Week 39 In Review

Want to know what else I have been up to this week?

Here is a list of the thoughts, ideas, requests and articles I published this past week.

On Get International Clients

As usual, the Sunday Blog Carnival starts off this week:

• Get International Clients Sunday Blog Carnival #20

Guide 1 - Discover Your International Business

• Why Should You Want International Clients?

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Road Map

• Plan Your Foreign Language Content
• Finding Foreign Search Engines

Guide 3 - Design Your International Visibility

• How Can I Get Information On My Foreign Markets?

Guide 7 - Run Your International Sales Strategy

• How Can I Prepare For My First Cross-Cultural Negotiation?

On Cindy King .biz

This is where I share more of my personal opinions, experiences and frustrations… on anything cross-cultural and on international business.

Uniquely Cindy

The weekend’s links to marketing articles and book review:

• International Marketer Review Blog Carnival #18
• Euro-English

Cross-Cultural Communication

• When Do You Need Translations

International Business Development

• Aligning Your Questions To Build Your International Business
• Plans With Adaptability, Flexibility And Agility

International Content Creation

• What Is International English?

International Web Marketing

• The Secret Way To Enter International Marketing

… and what have you been up to this week?

Let me know if you have come across anything interesting on the vaste subject of international business development on the web.

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2.5

How Fast Can You Internationalize A Website

Quick answers to…

Today’s question is:

How fast can you internationalize a website?

First, the short answer: It depends on two things:

• The extent to which you want to and can internationalize your website.
• How culturally specific your website is today.

Now, the long answer.

Let’s clarify a key point.

• What is an internationalized website?

On Get International Clients, I refer to two different types of websites:

• An International Website
• An Internationalized Website

Have a look at those links if you do not understand the difference.

Time To Go International

So, how fast can adapt your website for an international audience?

For an Internationalized Website, using your existing website, there are two options:

1 - A Few Days

It can take as little as a couple of days to have a small website “edited” to stop pushing away international visitors.

This involves:

• Smoothing over any strong culture-specific areas, and only when there are a few of them
• Reviewing content for clarity and consistency - simplifying the experience for everyone, domestic and international audiences alike

2 - A Few Weeks

It can take several weeks to do a comparative analysis between your domestic market and one primary foreign culture.

This involves:

• All of the steps above
• Identifying the appropriate cultural web tools and touches you can make
• Testing results on both your domestic website and your foreign markets
• Ongoing testing and tracking process as you develop your new markets

For an International Website -

Several Weeks To Several Months

It can take several weeks, and much longer, to create an International Website.

This involves:

• Creating a website, in some cases, from scratch

And, of course, the time you need depends on the:

• Complexity of the website you need
• Level of international business intelligence you have
• Scope of your project
• Place you start

However, given that most companies use their International Websites to develop the website templates they will use for planned Localized Websites, you also need to plan for additional strategy on how to create what will be your first international template.  This involves extra coordination between all of the team involved.

Read More On Website Internationalization

Website Internationalization Guide • How easy is it to set up an international website?Read about your international communication platform options.

More To Plan Your International Business Development

Guide 2 - Plan Your International Sales Road Map

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3.2

Website Localization

Last updated14 September 2008

You can start your international business development with an International Website.

You can also start with a localized website.

And you can transition from an International Website, targeting several or all countries, to a Localized Website, or several Localized Websites, targeting one specific country at a time.

To create a localized website you will need to know about each of the specific international markets for each of your localized websites.

A localized website brings you closer to your foreign clients. It makes it easier for you to culturally target your communication to different foreign markets.

• How many languages should you translate your website into? • What are the current trends? • Why should you think about translating your website? • Why do you need to translate your website? Read more about why you should plan on translating your website into several languages.

• Will a localized website get you more international clients? • How does a localized website help your international business? • Is it worth investing in a localized website? • When should you invest in a localized website Read how a localized website can get you more international business.

• What are the extra benefits of a localized website? • What can you do if you want to find out how to innovate your products? • How can a localized website help you to identify opportunities? Read how a localized website brings you closer to your international clients.

• How does a localized website fit into your international business development plan? • Is a localized website a good transition to international business? • What is a key element to successful international business? Read how website localization can be part of your international plan.

