Routes to market part 2: digital methods

This is the second part of Export Worldwide’s guide on the different routes to market for exporters. The first part covers the ‘old school’ routes and Daniel and Mark will now cover digital marketing.

The 21st Century, Digital Age

Digital Marketing Overview

The options that open up for SMEs to export with digital marketing are growing every month, with new platforms and ways to build links with prospects and customers.

Increasingly, SMEs are recognising the value of digital marketing and the opportunity it represents to reach customers directly in international markets. Arguably, generating leads has been the single biggest export challenge for small to medium-sized firms in years gone by.

There are over 3 billion people already online and with digital marketing you can have a direct conversation with all of them. There has never been a better time for SMEs to reach out and develop new markets.

Online channels offer a route into exporting that’s not only cost-effective, but minimises the risks associated with so-called old school methods, enabling SMEs to ‘test the water’.

For instance, more and more SMEs are leveraging the power of their website as a lead generation tool. With 90 per cent of Europeans performing internet searches in their native language, the importance of having a version of your website in the mother tongue of a target territory is crucial.

Once potential customers have found your website, many are more than happy to communicate and trade in English as it is the international language of trade and has become key to reaching international customers online.

With English being the ‘Global Language of Business’, classified as the official language in an estimated 75 territories worldwide, it has become common practice for SMEs to perfect their online export marketing strategy for English speaking nations and then replicate the model for other international languages.

Why? Most export ‘buying’ is done in English, but ‘selling’ in international markets is done by localising content. This gives your company more credibility, establishes trust and increases the likelihood of a sale.

This is best summarised by German Chancellor, Willy Brandt…

…“If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen sie Deutsch sprechen.” (Translation = then they need to speak German – or – sell to me in mine).

It is this desire to be approached in your own language, and the fact that 90 per cent of all searches start in the person’s mother tongue, that having a web presence in the local language is essential if you truly want to make progress in export markets.

To enhance their visibility in local search engines, as well as localised websites, SMEs have established a localised social media presence or had themselves listed on a local stockist’s or distributor’s website.

Meanwhile, partnering with online international lead generation companies and selling on high profile sites such as…

• ExportWorldwide.com – 20 languages
• Direct Industry – 9 languages
• Amazon –14 language sites
• Alibaba – 15 languages
• eBay – 27 language sites

…Have proven to be popular routes to exporting for SMEs.

Advantages of digital marketing as a route to exporting:

• Low-risk, low-cost entry into export markets
• Full autonomy over your route to market
• Your export marketing strategy is manageable from one central point
• Almost instant search engine visibility
• Identify ‘hot’ markets much quicker
• The internet is 24/7
• All geographic limitations are removed

Disadvantages of digital marketing as a route to exporting:

• Despite being 24/7, worldwide time zones could be problematic, i.e. establishing immediate contact with leads
• Competitors could potentially replicate your international digital marketing strategy, but this is true of all marketing channels. The challenge is to always be two steps ahead of your competition, so start today while your competitors are still thinking what ‘should I do?’

While not discounting so-called old school routes to exporting, digital marketing is arguably at the forefront of breaking into overseas markets, especially for SMEs. The appeal of online is that it’s cost-effective, low-risk and is an arena in which small to medium-sized firms can win new business, rather than vying for a share of the market dominated by multinational corporations.

However, digital marketing can complement other routes to exporting.

1. Own international website in English

Your own international website in English can target prime English speaking territories such as Australia, Canada and North America, to name a few. It’s an opportunity to present your products and services that are successful in your domestic market in new, English speaking markets to test the waters at low-cost and low-risk to you.

Localising or ‘localizing’ the content increases your credibility with ‘local’ customers. Developing a ‘replica’ of your website means you will increase the chances of being found via online search engines. Equally, it’s an opportunity to develop fresh content and keywords as part of a search engine marketing strategy that will boost your search engine rankings.

Advantages:

• Easy to replicate a .co.uk or .com site for other English speaking nations
• Cost and time effective to setup
• No overseas office setup required
• Present old products in new markets
• Boosts your search engine rankings

Disadvantages:

• English speaking territories are extremely competitive markets
• Management and maintenance of multiple sites can be time-consuming

2. Own dedicated website in local language and localised for territory

70 per cent of the world doesn’t speak English [Source: Tech.co], while 57 per cent of websites contain only English. Therefore, one of the key advantages of developing and optimising a website for local languages is that you can reach a segment of the international market that others aren’t.

Plus, having international sites in different languages increases your credibility with customers in your target market and boosts your online presence, while helping you to develop new content and use new keywords to boost your search engine rankings.

Advantages:

• A low-risk entry point into export markets
• Entering into multiple markets reduces dependence on your domestic market
• 90 per cent of internet users in the European Union search in their native language (Source: EuroBarometer)

Disadvantages:

• Long-term costs for translators and hiring mother tongue speakers
• Managing and maintenance of multiple sites can be time-consuming

3. Mini site of your English .com

Having a mini version of your English .com or .co.uk site gives you most of the advantages of a full site in English speaking territories, but is easier, quicker and cheaper to build initially and can be expanded on an ad hoc basis. A mini site usually consists of a ‘subset of the products and pages of the main international site,’ and are often easier to navigate.

A mini site could also be used as a subdomain [an Internet domain which is part of a primary domain] as opposed to a national, top level domain (TLD).

