Are you marketing to an international audience?  Then one of your first decisions is how do you want to market to them.

• Are you going to communicate in English?
• Or in a foreign language?

Of course, traditional wisdom dictates communication in your target market’s native language.  But there are many reasons why businesses choose a stepping stone approach.  The most obvious reasons are:

• Insufficient foreign market intelligence
• Budget

And, let’s face it…

Many businesses get international sales through their English language website.  They assume they have an international business.  And they simply forget to market specifically to their international audience.

And this is a shame…

Better international marketing gets you more international sales.

And the good news is that you have a choice in how to start marketing to an international audience.

Improve Your Current Marketing

Many English language websites could increase their international sales if they tweaked their current marketing.  This is because many websites have either a strong national flavor or very narrow focus.

And this can cost you international sales… without you even knowing it.

Tweaking your website to make it less abrasive, and more appealing might be an option.

Get A Specific International Website

If you are committed to developing your international market, you should seriously consider a separate “international” website, or sub-domain.  An international website is a good starting point for country-specific websites.

How To Choose

But, how can you find the best option for your business?

First you need to figure out what is working and what is not.

If you are already getting international sales from your current website, ask yourself why.

• Is your company well known, and your notoriety is driving in international sales?
• Do your company values appeal to other cultures, despite apparent cultural differences?
• Are there apparent affinities somewhere between you and a specific culture, and what are these affinities?

These questions may be difficult to answer.  But it is worth a little investigation. As always systematic follow-up with all foreign prospects and clients can help you identify any cultural triggers.

Country-Specific Marketing

Whether you are able to identify a cultural affinity or trigger or not, you then need to evaluate whether you are losing any international sales.

As I said above, traditional wisdom says that you need to communicate in your foreign prospects native language.  This means country-specific marketing.

Country-specific marketing is a bigger investment than internationalizing your communication or creating an international website.  This means:

• Country-specific marketing
• A country-specific website
• Country-specific content

For each foreign country you are targeting.

So, can you identify a foreign country where you think you could make more international sales with country-specific marketing?

An Intelligent Choice

You need to establish a value for your current international markets, and bring in as much information as you can. This is not an easy task.  The questions above can help you.  Your particular business situation can also give you other ideas on how to estimate the value of your international markets.

There will always be elements of uncertainty.

An improved, two-sided understanding of your current international sales can help you plan your future steps.

Internationalized marketing, international marketing or country-specific marketing…  the choice comes down to your current relationship with your international markets, and how well you are currently communicating.  And to find out, you can only get the answer from your international prospects and clients.

Read more International Web Marketing articles here:
- International SEO For Quick Results
- Ways To Enter International Marketing
- How Too Many Contributions Spoil International Communications
- My Own Case Study - Small Business Flexibility In An Online World
- What Is Your Definition Of International Web Marketing
- Translation Agencies’ Narrow Vision

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

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

Cultural Web Tools • How can you connect faster with your international clients? Learn how to adapt your cultural web tools.

Empathy Connects

The power of empathizing with your clients has a direct link to your business success.  When you understand your clients you are able to sell your products directly to their needs.

How can empathy improve your sales?

Let’s look at this example:

A simple thing as adapting the vocabulary in your email subject line has a direct impact on whether your email campaign is successful.

When you have a deep understanding of your audience, you know what to write.  You are able to find the words to get your reader to open his email.  You write for your audience.

Your readers perceive empathy.  And they can also easily pick up any lack of empathy.

Empathy creates a connection.  A connection that is vital for sales.

Empathy Crosses Barriers

In international business, it is usually harder to empathize with your clients.  Cross-cultural barriers can make it difficult to understand your international clients.

When you strive to empathize with your foreign clients you end up perceiving different cultural points of view.  And the more you try to understand your foreign clients, the better you know how to sell to your international markets.

Sales and marketing professionals in first time international business development need to make a consistent conscious effort to empathize with their new clients.

Because…

• if you do not learn to understand your new international clients well,
• if you do not connect with your international clients, and
• if your communication does not cross any cultural barriers,

…you could make a fundamental error of building an international business strategy on the wrong foundation.

More From Cindy

Interested in reading more on my personal opinions and experiences with cultural communication and international sales?

CindyKing.biz on cross-cultural communication

Read the whole story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 5 Connect With Your International Markets Be sure to check out the other useful tips to connect with your international markets.

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.

The short answer is that no matter what anyone thinks, you are the only one that can find the answer that question.