• So how do you go about creating a localized website? • What are the key steps to creating a localized website? Read about your options here.

Website Internationalization

Still hesitating about whether Website Localization is right for you? Read more on Website Internationalization.

Website Internationalization

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Read more on why you should submit your website to foreign search engines and how to go about doing it yourself.

Foreign Search Engine Submissions

Don’t Miss The Whole Story

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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.

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3.2

Video Marketing 101

There are several reasons why businesses should consider video marketing to reach their international markets.

Video marketing is fast becoming a necessity throughout the online business world. The trend is not going to stop.

The main reason is because video marketing, when well done, pulls better responses. So more and more businesses are using video marketing to promote their services.

Videos are also being used on websites much more productively than in the past. They are cheaper to produce, faster to make, and easier to put online.

It is used heavily for online B2C marketing. It is also used effectively in online B2B online lead generation.

The best practices for online marketing and online business in domestic markets can almost always be adapted to international markets.

To get good results internationally you do need to integrate your best internet marketing practice with good cross cultural communication practices.

Video marketing is a powerful credibility building tool. It can be used to:

• create proof
• desire for your product
• familiarity with your company and products
• reinforce credibility

Videos can be a very powerful tool in your cross cultural marketing. Video marketing can be a very important part of your international internet marketing plan.

In order to use video marketing in your international business development, you need to get good at both:

• video marketing and cross cultural communication.

Remember, all of the standard good practices in cross cultural communication and international marketing still apply here as well.
We will look into how you can use good cross cultural marketing in your video marketing.

First let’s run through the basics of video marketing.

When Do You Need Video Marketing?

Where Is Video Marketing Effective?

Insights Into Cost Effective Video Marketing For International Markets

Don’t Miss The Whole Story

More From Cindy

Are you interested in taking a course on how to create videos for web marketing?

Read my review of Web Video University here on my personal blog: International Web Video Marketing

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3.2

How To Set Up Your Communication Platform

If you are just beginning to define your international marketing plan, one of your first decisions will be how you set up your international communication platform.

Let’s review the different ways you can set up your international website.

Internationalize Your Current Website

This can be an easy way out if you are beginning to sell your products abroad. It simply involves editing your website to become as neutral as possible, and stimulating more international interaction.

Marketing Phase: It can work for a company in the Export Marketing phase.

When not to use: if your content is too culturally specific for your current market needs.

One Separate International Website

This is often a good idea if you know your company will move towards several country specific websites. You use one url for all of your international clients. Some companies keep a separate url for their original domestic market.

• www.internationalcompany.com
• www.mothercompany.com

Marketing Phase: Again this is a good solution for Export Marketing. It is also a good base to start with when moving towards a Global Website.

When not to use: There is no real reason not to use an International Website. You do not need one if you are only going to market to one or two specific foreign countries and have no plans to expand further.

Your Main Website With Sub Directories

This option is very easy to set up. People usually use this option if they do not have basic webmaster skills to set up Sub Domains.

• www.company.com/country

Marketing Phase: This is an option for all marketing phases. I think it is more a question of the size of your foreign markets. This is an option used by smaller endeavors.

When not to use: If you have lots of foreign content, it is probably better to use Sub Domains instead.

Your Main Website With Sub Domains

This is an option if you do not know how fast your international business will grow in specific countries. This option gives you the flexibility to have foreign content without a lot of extra website management.

You will probably need your webmaster to set this up. But it is very easy to do. It is also easy to manage all of the foreign content.

• www.country.company.com

Marketing Phase: This is an option for all marketing phases. If you are in the Export Marketing or International Marketing phase, you can let your international business grow using this platform before moving to Localized Websites.

When not to use: If you know you need the extra marketing power of Localized Websites and do not want to lose time migrating one to the other. It might not be the ideal platform for Global Marketing.

The Main Factors To Help You Find Your Ideal Solution

As you can see from your choices above, there are several factors that will come into your decision process.

Easy To Manage

Most mid-sized companies think they need to start off with Localized Websites. This was the norm a few years ago. Recent improvements in international search engine results make Sub Domains a viable option. Sub Domains are much easier to manage. You will not need any extra expertise once the Sub Domains are set up.

