Culturally Customized Communication To Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
February 25, 2008 by 
cindy
Last updated 20 August 2008
This is the third part of a series - Transition To A Global Market Internet Business. Read the other two parts here:
1 - Internationalize Your Website
2 - Localize Your Website
International Development With Internet Marketing In Three Easy Steps
Once you have a localized website adapted to each of your target markets you will want your international clients to feel more familiar with your products and services. You will want to improve the level of communication with your foreign markets.
Your website is now localized. It is already on their territory. The best way to deepen your relationship is to communicate with your foreign markets solely in their language, and to communicate exactly how you would if you were your local competitor. Read more
Internationalize Your Website To Transition To A Global Market Internet Business
February 23, 2008 by cindy
Last updated 20 August 2008
International Development With Internet Marketing In Three Easy Steps
This article is the first part of a series - Transition To A Global Market Internet Business. Read the other two parts here:
2 - Localize Your Website
3 - Culturally Customize Your Communication
Some companies feel they have a global market e-commerce with an online presence. But are the international clients coming to your online store? And if they are, how did they find you? Does your online website have a real presence in foreign countries?
Once you have a local or national business operating through a website, there are a few steps you can take to develop your market further abroad.
Targeting international markets still involves the same type of market analysis you needed for your current business. Often a bit more market analysis is needed to allow for the cultural adaptation of your products. This market research is multiplied by the number of countries you would like to do business in.
Assess Your Communication
Then you must step back and look at your current means of communication. The website you have for your own local market. How would foreigners react to your website? Read more
7 Easy Tips to Internationalize Your Website
February 22, 2008 by cindy
Last updated 20 August 2008
Most websites owners only think of catering to their local or national audiences. That’s fine if you want to limit your market to your domestic market. But if you want to get sales outside of your current domestic market you must look at how well your website is communicating with others.
There are more non-native English speakers online. The question is whether your website is written for all of your international readers.
If your website is well targeted to your local domestic markets, the chances are it does not communicate well outside of that market. And even worse, it may even be pushing your international clients away.
There are things you can do to make your domestic website friendlier to everyone. This is called website internationalization. Read more
Internationalize Your Website 1 - Make Your Website Easy To Read For All Of Your Readers
February 21, 2008 by cindy
Last Updated 17 August 2008
The majority of internet users world-wide are non-native English speakers. Even among native English speakers there is a wide variety of different vocabularies.
These visitors to your website may have more difficulty in reading English than you do.
First Steps To Website Internationalization
Your international visitors will probably not use the same every day vocabulary as you do. If a foreign visitor cannot understand your website easily he will not stay around long.
The question is whether your website is written for all of your international readers.
If your website is well targeted to your local domestic markets, the chances are it does not communicate well outside of that market. And even worse, it may even be pushing your international clients away.
There are things you can do to make your domestic website friendlier to everyone. This is called website internationalization. Read more
Internationalize Your Website 2 - Be Reachable By Phone To Everyone
February 20, 2008 by cindy
Last Updated 17 August 2008
Can everyone reach you by phone?
Are you making the phone process easy so that everyone can actually call you?
Can your international clients reach you easily by phone?
First Steps To Website Internationalization
These questions may sound obvious. And you will probably say yes to all of them. Think again.
Calling from abroad is not always as easy as you imagine. Even today situations still arise often enough where people abroad desperately try to reach someone by phone and just cannot get through.
Cross cultural miscommunication happens often enough in all situations, including communication by phone.
Improve Your Reachability By Phone
When cultural miscommunication happens, you need to be reachable. Being reachable can help you to answer questions before they become issues of miscommunication.
The question is: Are you always reachable to your international clients? Read more
Internationalize Your Website 3 - Show The World Your Location
February 19, 2008 by cindy
Last Updated 17 August 2008
Decent cross cultural communication depends on breaking down the natural barriers of mistrust inherent in all inter cultural relationships.
Good cross cultural communication is built once trust has been built between the two cultures.
First Steps To Website Internationalization
One of the key elements of internationalizing your website is trust.
First you have to look at all of the different barriers to trust on your website. One very simple barrier and very big barrier to trust in cross cultural communication is an absence of stating your location.
What is the one of the first things two people do when they meet each other? They ask where they are from. This question comes up even faster when you know you are speaking to someone from another country. The question is inevitable.
Tell The world Where You Are From
Some companies don’t put their address online. Some companies do not put it up clearly. Some companies think they have their address clearly indicated online, and yet their international readers don’t find it quickly enough.
Internationalizing your website means making your website friendlier to all international visitors. You need to put up your address and then need to find it when it suits them.
First let’s look at what not to do. Read more
Localization Is A Door To Innovation
February 18, 2008 by cindy
I am always amazed at stories of product innovations when companies develop their international markets. These stories are inspiring. And when they are stories in countries I’m not familiar with they often completely take me off guard.
In his book “Redefining Global Strategy”, Copyright 2007, from Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, Pankaj Ghemawat, gives a few examples of how everyday products were changed to adapt to local market demands in India:
- Detergent bars for people to wash their clothes by hand.
- Toothpaste made to be used with fingers instead of toothbrushes
- A bar of soap with one side coated in plastic so it would take longer to wear down
- A special shampoo and hair oil product
Hearing about such stories gives us all valuable insights into the cultural differences in our foreign markets. It makes us realize that other cultures have basic needs and desires different to our own. Other people live very differently than we do.
How can we use the inspiration from these stories in our own business? Read more
Mind Mapping Makes Life Easier
February 17, 2008 by cindy
Today’s Information Is Quicker To Grasp, Analyze And Process.
One time or another we are all faced with dealing too much information. We need to gather, catalogue and make sense such a pile of information we doubt we will ever find the time to do it.
The number of information sources is increasingly abundant. There are magazines, books, web sites, abstracts, multimedia sources and probably one or more I forgot to mention.
The diversity in types of media has increased too. We used to have paper on which books and magazines were printed. Now we also have CD’s, DVD’s, video tapes, internet and computer files.
How is it humanly possible to stay up-to-date with all of the information we need to assimilate? It has become increasingly difficult to organize all this information in a manner that makes sense. And it is nearly impossible
to retrieve all this information easily.
Mind Mapping
Mind mapping is one way to handle this information overload. Especially digital mind mapping. Read more
Non-Verbal Differences North American Women Need To Be Aware Of In European Negotiations
February 16, 2008 by cindy
International sales negotiations need to be prepared. Cross cultural communication is mined with potential blunders. And if you are a woman, you need to pay attention to other details as well.
Here are a few more tips specifically for North American women in sales negotiations with Europeans: Read more
Internet Strategies For French PME
February 15, 2008 by cindy
Organic SEO To Give French Companies With An English Language Website The Visibility In American Markets To Compete With Anyone
As a French company targeting international markets you probably have a website in English.
Once you have had your business website up for a few months, you will be able to evaluate your results.
What can you do if you are not getting the prospects and leads you want from your website? How can a small French business gain any visibility in the huge American market? Do what the North American companies are doing.
Implement the right Search Engine Optimization campaign to get targeted visitors to your website. Read more
