Plan Your Foreign Language Content

Culture customized content builds stronger connections in your international markets.

But, what do you do when you want to use culture customized content for stronger international presence, and…

…your international development budget is small?
…your company wants to be cautious?

How do you reconcile this with everything you think you need:

• A full foreign language website
• Complete selection of foreign language marketing materials
• An international sales force

Well, instead of looking at how your current business communicates with your domestic market…

How about starting at the other end?

Let’s look at what happens when you start with your culture customized content.

Plan The Content You Need To Translate

When you plan the content you need to translate, you usually realize that you will need to update your content within a relatively short period of time.

Why is this?

Simply because…

When you first start to communicate with a foreign market, you do not know it well enough to write your most effective communication.

Even if you hire outside companies to tell you what your message should be, you will only really find out what your market needs once you start direct communication yourself.

Now, if you know you will need to change your communication in a short period of time, how do you start?

One Product In One Language

It is standard practice in international business development to start off with one product to one country. This is the easiest way for companies to learn how to adapt to new markets specifically and international business in general.

This also makes it a lot easier for you to plan:

• The content you need to translate
• Time lines and guidelines for future strategy
• Future actions to extend your reach
• Other key parameters you need

Plan For Your Future Content

Your first foreign language content will probably be based on some of your existing content.

You will want to use this to develop culture customized content. This culture customized content creates stronger connections in your new foreign markets. And…

Because you need to have your own market feedback from your new target country, you will need to modify your first translations.

Many companies do not plan for this change in content. After all the translations were an investment, and they want a return on it before sinking more money into translations.

Some companies will change their international message later on. If they realize their message is not effective.

Many larger companies simply let their international sales team pick up the extra responsibility of correcting the “wrong” messages in their written communication.

This mistake is very common in large American companies, eager to keep control on their brand while selling abroad.

There is a very simple solution to getting your message right for your international markets:

• Start small.
• Plan for change.
• Stimulate feedback to learn more about YOUR foreign markets
• Adapt your message to the culture you are communicating with

Planning for your future content right from the start will both save you extra translation costs and give you a foreign sales message with a bang.

Evaluate The Best Marketing Channels

Imagine you know:

• Precisely what you want to communicate now,
• What information you want to get back from your foreign markets,
• And what you want to communicate later?

Well then…

Now you can determine the right international marketing channel to use to communicate this content.

Of course, you will also need to get feedback from your target markets to verify the marketing channels they want you to use to communicate with them.

This means adding a few more criteria for you to get feedback on.

When you get

• The right message,
• Sent to your foreign markets on the right marketing channel,

…you have the base of a good international marketing strategy.

Choose The Communication Platforms You Need

Now you know:

• What you want to communicate.
• How you want to communicate your message.

Your communication platform needs are usually very easy to identify now.

In addition, the content planning you did earlier will tell you what you need to plan for in the future.

Added Bonus

And one of the other questions most companies struggle with:

• Which communication platform should you use for your foreign language content?

• Your domestic website with country-specific sub categories or sub domains
• An international website
• Localized websites

Well, you now have something to go on to answer this question.  Of course, there are other criteria to look at, but this gives you the criteria covering your foreign content needs.

Read the whole story

More On Culture Customized Content

Once your initial translations bring in some feedback and you have enough country-specific business intelligence, you will want to create a message adapted to your specific foreign market.

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development?Find out here.

Rate this:

3.2

Why Selling To Everyone Is Too Expensive

If this is your first expansion into an international market, you know you need an effective international marketing and communication strategy.

But there are often a few stumbling blocks you need to get past before you can find the right international business development strategy for your business.

• Small companies often assume that one website with one message will sell to different markets in different countries.
• Larger companies are often confused about whether they need foreign websites, localized websites, regional websites or even one international website.

You see, internet as an international platform can be misleading.

To respond to both of these questions, it is best to only consider the web as a communication platform.

And then take a step backwards and ask yourself why you need the communication platform…

…To sell your products and services.

And where does the confusion come in?

• Internet is an international communication platform, and not a sales strategy.