Here are a few guidelines to help you:

Elimination

First eliminate the obvious restrictions on international trade.

• Lethal products have restrictions

But do not automatically exclude international sales.

• It is usually not viable to sell fresh baked bread to foreign country, but a bakery would easily sell information products to international clients

This step requires a minimum level of common sense and some basic research.

Research Possibilities

Next, research some possibilities.This is a wide sweeping exercise.

• What do you have to sell?

International sales implies international clients.  And this means that you have something to sell to them.

• What would other people in other countries be willing to buy from you?

This is a tricky question, because you may not know what expertise or products you have that interest people in other countries.

When in doubt:

• Get on the phone and ask questions
• Research
• Test your idea

Test Your Idea

The best way for you to know whether you have an international market is to carry out a small test.  Rub elbows with your foreign clients.

The type of test you run depends on your business.

Ideally you need to get direct feedback from your international clients on your products.

If this is not possible you may decide to approach professionals that import similar products and get feedback at this level.

The Actions You Take Will Give You The Answer

There are many examples where people succeed in selling products into foreign markets, and there are also examples where people fail.  This is understandably why people are cautious.

The truth is that only your actions will tell you whether you nave an international market.   As you take action there are a few variables:

• Your product
• The country you are selling to
• Your timing

And there are also many other variables within each of these.

Test your idea on a small scale, and you will learn how to manoeuvre these variables in selling to international markets, whether you start off with an excellent product match or not.

More From Cindy

Interested in reading more on my personal opinions and experiences with cultural communication and international sales?

CindyKing.biz on cross-cultural communication

Read the whole story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 1 Discover Your International Business Be sure to check out the other useful tips to discover your international business.

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.

When businesses embark on the creation of country specific websites, and culture specific content, they often need to set a budget.

And the budget for translation looms as vague and difficult to pin down.

This begins a whole series of questions…

• Can we get away with English content?
• Do we need to translate everything we have?
• What sort of translation budget do we need?

So when will you need translation?

In-Depth Market Research

In previous articles, I have shared my view that you should use free translation tools to jump into international market research.   This can help you a lot.  But sometimes you will need more accuracy.

Many companies will follow up key online market research with a human translation.

• They use the free translation tools to identify key resources.
• And then they follow up with human translations when necessary.

This depends largely on the business environment you are in.

Sales Communication

Yes, you must get all of your sales communications written by a human being.

But I have put this after market research…

Because…

You need to have sufficient international business intelligence to get your sales message right.

So you might want to look at creating sales communication in different stages.

The person most capable of writing your sales communication in a foreign language is a person who already does that in your target country.

You often need time to find this person.  It is almost like searching for the “sheep with 5 legs” as they say here in France.

Give yourself time to find the right message and the right person to translate that message.

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you get your main communication translated, remember to provide a series of well thought out Frequently Asked Questions…and their answers.

This usually provides a good return on your investment.

If you have many different languages to deal with, you can test “before FAQ” results with “after FAQ” results to establish viability for one country.

Most businesses do get good results with FAQs in foreign languages.

A Balancing Act

Planning budgets for future translation needs can be tricky.

Keep the points above in mind.

Start early to look for the right person to translate your particular communication needs.

Do not jump into translating all of your current marketing and sales communication - you will probably end up with more targeted communication needs in 6-12 months.

Carefully plan the content you need to translate.

Culture customized content builds stronger connections.

Read more on Culturally Customized Content in these articles:
- Morphing Into A Foreign Culture
- Translations, Foreign Language Content and Culturally Customized Content
- Customize Your Content For Different Cultures
- What Is Your Culture On The Social Web?
- Who Should You Get To Write Your Foreign Language Web Content
- The 2 Main Reasons Why Companies Do Not Have Good Foreign Language Content
- Multicultural Marketing And Colors
- The Phases Of Cultural Communication You Go Through To Increase International Sales
- Info-Products - Writing For International Readers

Here are a few more Translation Tools articles:
- Translation Friendly International English
- Translation Software - It Is Time To Question Old Truths
- Over The Counter Translation Perfection Not Here Yet
- Translation Agencies’ Narrow Vision
- Translate Server Error
- How To Use Online Translation Tools
- Translation Widgets - A Small Step Towards Website Globalization
- Online Translations Tools Write Bad Sales Copy

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

Culture Customized Content Guide • What is the secret to effective international business development? Read more in this Get International Clients Business Guide

All of the book and product reviews here are totally unsolicited… spontaneous …and without affiliate links. These are books and products I share with close friends. So all of the reviews you find here will be about things I highly recommend.

