lead to conflict or other problems. International marketing shows business people how important it is to research another client’s cultural customs before engaging in business so these types of conflicts or potential sore spots can be eradicated or minimized.

Local Representatives

Because it is impossible to learn everything about another culture before doing business, many companies find it sensible to hire a local business representative, one that can help a company in the native country. This person can escort visiting business professionals and apprise them of any cultural considerations specific to various events or meetings. This person can also act as a business liaison. This practice is common in international marketing and benefits all parties involved.

Local representatives may be permanent employees that work for the company abroad. If this is the case, a manager or hiring representative will have to fly to the host country to hire this individual. It is best that this person lives in the host country rather than that of the home company to ensure he or she is up-to-date in cultural practices.