First Learn To Sell

Selling to international markets means you have to learn how to sell to them.

International markets are not big groups of people.  They are individuals.  And these individuals in foreign countries, will be different to the people who buy your products in your own country.

The thing is, you first need to learn how to sell to your new customers.  And you cannot do this if you try to sell to everyone in all of your foreign markets at the same time.

You have to learn how to sell one country at a time.

Yes, there is a learning curve…and you have to go through it.

This is how you will learn to sell to each of the countries you are targeting, one country at a time.

It is often similar to how you first had to learn how to sell to your domestic markets.

Craft The Right Message

Each culture responds to your message in a different way.  Ideally you have a strong marketing message for your domestic market.  This message works best in your domestic market.

For your foreign markets things are different…

Unfortunately there is a very high chance you will need to tweak your domestic message, or even change it radically, to get optimum results in the foreign cultures you sell to.

If you want to get more bucks out of your communication you need to adapt your communication to the cultural differences in each country you sell to.

Put out the the proper message for each different country you sell to.

…You might even need to target specific cultures in within each country.

Take Your Message Abroad

It is not only a question of finding the right message:

• For each of your foreign markets
• For each country or culture

You also need to take your message abroad.

This is where the rubber hits the road.

Will you be able to afford to put your message out to everyone in your target country?

This is where businesses can spend their money unwisely.  It can be difficult to determine how or where to give your message visibility in a foreign country that you do not understand.

Yes, internet can help you get your message abroad…

…but you need to think very carefully through this.

• Does your business rely heavily on offline communication?
• Can you leverage culture customized content on the web?  If so, how can you bring this online communication to life in your foreign markets?

Effective Messages = Targeted Messages

The questions above can seem daunting.

There is help…

Remember, when messages are not effective it is primarily because they are not targeted.  Culturally targeting your communication does part of your job.

The more targeted your messages are, the more effective they will be.  This is why it is critical to plan for culture customization — targeting — of all of your communication right from the start.

But visibility is also important and is also a key factor in effective communication.

This is where an integrated marketing strategy can help you.

Targeted online communication is easy to use in an effective integrated marketing strategy.  Integrated or multichannel marketing, puts your targeted messages in front of your foreign markets.

Culturally targeted communication makes sense in a foreign country based integrated marketing strategy.

Only large multinational companies, with extra large budgets, can afford to carry out an effective integrated marketing strategy without culturally targeted communication.

An integrated marketing strategy does not have to be huge.  For example, it can simply be comprised of:

• A website with regular communication
• A short monthly newsletter
• Weekly email marketing
• …and ads in relevant support

…All culturally customized to the market in one country gives you an effective communication tool.

Define Your International Business Development Strategy

If you try to sell to everyone with the same message it will:

• Be expensive to get in front of your foreign markets

AND your message has no chance of being good in any of your markets.

Culture customized communication + Consistent web content + Integrated Marketing =

Easy international business development leveraging online marketing

Now many mid-sized companies want to target 4-5 or even a dozen countries all at once.

This is where things get confusing.  Website localization and creating templates usually get placed on the to do list.  And confusion about where to start comes running back.

If this is the case, it may be a good idea to start off with one international website for one region. This give you the time to:

• Work on crafting your message, preferably in an International English, and using website templates.
• Get foreign market feedback to begin crafting messages for one specific country at a time.

Read The Whole Story

How To Run Your International Sales Strategy

Guide 7 - Run With Your International Sales Strategy • How do you sell to your foreign market once you who you are selling to? Read more about how to run your international sales strategy

Rate this:

3.2

International Business Through Culture Customized Content

There are several reasons why culture customized content is worth the time, money and effort to create.

Here are some of the reasons why culture customized content is a good international business tool:

Speak To The Right People

If you do not adapt your communication to your foreign market, you may not be reaching the people you want to reach.

You need to communicate with your foreign clients.  In cross-cultural sales it is easy to miss your target unless you adapt your communication so your foreign clients hear you.

Who are you speaking to?

Open Dialog the Right Way

If you are not communicating on the same level as your foreign audience, who are you communicating with?