It was a sunny afternoon here, south of Paris, today. Something we have not had many of recently. So I decided to read a book I bought earlier this summer.

• Online Competitive Intelligence, Increase Your Profits Using Cyber-Intelligence, by Helen P. Burwell.

Yes, I know it sounds like heavy reading for a lazy afternoon in the sun.  But I have some serious business research scheduled later this month, and I wanted to see if I could find a few new ideas on how to approach it.

And In the beginning, it was just for good conscience…

When I took this book outside in the sun to read, I also had a second “lighter” book with me.

I thought I would simply flip through Online Competitive Intelligence. Highlight a few places to search and then move on to a more entertaining read.

But, I found this book very useful… and full of inspiration.

Ideas were flying around in my head of places to go, angles to look at, questions to ask… every couple of pages.

A “why didn’t I think of that” came out a few times.  And I actually read through the main substance of the book - the lists of resources are for later this week.

I should say that I do have many years of successful international research under my belt. Market research was actually part of my job profile for the first half of my career here in Europe.

Yes, I have done my fair share on online research. But I noticed that although I am very good at quickly getting a certain type of information from online research, I found myself asking a friend who is better at getting a different type of information.

Now, I am not going to give a very detailed review - this book is so full of resources and ideas on where to search that it would be hard to do without copying large sections of the book.

But I would like to tell you who I think needs to read this book.

Well, it’s simple.

Anyone who wants to develop their business abroad should read Online Competitive Intelligence.

Inspiration For Your Own Business Strategy

First, let me go back a bit…

When I bought the book I noticed it was published in 2004.  I thought it might be “old” by Internet’s standards.

I will only be checking through the links later this month.  I might have a few surprise 404’s, but most of the resources here should still be around 4 years later.

Besides…

Although the book is chock full of web addresses and lists of resources, it does something else very, very well.

Online Competitive Intelligence stimulates your mind with regards to how you can go about getting information.  It shows you how you can use Competitive Intelligence to create better business strategies.

Also For International Competitive Intelligence

There are numerous references to international Competitive Intelligence research.  With comments on translation sources and how to use them.

Non-native English Speakers should also be able to use this book effectively.  It is basically an idea book and a resource book combined.

Foreign market intelligence is vital for international business development.  Online Competitive Intelligence lays out the groundwork, very clearly, for you to get started… and it also takes you along the road a bit further too.

Strategy For Businesses

Helen clearly defines the meanings for:

• Competitive Intelligence - a broad publicly available information for strategic decision making
• Competitor Intelligence - for specific company information
• Business Intelligence - broader information, not necessarily “competitive”, for industry trends for example.

There are a few case studies that show why Competitive Intelligence is important and even vital for any business today.

Helen Burwell goes into the strengths of Competitive Intelligence, and its limitations.  She shows you what you need to know before you go about your research.  And she shows you how to go about your research depending on what type of information you need.

And then there are literally dozens and dozens of ideas on how to get the information you need.  And tips on how to use each type of information in your business strategy.

Competitive Intelligence Made Easy

If ever you feel stuck about how to go about…

• getting information,
• how to avoid the paid resources or,
• how to use the information you find,

…then this is a very good book to read.

And if like me, you have a big project you would like to research a bit more thoroughly than you usually do and need a little motivation to get the job done well, then this is definitely a good resource to have at hand.

Here are a few more Uniquely Cindy Sunday Book Reviews:
- Influencer: The Power To Change Anything
- How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders By Catherine Seda
- Mastering Online Marketing By Mitch Meyerson
- How The Internet Works By Preston Gralla
- Dotcomology The Science Of Making Money Online By Stone Evans
- Bit Literacy On Managing Your To Do’s
- Bit Literacy Tips On Managing Email
- Bit Literacy Tips on Managing Your Media Diet
- Bit Literacy Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload By Mark Hurst
- The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy By Ed Rivis
- The Culturally Customized Web Site By Nitish Singh And Arun Pereira
- Letting Go Of The Words - Writing Web Content That Works By Janice Redish
- Landing Page Optimization By Tim Ash

And read even more in the…
Get International Clients International Sales Road Map

International Market Research Guide • International market intelligence is vital for your international business development Find out more here.

Guide To International Web Marketing • Do you know how to pull all of your different international marketing pieces together? This guide shows you how

All of the book and product reviews here are totally unsolicited… spontaneous… and without affiliate links. These are books and products I share with close friends and highly recommend.

