internet marketing for export markets | susanne dirks | e vorsprung consulting

Susanne Dirks

sudirks@evorsprung.com

Ph. 086-2375131

Internet marketing for export markets:What’s so different and how to approach it

Introduction and background

Commercially astute

Technologically sound

Culturally

sensitive

• Commercially astute

– Several international management, consulting, and

business research, development, and setup roles in

MNC environment for last 15+ years

– Diploma, Business Innovation/Development (Distinction)

• Technologically sound

– MSc, IT (Knowledge-Based Systems)

– BSc Hons (1st Class), Information Technology

– Diploma (Distinction), Internet Marketing & Online PR

– Diploma, Web Technologies

• Culturally sensitive

– Life split 50/50 between Ireland and Germany (plus

some time in UK )

– Multinational and multicultural work environment for last

20 years

– Qualified translator (German/English)

Susanne Dirks

Agenda

• Good and bad news

• Why do I need a different Internet marketing approach abroad ?

• How can I use the Internet to increase my export sales ?

e-Vorsprung Consulting

Reality or Hype ?

The opportunity: The Internet is international…

Rest of worldSource: Comscore, Dec 2012

Challenge 1:

Language

Challenge 2:

International reach

93.70%

Example: www.irish-sme.ie

Ireland

Source: Sales data

Challenge 3:

Readiness of Irish SMEs

Audit of EI companies for:

• Website Visibility– 17 criteria across 4 categories:

Technical Tuning, Onsite SEO, Offside SEO and Social media

• Website Impact– 17 criteria across 4 categories:

Content & Translation, Customer Service Support, Clarity of Website, Trust-enhancing Features

– Plus 4 additional criteria for any companies that provided e-commerce type of transactions

Average score

Source: Data from 2013 audit for Enterprise Ireland

Agenda

Web presence abroad

means operating in a different environment

Business Environment

Technology Environment

Socio-culturalEnvironment

Legal Environment

Assessing the opportunity: “Ladies Shoes”

Ladies shoes

Ireland 320

UK 18,100

US 4,400

Germany 90

Austria 10

Source: Google Keyword planner, 27.1.2014

Monthly search volumes in Google:

Know your market

Question 1a:

Is there sufficient

demand for your

product/s in your

target market/s ?

Assessing the opportunity: “Ladies Shoes”

Ladies shoes Women shoes

Ireland 320 50

UK 18,100 2,400

US 4,400 14,800

Germany 90 110

Austria 10 10

Source: Google Keyword planner, 27.1.2014

Monthly search volumes in Google:

Know your market

Know their lingo

Question 1b:

Is there sufficient

demand for your

product/s in your

target market/s ?

Assessing the competition: “Ladies shoes”

Ireland (google.ie) Germany (google.de)Search:

(in native language)No top ads 2 ads on

Question 2: Who are you competing with in

your selected foreign target market/s ?

Re-evaluating your USP

Source: IPC Cross-Border e-Commerce report

Question 3:

What is your USP for

selling in your new

target market/s ?

The impact of a different socio-cultural

environment on e-commerce abroad

BusinessEnvironment

Legal Environment

The cultural environment directly determines the

(online) marketing approach

• Culture is …

– “a universal orientation system typical of a society, organisation or group”

– Influences the way all of its members perceive, think, value, act :

• Attention

• Interest

• Desire

• Action

“The web is not a culturally

neutral medium … a website has

to be designed for a targetted

customer segment … Local

adaptation should be based on

a complete understanding of

a customer group’s culture …”

Many users only perceive, think, and value

only in their own language…

Considerable country variances !

Question asked:

“Do you use a language other than

your own to read/watch content

on the Internet ?”

Also note:

- Level of

- Situations

for usage

... and usage of another language is not very

frequent (and not necessarily English) ...

At the most basic level, cultural localisation is

about local standards and conventions

• Important conventions for cultural web presence localisation include:

– Use of colours

– Use of formats

– Use of measurements

– Use of symbols

– Use of icons

– Use of pictures

– Use of currency

But culture goes deeper and impacts thinking

(“value”) and behaviours (“act”)

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

• Power distance

– Attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst its members

• Individualism

– Degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members

• Masculinity/femininity

– Main motivations in people, wanting to be the best (masculine) versus

liking what you do (feminine).

• Uncertainty avoidance

– Extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown

situations

• Long-term orientation

– Extent to which a society shows a long-term versus a short-term point of

view of the future

Comparison: Ireland - China

PDI = Power Distance

IDV = Individuallism

MAS = Masculinity/Femininity

UAI = Uncertainty Avoidance

LTO = Long-term Orientation

Comparison: Ireland - Spain

PDI = Power Distance

IDV = Individuallism

MAS = Masculinity/Femininity

UAI = Uncertainty Avoidance

LTO = Long-term Orientation

Culture’s influence on purchase value

and speed of decision

Business, France Business, Japan

The impact of different technology usage on

e-commerce abroad

Business Environment

Legal Environment

Successful web presence abroad requires an

understanding of technology usage patterns

• Technology infrastructure

• Preferred search engines

• Approach to search

• Preferred websites / blogs

• Preferred social media platforms/channels

• Preferred online directories

• Preferred price comparison engines

• Online usage patterns

Popular websites / search engines

Example:

