Your online presence on foreign markets: the importance of an integrated strategy

Every marketer knows it, a visible online presence is crucial to achieving sustainable success at an international level. While knowledge is one thing, however, it is quite another to translate this into actionable steps that can create a prominent web presence in foreign markets. This is important across all sectors, especially those that are competitive by their nature.

Traditionally, businesses in competitive markets would first create optimized and multilingual websites. These websites would include information about the brand and its product / services. Operating alongside traditional advertising campaigns, this dual-purpose marketing strategy would target potential consumers on the local market and aim to convert them into sales. However, this approach, for most of the competitive markets, is no longer viable.
Many different aspects to take into account while developing a web presence on foreign markets

While the development of a standalone website campaign may drive business growth, it is not enough to gain full access of the market potential abroad. A multilingual website may provide information about your products, and services, but it does not provide any opportunity for real dialogue or interfacing.

In fact there many aspects of an international web presence marketing that can help businesses to actively target foreign customers customers while interacting with them in real-time, when they are engaged with the brand. A good online marketing strategy should strive to engage customers across multiple channels, including websites, social networks, emailing, digital advertising…

A multilingual website should be part an integrated strategy

Today, it is no longer a question of whether to globalize one’s web site, but how to improve the online experience for every foreign prospect and customer. In the internet age, an effective global web strategy is more than ever a strategic imperative. Here is the 3 step process we recommend to establish your online presence on foreign markets, and help your company succeed internationally.

Use the latest technology

For instance, when localizing your content with a translation management system, you have the advantage of translation memories and term bases which can reduce the costs of your translations with minimal effort. It can help for terminology management.
The translation management systems are very useful because they become more robust in the long-run, decreasing the amount of content that needs to be translated, and reducing costs.
Let’s imagine we have an e-commerce company that sells lighting to the French market. We want now to target other European markets, and have made the decision to integrate a translation management system into our localization strategy.
Our web content has a lot of repeated text such as, “éclairage led,” ou, “disponible en différentes tailles.” With a TMS, we have access to a translation memory and glossary, in whicg we have included the keywords from our keyword research, and we don’t have to pay to translate these phrases over and over for every page of content. Once we have translated it the first time, these phrases will be stored in the database and will be automatically reused when they are detected, reducing significantly the cost of the translation carried out by an expert. This is a great example of how to use technology to expand abroad.
Of course, there are many aspects of our online activity that still have to be achieved with the help of native experts: adwords campaign, content marketing, social medias, but staying up to date can be of great help to expand internationaly.

Only 18% would buy products online in a foreign language

The Eurobarometer enquiry “User language preferences online” was recently carried out to evaluate Internet users’ opinions and attitudes towards the use of different languages on the Internet.

The survey examined languages other than the user’s own, that are used on the Internet when reading or watching content , and when writing on the Internet. It also examined opinions about the availability of websites in several languages.

While 90% of Internet users in the European Union prefer to access websites in their own language, a slim majority (55%) at least occasionally uses a language other than their own when online . However, more than 4 in 10 (44%) of Internet users in Europe feel they are missing interesting information because web pages are not in a language that they use and only 18% buy products online in a foreign language. Buying online is an area where people prefer to use their own language. 42% of respondent said they never buy online in a language other than their own. Men (61%) are also using foreign languages more than women (51%) to buy online.The results underline the need for investment in online translation tools and localization so that Internet surfers will be able to buy online or find interesting information despite poor language skills.

The survey shows that internet users were considerably  less likely  to say that they used another language  when writing emails, sending messages or posting comments on the web: 35% said they did and 59% said  they did not.

While there is a huge amount of quality online content available, not everyone can use it to equal advantage, due to varying language skills. On average 50 % of Internet users in the EU uses a language other than their own to read online, and this proportion ranged from 15% in the UK to 90%-93% in  Greece, Slovenia, Luxembourg,  Malta and Cyprus, or 25% in Italy would do so.

English as the most frequently used language on the web

English is the most commonly used language when it comes to using the Internet in a different language than one’s own, and it is used by half of Internet users in the EU while Spanish, German and French would only  be used by 4% to 6% of users. Again this proportion varies  significantly from one European Member to the other: the proportion of Internet users who said that they at least  occasionally read or watched online content in English  ranged from 35% in the Czech Republic and  Italy to 90%-91% in Cyprus and Malta. Respondents in Germany, France, Poland and Austria were the least likely to use English frequently or all the time for  reading or watching content on the Web (between 29% and 32%).

Foreign language usage

Most people are faced with a situation of using another language when they browsing to get information (81%), but 62% use it also in social relationships, typically when communicating with friends, or (52%) said the same about communicating for professional reasons. As concerns “searching or buying products (e.g. online shopping) and services (e.g. tourism)”, the proportion was 56%, whereas 36 % use the internet for learning about  their  rights as consumers or citizens.

A lots of respondents feel that they missed interesting information because web pages are not translated or localized in a language that they understand: this is the case for 60% of Greeks, 58% of Spaniards and 56% of Portuguese.