I did have a book I wanted to talk to you about today. But it rained yesterday. So I did not take the book out in the sun to read. Instead, I stayed inside and watched a new video product I just got from Michel and Sylvie Fortin.

• Marketing E.S.P. – How To Pinpoint Hot, Hungry, And Highly Profitable Markets

Luckily, I started listening to the videos in the morning. It was so good, I just did not want to stop. I finished all of the videos yesterday in one long sitting.

Get This Web Marketing Tool Now

I cannot recommend this product highly enough to all of you reading this. So today, this is not a book review. It is a product review.

If you have an online business, or if you want to use web marketing to develop your business:

• Get this video product now, before you do anything else.

Marketing E.S.P. will give the geeks the marketing “E.S.P.” they need.

Marketing E.S.P. will give the marketers and business strategists easy to follow geek training on how to get the information they need to become psychic.

International Market Research With ESP

As a reader of this blog, you are probably interested in international web marketing.

• Again, this is a video product you should get now.

The process you learn here is rock solid. It is easy to follow.

The videos show you both:

• How to do market research online and
• How to use this market research to take the risk out of your business and create opportunities.

If you do not know where to start to get international business, you will find the first part of these videos extremely useful: how to do effective market research online.

• Use this as your basic process to find gold in your own domestic markets.
• Acquire these good marketing habits.
• Adapt this process for international market research.

I often get emails from companies abroad, saying “hey, I want to get international clients, what do I do?” Most people:

• Either freeze up when it comes to international market research.
• Or they have absolutely no clue what to do and where to start.

There is no magic formula. Your international business starts with market research. It is work. And it is work you should do yourself.

The great news is you can do it from where you are. And you can start with little steps.

Yes, I know, there is the issue of language and culture. Get over it. You can wait until you win the business lotto, or you can start here:

• With the market research YOU can do now.
• In a proven process that is systemized.

You will find the solutions to your language and culture hurdles as you take action. Very often these hurdles are not as big as they seem before you take action.

I have used this same process for successful international market research in the field. It works. Before long, you will know where the business opportunities are for your products.

See Where Your Business Is

Sylvie Fortin says that good marketers have E.S.P. They know where the money lies.

Good marketers know this simply because they systematically carry out market research from different angles.

I agree with Sylvie and Michel when they say you need to do this work yourself. Do not outsource it. The success of your business depends on it.

Do Your Business Viability Study In Hours

Yes, Marketing E.S.P. is a complete business viability study based on web marketing tactics. This means it is easy to do online.

Before the Internet, a business viability study was not this easy. It did not give you as much clear market information.

There is one important advantage to doing a viability study. This process takes the risk out of your business.

New Products Creation, New Market Opportunities

A viability study also gives you a valuable additional advantage.

If you use this process for your business, your website and your products you will probably come up with new leading business ideas you could not see without this research.

The research you carry out gives you great insight into your markets.

A Process For Business Success

The key is how you carry out your market research.

Marketing E.S.P. starts with showing you how to collect market data online

You then learn how and where to collect keywords.

You learn about collecting research from different angles:

• Standard research
• Vertical research
• Horizontal research
• Multidimensional research

Most people stop their market research too soon. Probably because they do not realize they also need to do research from different angles.

By stopping too soon, you put your business at risk.

It is only after you have obtained data from all the different angles that you can understand where your business lies in your market.

What You Get In This Business Building Program

This video program reminds me a little bit of the Web Video University course. The videos are in clear segments and topics. There are clear instructions on how to do every step.

There is homework after each important step. These homework segments review the steps you need to take in detail again. This makes the whole process easy to follow. Do this homework and you have your own viability research for your business or your product.

There are useful resources at the end of each segment. But this is a how-to guide not an all-in-one package. There is other software involved.

This is a Michel Fortin product. He knows all about testing. So do not hesitate to take his advice on what software to use.

Marketing E.S.P. advises you to buy two products:

• WordTracker and SpyFu.

Both have free options. But to do the research you need to do it will take you much longer with the free versions.

The Marketing E.S.P. Program also recommends other free software and resources.

First Success Chef Cookbook Published

This program is the first series in the Success Chef training program. Read more on the Success Chef Blog -

I had read about Michel Fortin’s Success Chef Program a while ago. I did not really understand what it was all about then and why he was asking $3000 for it.