Designed For Expansion

The most important thing you need to consider is programming future expansion.

Plan to implement the use of templates early on. Have a look now at what will cause you problems when you want to use templates later.

Designing your current website needs for future expansion will save you time and money when you are ready to move on to more country specific marketing.

Cost

Companies want to control their investment. This is hard to do when web marketing continually changes and improves. If you are just starting to expand internationally you should plan on adapting your website as your international markets expand.

Today Localized Websites with country specific urls are still considered to be more powerful marketing tools in some countries and in some industries. This trend might be different next year, or the year after. Localized Websites require some additional website management and costs

Having one main website with a Sub Domain for each country is a cost effective option today. It might not give you the same marketing clout in some foreign countries as a Localized Website.

Some companies promote country specific urls and then re-direct the link back to the appropriate Sub Domain on their main website.

Foreign Language Translations

Many companies get stuck with regards to foreign content. If you are just starting to develop internationally here are some basics to get you quickly unstuck.

• All sales are easier to make if you make them in the clients native language.
• Human translations are the only ones you should consider to use for any sales materials.
• Website templates are very cost effective for website translations.
• You don’t need to translate everything all at once - see reference to templates just above.

Your foreign clients might still buy from you if you market to them in your own language. If so this will give you valuable market information weeks and months before your translations are ready. This market information will probably also give you better information on what you need to translate and how to sell to this foreign market.

Remember, if you start off selling to foreign markets without translations, plan on using them as soon as your international market have proven its viability.

Another important point to remember, Localized Websites involve translating all of your business online: content, website, and sales strategies. This requires intimate market knowledge for each country you are selling to.

Avoid Analysis Paralysis

This decision might be a difficult one to evaluate. You may think your international success depends on how you set up your international websites.

This is not true. Your international success depends on how much you interact with your foreign markets.

The sooner you start connecting with your international markets, the faster you will learn how to adapt your offer to different cultures and expand your international business.

The communication tools you use to connect with your international audience and how you stimulate feedback is even more important.

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Design Your International Web Visibility

Last updated 1 September 2008

Today successful international business development often relies heavily on good web marketing practices.

Good web marketing can challenge even the most committed online businesses.

With international business development not only do you need excellent web marketing practices, but you also need to tweak your web marketing for international audiences.

Before you feel like giving up before you get started, just imagine the potential growth for your whole business if you strive towards the best web marketing you are able to practice.

This Business Guide tells you how to give your website international visibility.

How To Organize Your International Communication On Your Website • What choices do you have to organize your international content? • How do you need to set up your website? • What is the best way for you to put up content targeted to different countries?

International Internet Marketing & Choice of Keywords • How should you use key words? • How do you choose your international key words? • Is your choice of key words important?

International Internet Marketing & Keyword Placement • Where do you need to put your keywords? • How does your keyword placement effects your international results? • Do you know where to put your keywords for best results?

4 Ideas To Get Your Website Visible In A Foreign Country • Do you want your international prospects to see you website? • Do you know how to make your website easy to find in different countries? • Do you get many international visitors from search engine results?

Knowing How Your Foreign Prospects Use Their Search Engines Can Get You More International Clients • Do you know how your foreign prospects use their search engines? • Do your international visitors find you the same way as your domestic visitors? • Do you understand where your international visitors come from?

Easy International Leads With Foreign Search Engine Submissions • How many international leads come through your website? • Would you like to start getting more international visitors over night? • Did you know that Google is not the only search engine, and in some countries it does not get you the best results?

How Top Submit Your Website To The Leading Russian Search Engines - Yandex And Rambler • Would you like your Russian prospects to find you faster on their own search engines? • Did you know you should submit your website to the Russian search engines as well? • Would you like to use a quick guerrilla marketing technique to get on the Russian search engines?

Get Your Website Into China Through Baidu • Is your website listed on Chinese search engines? • Would you like more Chinese visitors to your website? Would you like a fast and simple way to make your website findable for your Chinese prospects?