Opinions about the availability of websites in several languages

Although 9 in 10 Internet users said that, when they had a choice of languages, they always visited a website in their own language , and only a slim majority would accept  using an English version of a website  if it  was not available in their  own  language (32%  strongly agreed and 21% rather agreed). A larger variation was seen in the total  level of agreement for the statement that  all websites produced in respondents’ countries should have versions available in other languages, ranging from 50% in Finland to 95% in Greece.

This survey sheds light on the preferences of internet users in European, and it clearly shows preferences for multilingual and localized websites. It will be very difficult to implement a pan european ecommerce efficient strategy without translating ans localizing content. We also bear in mind that to reach a good positioning in search engines at a European level, and to be found by your target customers, translating your website is a key factor.

.

How to globalize your website: internationalization / localization

Internationalization involves the preparation of your website  so that it can be easily localized and adapted to many languages, without having to redesign it extensively, everytime you need to add a new language.

Winning new markets abroad: the untapped international online market

As the internet economy keeps on growing in a difficult economic outlook, business owners have the opportunity to search for new customers beyond their national frontiers.  The easy access to websites have made the consumers in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America a potential goldmine for marketers. The targeting of local consumers has become a major objective for most export oriented companies. While Google is indisputably the number one channel for search, and to generate sales leads, there are many other ways of searching on the internet.The emergence of social medias is starting to challenge the domination of the search market by Google. This market dynamic has given rise to internet marketing strategies like Geo targeting – which  could be described as making your website visible to prospective consumers in foreign markets. Very few companies can afford to miss over half a billion potential online users of the European market if your online offers are only being seen in your local market.

The new focus on international search marketing

Search Engines have still the major role in this frantic world of online persuasion. It is increasingly difficult for   search engine optimizationspecialists and search engine copywriters to get the unknown products and services of their clients to the top of search engine results. The old idea of “if you build a website, your customers will come” is no longer applicable, especially in competitive international markets. Then, we should ask ourselves can we employ the same SEO strategy for Spain, France or Japan? Will it yield the same ROI or sales conversion?

First, we should deal with the issues of language and characters. Your organization could have similar web sites written in different languages for different targeted country. Of course, only large projects can afford having multiple versions of their website in multiple languages: But if you want to target the European market, it is important to recall that roughly 50% of online users in Europe are located in Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. So to reach out over half of European online users, we only have to localize the websites for English, German and French speakers.

But we should bear in mind that translation is not enough, and companies are often neglecting to take into account concepts of search marketing by not including the basics as part of their internationalization process. Web design companies often focus their efforts onclickability and usability factors by covering branding, look and feel, content generation and publishing.

However, equally important, the findability  factors are left behind. Findability can be described as how easy it is for your potential customers community to find the content and resources they need to do their jobs.  A global website will not be as successful, should proper methods of Search Engine Optimization, Information Architecture or even Paid Advertisement are not used when being built.
Websites need to be found on the first pages of Search Engines’ natural results or paid listings. Careful thought has to be given to keyword research, internal link structure, valid coding and other related subjects such as local backlinks that will influence the performance of a site. Having great content in the local language created by local translators considering cultural aspects is not enough if the text is not optimized with the most important keywords that people are searching for.

So, if we have to summarize, we would have to say that the most important factors in ranking well internationally (in order) would be:
1)Content of the website (keyword density, including the an address on each page with the name of country, name of city, language)
2)Local backlinks
3)Social networks

Take into acount the culture of search in the country you are targeting

The traditional marketers would agree that cultural aspects do play a significant role in marketing strategies of large corporations. On the internet, this also true. Regarding, content, for SEO implementation, one must deal with content writing and multimedia objects that enhance communication and conversion, taking into account the local culture.

Regarding the use of Search engines, this is also true. The importance of Google as a business channel is indisputable, but in some countries there are alternative search engines. In China, the local search engine is Baidu (with over 60% reach) – while Google captures roughly 25% of Chinese searchers.

So, while Google today plays a significant part in the developing of an internet marketing strategy, a good understanding of the local culture, language, and search behavior is paramount for success.

Using social networks to connect with your customers…

The face of social networks changed with the emergence of Facebook. However, even before Facebook, the cyberspace was reverberating with innovative social players like MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Flickr. Today, social network profiles are being used as corporate billboards to announce new products and services. We all know the value of consumption pattern  and consumer psychology in marketing strategy, but it takes a huge effort to understanding the mindset of a consumer prior to the purchase. That’s where these social networks act as a bridge between buyers and the sellers. So, while business owners are busy on social networks connecting with potential customers, consumer behavior is also being extracted, providing a wealth of information for new business actions.

Today, proactive companies use social media to build long-term relationships and to establish communication between the customer,  themselves, and the larger community. It is quite simple to use a social and business networking site such as LinkedIn.com to connect with your potential prospects in Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond. Yes, it is also true that many individuals and firms are able to conduct business in English. A multilingual website not only ensures a higher conversion rate but also create e better communication channel with your potential customers. However, imagine how your use of foreign languages, cultures, and symbols could substantially increase your chance of success.