The Marketing E.S.P. Cookbook comes with a much more palatable price tag. It is currently at $97. And when I read about it I knew it would be valuable.

It’s a little bit like Ed Rivis’ Stats faceslap. Good market research, just like website statistics, is work people do not like doing. Both products are great how-to guides and inspiration to get the work done.

This program is worth much, much more. How much? It is hard to say. This makes effective market research easy and gets you to do it. Do the work and this program will be invaluable to your business.

There is one thing I should mention. The transcripts of the videos are only available to full Success Chef Members. This is not important. Most of the videos are direct how-to videos. You should be watching the videos instead of reading the transcripts.

I did not pay much attention to the Success Chef program before. Now Michel and Sylvie have me all ears. The price tag and payment options for the full program are still too steep for me. But I am now interested in the other Cookbooks.

Take The Risk Out Of Your Business

As you have probably guessed, I highly recommend all of you to get this program.

Take the time to listen to all the videos with a notebook. Do not do anything else while listening to these videos.

• Do the multidimensional market research
• Get all of your keywords from multidimensional sources
• Do your own viability study
• And adjust your business to your most profitable target

For international market research, this is a great process. It takes the freezing element out of getting started.

Just a note to remind you: I only like to review books or products I truly like. I read a lot so there are many. I do my book and product reviews of my own free will and have no affiliate links.

This is also why I would love to have your comments on this product or if you know of a similar one.

Here are a few more Uniquely Cindy Product Reviews:
- Ed Rivis’ Stats Faceslap
- The Management Tools I Use For Content Created To Be Re-Packaged 

• online businesses just starting to develop their international business strategy
• brick and mortar businesses starting to develop their international business and who want to harness the power of international internet marketing

Although Get International Clients covers some of the topics I write about here, it has more detailed articles and instructions than here on CindyKing.biz. CindyKing.biz is my personal blog. And Get International Clients is where I put information to really help companies get international sales.

And now I’ve started a series of Get International Clients “Guides”. Some of them are complete and some will have further information added to them.

• First International Action Plan
• Website Internationalization Guide
• International Market Research Guide
• Cross Cultural Negotiation 101
• Internet Marketing 101
• Resource Guide

There will be more Get International Clients Guides in the future.

It is easier to follow tips and instructions in a well crafted Guide format. And there are already a variety of Guides in progress.

Take a little time to sit back and read some interesting articles on what you can do today to get more international clients.

That’s a great question. And one you should be aware of if your business has foreign online prospects.

The answer is not always easy to find.

If you are a small business targeting international clients actively, you should take this into account when analyzing your web analytics and testing for better conversion.

Different countries have search engines that look and feel different to the user. This is due to cultural differences.

In some countries relying on queries for leads just will not work. The reason can be a mixture of different buying habits, language structures or simply different cultural online preferences.

Sometimes paid and sponsored links will get you traffic where search engine queries fail.

How can you find out what the best internet marketing practices are in your target country? Asking the appropriate professionals in the foreign country is the best route.

These may be internet marketers or successful businesses in your field. If you are doing foreign market research and networking within your target country, remember to add this question to your list of questions.

Internet marketing can keep your international business development costs down and help you get international clients faster…if you actually do some good internet marketing.

To get your website registered on foreign search engines, check out the Foreign Lingo Resources here at www.cindyking.biz

Here are a few more International Market Research articles:
- Here’s A Blog To Help Your International Market Research
- Why Is International Market Research So Important?
- How Do You Learn About Your International Markets?
- How To Know Where Your International Markets Really Are With Business Blogging
- 5 Factors To Consider When Marketing To Different Cultures
- Target Your Global Market With A Good Understanding Of Their Demographics

Then you will be happy to read about the up-coming changes here at Get International Clients.

Starting September the Get International Clients Newsletter will become the ideal companion to follow the International Sales Road Map.

But don’t worry, the Get International Clients Newsletter will still be FREE.

The weekly newsletter will only change its format slightly.

You see, I am tired of hearing the excuses from the brick and mortar companies. I am tired of seeing small internet business owners with great international potential making the same mistake:

NOT taking the right action to develop international business is the biggest barrier to international business success.

Developing an international business takes work.

The key to success is to take small steps consistently. You do not need to spend months and months wondering what to do, and trying to figure out what budgets you need.

In any case, you will not be able to answer these questions accurately prior to jumping into action.

So don’t waste your time. Take action today. Even small actions. And continue taking action regularly.