How To Submit Your Website To German Search Engines For More International Business • Would you like to have more German visitors to your website? • Did you know there are a few different search engines in German? • Would you like to see how you can quickly you can get visiblility for your website in Germany?

Read The Whole Story

Further Reading

• What information do you need to know before starting your international business expansion? How can you get the information you need? Read about how international market research will help you plan your international visibility.

• How easy is it to set up an international website? Read about your international communication platform options.

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3.2

Guide 4 - Build Your International Marketing Strategy

Last updated 14 August 2008

Your international business success depends on finding and using the right international marketing mix both for your business and your international clients.

An effective international marketing strategy is based on several different marketing strategies including:

• Traditional international marketing - for the core strategy
• Cross-cultural marketing - to get the right communication
• Strategic marketing - to get your message right
• International web marketing - for easy international business development
• Lead generation marketing - to leverage your web marketing and bring in clients
• Multichannel marketing - to create intimacy with the right marketing mix

This guide will review all of the different marketing strategies for you to create an effective international marketing strategy.

Review General Plan

Plan Cultural Marketing

Internet marketing makes international business development possible for everyone. But you need to use internet marketing strategically in order to develop your international business. Especially if you are relying solely or heavily on internet marketing without any offline marketing in your foreign markets.

Choice Of Internet Marketing Methods • How much choice do you have in marketing methods? • Is your choice of marketing methods important in international business development? • What web marketing methods should you choose for international business development?

Use A Multicultural Internet Marketing Strategy To Develop Your International Business • How does a multicultural marketing strategy help you develop your international busienss? • Why should you use multicultural marketing? • Does multicultural marketing fit into your international business strategy?

Turbo Charge Your Multicultural Internet Marketing To Get International Clients • How can you boost your international marketing? • Is there a quick fix for your international marketing? • How do you get the most out of your international marketing?

Find Your Marketing Mix

Multicultural Marketing & Cross-Cultural Marketing

• Do you know the difference between Multicultural Marketing and Cross-Cultural Marketing? • Do you know when you should use them? Find out how to get more from the right cultural marketing.

International Web Marketing

Use this guide to help you plan your international marketing plan:

• Do you know how to pull all of your different international marketing pieces together? This guide shows you how

Multichannel Marketing And The Right Marketing Mix

Creating an international lead generation or sales system through internet marketing becomes a reality with the right marketing mix. Once you have the foreign market feedback, once you develop some cross cultural communication skills you will be able to identify the marketing mix you need to get your market to respond to your offers.

• Do you know how to communicate with different countries? This guide shows you how

Develop A Marketing Plan For International Sales

International Lead Generation

With the right marketing mix you can create an online lead generation machine.

• How can your international marketing bring in sales? The answer is here.

Create Marketing To Stimulate International Connections

Build Trust With These Tools

There are a few ways to build trust. Consistency and clarity are the two main factors contributing to trust in international communication. Here is how you can build trust through consistency:

Building Trust With These 3 Changes In Your Communication Will Get International Visitors To Listen To You • 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?

Once you establish your first regular communication plan you will need communication tools: Case Studies can be used for marketing to both your domestic markets and your international markets. If you already have some case studies with your domestic clients remember to make these visible to your international readers. Of course you should aim at getting a variety of case studies with international clients. But their main value in an initial international business plan lies in their trust building capacity.

Case Studies - Best Small Business Tool For Building Trust In International Clients • Do you have a trust-building strategy in your international marketing plan? • Do you know the best trust-building tools you can use for international clients? • Did you know that this same tool is also a great trust-building tool for all of your clients?

Case Studies - Easy Small Business Strategy Strengthens International Client Relationships • Do you need to build stronger relationships with your international clients? • Would you like to kill two birds with one stone and use one trust-building and relationship-building tool for all of your clients? • Is your company already using case studies for international marketing?

Design International Web Visibility

Your international business development relies on good web marketing practices. Good web marketing can challenge some businesses. With international business development not only do you need excellent web marketing practices, but you also need to tweak your web marketing for international audiences.

This Business Guide tells you how to give your website international visibility.

• How do you know if your international clients can find you? • What do you need to do to make it easy for them to know you are there? Find out how to design your website for international visibility here.

Finished?

Next Step