When you begin to target international markets, it is important to open your communication to your international prospects.  Start with culture customized content and you will find the right way to open a dialog with your foreign markets.

How real is your dialog?

Get Through With The Right Content

If you are not targeting your communication to your foreign market, are they picking up your message?

Culture customized content will help you get your message through to your international prospects and clients.

Is your content the right way to communicate with your foreign market?

Keep The Conversation Going

If you do not adapt your communication to your foreign market, how can you expect to create a real conversation with them?

Get your culture customized content right and you will have the basis for a good conversation with your foreign markets.

How effective is your conversation?

Market Internationally

If you are not communicating with your foreign market, what are you doing?

International business development requires international marketing.  International markets gets you in touch with your international prospects.

Is your marketing really international marketing?

Culture Customized Content As A Tool

Most businesses think of foreign content as an expense.

But if you think of culture customized content as a communication tool, you will use your content creation as an international marketing strategy and get more mileage out of it.

Culture customized content gets your marketing through faster.  It stimulates more foreign feedback.  And this helps you to adjust and improve your sales and marketing for faster success.

Read The Whole Story

More On Culturally Customized Content

• What is the secret to effective international business development? Find out here.

Rate this:

3.2

How To Connect With Your International Clients

Are you ready to create stronger relationships with your international audiences? Then maybe you are experiencing a common problem.

When small companies set out to create stronger relationships within their foreign markets they feel confronted with two conflicting challenges:

* One of the challenges is how to keep foreign content creation manageable and affordable.
* The other challenge is to create a multichannel marketing to leverage more.

There is no easy answer to this.

You Need Communication

You will always need to initiate contact with your foreign prospects if you want to develop these markets.

You cannot sit back, do nothing and hope foreign clients find your products. If you want to make sales in different cultures you need to communicate with these cultures.

* The better you connect with a specific foreign culture the deeper relationships you create.
* The more you understand your foreign markets, the better your offer will be for that particular culture.
* The more relevant your international offer, the more international sales you will make.

So, how can you get the most value out of your foreign language content?

You Need The Right Communication

First, you must carefully select the ways you touch and make contact with your foreign markets.

Is this the content you need to connect with this particular foreign market?

It is not always easy to find the right communication format for each of the countries you are selling to.

You Need Telephone Marketing

In todays world, you need to get the most out of internet based communication. But before looking into web marketing, remember :

• Do not forget telephone marketing!

Telephone marketing is not expensive today. There is no excuse not to include some telephone marketing in your international marketing strategy. Telephone marketing is the ideal way to keep your finger on the live wire of how your international marketing needs to be focused.

The most valuable information you will get from your international markets will probably come from your telephone contacts.

Telephone marketing does not need to take up much of your time.

• One phone call every couple of days, consistently over time can move your business into an international business.
• If you have a slow month where you are able to be on the phone for an hour every day, this time can put your international business development on the right track.

What is important is to keep a regularly in touch with your foreign markets over the phone.

Start with using the phone for your international market research. This will get you in the habit of grabbing for the phone.

Continue to grab for the phone as often as you can throughout all of your international marketing.

You Need Value Communication

Your international communication is easy to deliver over the web. But you still need to create targeted communication.

Creating communication targeted to a specific culture requires a little effort. This is complicated by the fact that when you first start, you will not know how you need to target your communication.

If you are making the effort to create targeted communication and want to learn more about your international markets, it makes good sense to use the best web marketing tools to help you.

• Choose your communication strategically.
• Use your communication strategically within a multichannel strategy
• Use web statistics to help you monitor results and give you the information you need to adapt your aim to improve your communication.

This is how you will learn to create valuable communication for each of your international markets

You Need To Get More Out Of Your Communication

If you are just beginning to develop your international markets, you will need to test which communication methods work best in your foreign markets. Different cultures respond differently.

• Do not make any assumptions.
• Take things one step at a time.
• Test different communication formats on a small scale.
• Adjust and adapt your international communication to your foreign markets.

Connecting with foreign markets through targeted foreign content is information marketing. One of the fundamental principals of information marketing is to re-purpose your content.