Different preferred retail sites

5 top social networking sites in Russia

The impact of different legal and/or regulatory

requirements on e-commerce abroad

BusinessEnvironment

Legal Environment

Legal considerations for web presence abroad

• Online legal aspects different from country to country include areas such as:

– Privacy and data protection legislation– Advertising legislation– Brand legislation– Consumer legislation– Copyright– Terms and conditions– Liability– Domain names– Website content

Example: Naming of the “Buy”

button in Germany

• Only FOUR legally

compliant names:

• Examples of legally

non-compliant names:

Agenda

4 key action areas for a successful web

presence abroad

• Content

• Culture

• Language

• Channnels

• Resources

• Processes

• Domain strategy

• Search Engine Marketing

• Social Media

• Target market research

• Online Marketing Strategy ...getting

ready for them

...getting them to find you

... getting them to engage with you

....getting them to

do lasting business

Step 1:

Define your online strategy for the new market

• Do target market research– Offline market

– Online market

• Review and refine your online value proposition for your target market– Demand

– Feasibility

– Brand

– Clear competitive differentiation• Online content and design

• Online visibility

Barriers to Cross-Border e-Commerce

=> ‘Localise’ your value proposition

“Localise” your value proposition

Develop

Local USP

Kerrygold

Butter…

Natural…Healthy…

Irishbutter

…Quality butter

Develop

Local USP

“Translate” local USP

Kerrygold

Develop

Local USP

“Translate” local USP

SEOptimiselocal USP

Adwords

Local market focused SEO

meta/technical,content,links

Local directories

Local social media strategy

Aldi Sued Germany value proposition

Aldi Nord Germany value proposition

Aldi Austria value proposition

Aldi UK value proposition

Aldi France value proposition

Aldi Ireland value proposition

Step 2: Make sure your target customers can find you online

• Domain Strategy

– Domain name: TLD, spelling/meaning, legal

• Search Engine Marketing

– Search engine optimisation

• Onpage

• Offpage

– Search engine advertising

– Social media optimisation

– Other types of e-marketing

Search engine marketing for new market

Social Media Optimisation

Search Engine

Optimisation

Search Engine

Advertising

• Keywords for SEO and SEA for target market– Value proposition

– Target market language

– Used by target market online users

– Differentiating

• Off-page SEO for target market

• Social Media for target market

Keywords !!!

Good keywords are not only translated, but must

also reflect native language search patterns

Source: Google Trends on 103372013, Germany, past 12 months

Also watch:

- Language and grammar

- Different thinking patterns

• Create inbound links from reputable websites in the

target market

– Example: www.german.hostelworld.com

• Encourage local links and followers

Off-page SEO for foreign markets:

The importance of local links

Step 3:

Make sure your target market customers

buy into you online

• Appropriate and local language content

• Cultural adaptation of web presence

• Making your web presence looks local

• Legal requirements for web presence

Kerrygold content for German products page

Website translation is more than just translation

• Translation quality

• Translation scope

• Translation updates

• Style of translated text

• Formatting of translated text

• Consistency of translation

• Keyword focus on translated text

• Non-text content -> videos

• Quality assurance

• Keywordse-Vorsprung Consulting

Avoid:

- Google Translate & Co!

- Unqualified translators

- Mixed-language approaches

question:

What does

content

consist of ?

Barriers to Cross-Border e-Commerce

Prove quality and convert local visitors

“Trust me, I’m a

recognised local

expert !”Edelmann Trust Barometer

Build trust and convert local visitors

“Trust me, I’m local.

We have the same needs

…”

Edelmann Trust Barometer

Tackling uncertainty avoidance:

Customer service support in forms of FAQs

3DIssue, Germany

Keenan, France

Making your web presence look local

• German domain name and/or German ccTLC

• Providing local payment options

• Local contact options, e.g. Address/phone

number

• Local case studies

• Seals of approval by local organisations/bodies

• List of local events

• List of local websites

Germans’ preference for payment options

Preferences for payment on the Internet (averaged):

Looking local:

Meeting legal requirements and conventions

Vitalograph

Localisation for taste and seasons

Local taste

Seasons and bank holidays

Step 4:

Make sure you can do business with the your new

target market customers

• Channels

• Communication

• Resources

• Skills

• Processes

Channels, processes, resources

for selling to export markets

Source: Based on Alex Osterwalder: Business Model Canvas

Awareness

• How do you raise awareness for your company’s products and/or services ?

Evaluation

• How you do help customers evaluate your value proposition ?

Purchase

• How do you allow customers to purchase specific products and/or services?

Delivery

• How do you deliver your value proposition to your customers ?

Aftersales

• How do you provide post-purchase support ?

Retain and grow your customers:

Fresh and local content

Facebook, Kerrygold

Franchisedirekt.com:

Customer service for export markets

74.7 % say availability of after-sales support in own language influences their buying decision

Summary & Next steps

Key points:

• Need for target market focus

• Refinement and ‘localisation

of value proposition

• Localisation of website

• Localisation of Internet

marketing strategy

• Localisation != translation

• Pre- and post-localisation

activities

THANK YOU

For more info, contact:

sudirks@evorsprung.com

www.evorsprung.com

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