Sequential Newsletter Gives You Easy Steps To Follow Every Week

If you are already a subscriber, you will know that the current format of the weekly newsletter already gives you useful tips and action steps. What will be different? Up until now, the newsletter is issued every Sunday evening my time and everyone gets the same newsletter every week. The new format will be sequential. Your newsletter will still be published every Sunday evening. But the newsletter you get will depend on when you signed up. So if you subscribe in September or in December or sometime next year, your first newsletter will be the same. The new format gives you easy action steps in the sequence you need to develop your international business.

• Each week you will go through a different step.
• So you will complete the 8 steps in 8 weeks.
• And then it starts again.
• The next 8 action steps will take your further along the path of developing your international markets.
• And this process will repeat itself every 8 weeks.

Get the action steps you need to open up your business to foreign markets.

Get the motivation you need to take action right now and create the international business development process best suited for your business.

The International Sales Road Map is for all business owners and marketing professionals who are not doing anything specific to develop their international business. This includes companies without any international clients at all, and companies with accidental international sales. Brick and mortar companies and online businesses.

This means you have to start right from the beginning in the first 8 weeks.

And then during each 8 week cycle we will review the International Sales Road Map process, adding on additional action steps, so you can improve your strategy.

Every week you will receive an action step and a homework assignment for you to take that week.

To get the most out of the Get International Clients Newsletter you must commit to taking consistent action.

Additional Current News During The Week

In addition to the Get International Clients Newsletter I will send you each Sunday evening, I will also send you an email or two during the week if I have been working on something that I want to share with you.

For example, when I notice any trend in the questions coming in, I will share my answers with everyone.

This way you get more current information.

But I have to warn you, some weeks the work I get paid for will be keeping me too busy for these extra current news bits. So I am only going to send them to you when I can.

In-Depth Special Reports Answer Your Questions In Detail

This is also where the free monthly reports come in handy. You can read them when you have time.

You can stay focused on taking the small actions you need to take each week, and keep your momentum feeding your international business development.

The special reports are there when you have more detailed questions.

All newsletter subscribers will get one monthly report free with their subscription.

The free monthly reports start in September too, and they will go further in depth into one of the actions covered that month.

By the way, these same reports, free for the Get International Clients weekly newsletter subscribers, will be available for non-subscribers, but at a price of $29.99.

I could say there are two reasons why you should sign up now for the Weekly Newsletter.

• It is true, when you see the value of these free reports when they are published in September, you will want to sign up immediately.

But, the real reason why you should sign up for the International Sales Road Map Weekly Newsletter is very simply to start taking action today.

Let me guide you through the steps you need to take to develop your international business.

The sooner you start to develop the skills you need to communicate effectively with your foreign markets, the sooner you will get international clients.

Don’t wait and let others get the competitive edge you could have today. Sign up below.

An international marketing strategy requires sustaining an international mindset. Setting up an international marketing strategy requires a more intense focus than for a local marketing strategy. There are so many more factors to take into account.

If you have markets in several countries it can be a challenge to remain open to all of their different cultural requirements. You must be open to understanding the different markets in each country, with the different parameters specific to each country. And yet you must stay focused on each marketing strategy.

1 - Set Up Antennas For Market Intelligence

One of the easiest ways for small businesses to do this is to cultivate a set of different antennas for each country. Antennas to capture the information you need and stay tuned to each cultural group.

At the same time as you assess the needs for each country you need to keep in mind any of your companies branding issues or international policies. Will these be easily integrated into each country?

2 – Track Similar Needs And Variations By Culture

As you look at the marketing needs for each country, identify any similarities between countries:

- Variations in product use?
- Variations in key selling point?
- Religious holidays?
- Events?
- Languages?

Keep track of all of this information. Compare this to your local company’s marketing strategies.

3 - Create Global Marketing Strategy

As you focus on each individual country and how your product or service fits into that country, you might identify key selling points that are more prominent in certain countries, non-existent in other countries. As you focus on your company’s global strategy, how do these differentiating points fit in? Can they be incorporated better into the global communication strategy, or are they country specific?

Identify the marketing strategies you can apply through all of your international market. Create a company-wide International Marketing Plan.

4 – Add In Country Specific Marketing As Needed

It is often a good idea to have a few marketing strategies with a global international reach, combined with local campaigns. The right mix will depend on your different target markets, your products, and your budget. The more you can market locally the better local response you will have.

Cultivating an international mindset will allow you to maintain your focus on each individual country as well as the whole international market. Your marketing strategy will become clear.