You can easily use the basics of re-purposing your foreign language content to leverage your investment and test different communication formats.

Example With A Culture Customized 2 Page Newsletter

For example, one of the easiest ways is to start with creating a short 2 page newsletter, with 4 short articles, targeted to one country.

• The 4 short articles can easily be re-purposed into 4 emails, 4 blog posts and 4 articles on your website under a country sub domain.
• The 2 page newsletter can easily be printed on one piece of paper and mailed or handed out at an event.
• You can include a different call to action on each communication format, and track results. For example, surveys, games or special report download.
• You can include links to your other marketing activities to integrate your international prospects into a wider sphere if this is appropriate, a general product information event for example.

Of course you should aim to write your culture customized content in the appropriate foreign language.

But do not let this stop or delay your international marketing for months.

The feedback you can get is often worth it and delays do not bring you anything of value.

If most of your foreign prospects usually speak English well enough to read in English, start your newsletter in English. Be proactive in cultivating feedback.  Begin the process of learning about your foreign markets.  Then you will know how to create a foreign language newsletter much better when you are ready to do it.

Your Other Options

The benefits of writing a monthly newsletter targeted to one country audience are important in cross-cultural communication:

• A monthly newsletter provides consistency, essential in building trust across cultures.

It also provides a good multichannel marketing element.

As you can see from the example above:

• A little thought and strategy into your foreign content creation can give you real international marketing tools.
• A little monitoring and analysis helps you to find the right communication for your markets.

A culture customized 2 page newsletter is not the only option for beginners. A country targeted blog is also a good starting point for some businesses.

How you integrate your first culture customized communication tool into your international marketing strategy is more important than your first choice. Where you start is simply your starting point.

Yes, it is better to identify your best communication tool right from the start, but not if this means you delay starting your communication for months or never get started.

Remember: your first priority is to stimulate foreign market feedback so you can learn more about your market and adapt your communication for more effective results.

The right communication will connect you with your international clients.

Rate this:

3.2

Guide 5 - Connect With Your International Markets

Last updated 16 October 2008

In This Core Business Guide 5

Step 1 - Start With The Basics

• How To Connect With Your International Clients
• Plan Your Foreign Language Content
• 3 Types Of International Communication

Step 2 - Build Cross Cultural Communication Skills

• Business Guide - Cross Cultural Communication

Step 3 - Say It Right

• Business Guide - Culture Customized Content

Step 4 - Communicate Clearly For Everyone

• Business Guide - International English

Step 5 - Create A Real Conversation

• Business Guide - Building Trust With International Clients

Step 6 - Use Appropriate Marketing

• Business Guide - Multicultural Marketing

Step 7 - Improve Your Communication

• Business Guide - Cultural Web Tools

Bonus For Action Guide Subscribers
More From Cindy
Next Step
Need Help?

Start With The Basics

Cross-Cultural Communication Basics

How can you connect with your international prospects and clients?
What can you do to open up foreign markets?

How To Connect With Your International Clients • Are you just starting to develop your business abroad? • Are you worried about your budget? • Would you like an easy option to start connecting with foreign markets?

Plan Your Foreign Language Content • Do you think you will need a lot of translations? • How can you plan your foreign language content to save you time and money…and give you a better sales message?

The 3 Types Of International Communication For International Business Success Online • Do you want to develop your international business primarily through your website? • Do you know the different types of international communication? • Do you want to use the right communication for your international success? Learn when you need to use international English, multicultural communication and cross-cultural communication for more international sales

Build Cross Cultural Communication Skills

Build Cross Cultural Communication Skills

Cross cultural communication is where the rubber hits the road. This is where delays happen and miscommunication stops sales. And yet cross cultural communication skills come through practice. As you begin to interact with your foreign markets use each experience as a learning tool. Give all cross cultural exchanges your full attention and be open to new cultures.

Cross Cultural Communication • Would you like to know how you can improve your international communication? • Do you know how to avoid most cross cultural miscommunication?

Say It Right

Communicate Through Culturally Customized Content

After internationalizing your website and with a minimum of market research under your belt you will feel ready to start communicating directly with your foreign prospects, on their own territory. Learn more about this and customize your content in the:

Culture Customized Content • What is the secret to effective international business development? Find out here.

Communicate Clearly For Everyone

Use International English

What is International English?  Why should businesses committed to international development consider using International English when creating their web content?  These are questions you should consider when creating an international website.

International English • What is international English and what can it do your for business? • When can international English content save you money? • When can international English content get your more international clients? Find out here.

Create A Real Conversation

Build Trust With These Tools

Trust is vital in all business relationships. In international business you can lose trust without even knowing why.

Fortunately, there are two very simple tactics to creating trust in cross-cultural communication. And you also have a variety of communication tools you can use to build trust.

Building Trust International Clients • How do you build trust with your international clients • What can you do today to improve your communication with foreign clients? • Are you interested in building more trust with your international clients? Read this to learn how to build trust and find out what tools you can use

Use Appropriate Marketing

Use Multicultural Marketing

Use multicultural marketing to make your international internet marketing powerful. International internet marketing often lacks good multicultural marketing practices. And yet it can make all the difference in boosting your website to become a real international sales system. Learn more about Multicultural Marketing with the:

Multicultural Marketing • Do you want more powerful international marketing? Be sure to look at this.

Improve Your Communication

Advanced Cross Cultural Web Marketing

If you have already connected with your international markets, have a look at these cross-cultural web marketing tools.

Cultural Web Tools • Would you like to tweak your communication to fit better with a foreign culture? Read these Cultural Web Tools for inspiration

Bonus For Action Guide Subscribers

Get International Clients Action Guide readers get free special bonuses each month with their weekly email subscription.

More From Cindy

Interested in reading more on my personal opinions and experiences on how to connect with international markets?

CindyKing.biz Communication For International Sales

Next Step

Analyze Your International Viability • Do you want to know your chances of success? • Do you want to know how to improve your chances of international success? Read about how to create a viability analysis to keep your international business on track for success.

Need Help?

Need instructions?

• Instructions on how to use Your International Sales Road Map

Need to see where this fits in?

• A complete list of current Core Business Guides & Sub Guides for Your International Sales Road Map.

Still confused? Review your answers in the first Core Business Guide

• Core Business Guide 1 - Discover Your International Business

Simply click on one of the 8 different color coded boxes immediately below to access other core business guides.

Rate this:

3.2

Culture Customized Content

Last updated 16 October 2008

In This Business Guide:

You need to communicate to your international prospects and clients in a way they understand and respond to. You need to customize your content to their culture.

• Your content
• Your information
• Your communication
• And any of your sales and marketing materials

These will all communicate with your international prospects if it is culturally customized and adapted to communicate with them using your language and their words.

You should start to customize you key content as soon as you have identified your international audience. Culture customized content means content written for one specific audience.

If you are just starting to market to your foreign audience, you will probably need to review the first set of customized content. Don’t let this stop you. Use this to improve your customized content progressively.

The more customized your content is for your target market the better results you will get.

Communicating directly with your foreign prospects gives you more valuable feedback and market knowledge.

Culture Customized Content

Here are some articles to help you customize your content and your communication for your international leads and clients.

The 3 Types Of International Communication For International Business Success Online • Do you want to develop your international business primarily through your website? • Do you know the different types of international communication? • Do you want to use the right communication for your international success? Learn when you need to use international English, multicultural communication and cross-cultural communication for more international sales

International Business Through Culture Customized Content

How To Connect With Your International Clients

Using Foreign Language E-Communication Tools

Culturally Customized Communication To Transition To A Global Market Internet Business

How To Avoid Bad Communication Mistakes In Foreign Languages And Get More International Clients Quickly

How A Third Culture Kid’s Natural Cross Cultural Vision Can Power Your International Business Expansion

Cross Cultural Communication Tools

Here are some Cross Cultural Communication Tools to distribute your Culture Customized Content:

Case Studies

Best Small Business Tool For Building Trust In International Clients

Easy Small Business Strategy Strengthens International Client Relationships

Newsletters

Newsletters For International Business Development

Internationalized Website