Advantages:

• Easier, cheaper and quicker to build than ‘complete’ websites for entry into overseas markets
• Easy to manage and maintain
• Easier to navigate and user-friendly for international visitors
• A lower cost, low-risk entry point into English speaking export markets
• Can be expanded as and when needed

Disadvantages:

• Doesn’t fully represent your products and services to international customers

4. International B2B marketplace in multiple languages

International B2B marketplaces such as Export Worldwide and Direct Industry are online virtual exhibiting sites that serve to complement any existing domestic and international websites. They’re an opportunity to showcase your business to new markets. With features such a multilingual content, and unlimited uploads, such channels help to boost your online presence and generate more leads.

Comparatively, Export Worldwide and Direct Industry are very different. Direct Industry is very much a product-based channel, and multilingual content has to be provided manually by service-users and the languages available are limited to European nations. Additionally, it requires a lot of input from the user to maintain product pages and the press release functionality.

Meanwhile, Export Worldwide accommodates product and service-based SMEs. It’s specifically geared to focus on helping small to medium-sized businesses penetrate export markets at low-cost and minimal-risk. With an AI/machine, human, or hybrid translation feature, which can translate content in up to 20 languages representing 84 per cent of world trade, companies can get to more markets quicker.

Advantages:

• Works alongside existing websites to generate international leads creating additional marketing channels
• For companies without an international site, they’re a ready-made platform to reach new markets 24/7, 365 days a year
• Easy to get started. Either upload content in English or get the platform to do this, instantly translate in up to 20 languages representing 84 per cent of world trade (Export Worldwide only)
• Quickly identify market demand and interest for your products and services in worldwide markets
  Tried and tested export model

Disadvantages:

• Some platforms are limited to product-based businesses
• Some aren’t export specific
• Some require heavy service user input

5. E-market place

Tying in with the digital marketing strand, there has been a boom in the use of e-commerce as a route to exporting. E-commerce refers to transactions made online. A recent study found that 40 per cent of respondents buy goods from another country based on factors such as price, availability and selection.

As a result, there’s been a surge in companies offering you the ‘best e-commerce platform money can buy,’ as more SMEs recognise the value of cross-border selling through commerce.

E-commerce routes into exporting require you to think about several key criteria including the platform you will choose, whether it will take a portion of profits and whether it can manage the size and quantity of transactions you want to make. There’s also the localisation of your content and payment methods to think about.

Most well know e-commerce platforms are:

• Amazon
• eBay
• Alibaba

But, the UK government has identified over 400 worldwide.

Advantages:

• Faster buying and selling process
• 24/7 buying and selling
• No geographical limitations
• Low operational costs
• No need for international office setup

Disadvantages:

• Lack of personal interaction
• Requires internet access
• Potential delays on the delivery of goods
• Privacy and security issues

6. Finally, the new kids on the block, M-commerce (mobile) and S-commerce (social – big in Asia)

More recently, the emergence of S-commerce (social) and M-commerce (mobile) have provided additional commerce routes into export markets, particularly in Asian and far-eastern nations such as China that have smartphones as their main internet access. Although these routes may appear similar to other web-based routes, they require a completely different platform, optimisation and approach.

Social commerce is the marriage between social media and e-commerce, the next evolution of online shopping, where consumers fuel the purchasing funnel of your brand, buying and selling of products and services online.

In our experience, social is very difficult to get to work for B2B products. It is important as a ‘signal’ to Google and BING for their ranking algorithm, but as an actual generator of sales, social is not very effective. The one social exception is LinkedIn and the access that can be leveraged by using LinkedIn.

If you want to reach your prospects, it’s critical to be where they are! Smartphones in hand, customers aren’t waiting for your company to decide to build a mobile website or app, so planning for mobile search and M-commerce is going to become more important.

Advantages:

• Strong engagement with prospects and customers on an individual basis
• Rapid and personal feedback
• Faster buying and selling process
• 24/7 buying and selling
• No geographical limitations

Disadvantages:

• For S-commerce, significant effort for currently poor returns
• Requires internet access
• Privacy and security issues

Overarching all this digital marketing is the opportunity for paid advertising to drive traffic to your website, mini-site, lead gen platform or e-market platform. This comes in many forms – PPC (pay per click), display ads, re-marketing, video ads etc. All these ads can be placed on Google, BING, Yandex, Baidu, Facebook, eBay, YouTube and many more. Paid advertising is too large a subject to cover here and requires an article dedicated to it because it can be both an excellent lead gen tool, but it can also eat mountains of cash with very little return.

Summary: Why 21st century digital marketing is such a good option for SMEs

Online channels have certainly made routes to exporting far more accessible to SMEs. Old school methods tend to carry a higher cost-burden and risk for smaller enterprises. In many cases, SMEs don’t necessarily have the resources to launch a full assault on international markets using traditional methods.

That said, old school methods can’t be written off completely and it is likely that what will work best for you will be a combination of a number of routes to market and the buying practices of your target markets will effect this.

For our own companies, selling B2B internationally, we have used 10 of the routes to market and the 7 routes to export that we currently use that grew our export sales from 6 per cent to 67 per cent include:

• (Traditional Route 1) Locally manned sales office in the export market after establishing, via digital marketing, that a need desire and authority exists in the export market for our products. Currently we have offices in North America, France, Poland and in 2017 Spain.
• (Traditional Route 5) Direct visits to key or significant prospects.
• (Traditional Route 6) International exhibitions, for brand awareness and to show commitment to an international market.
• (Digital Route 3) Dedicated websites in the local language of the target market on the TLD of the local territory and often hosted locally.
• (Digital Route 4) International mini websites as sub-domains.
• (Digital Route 5) Multilingual virtual exhibitions that run all year such as www.exportworldwide.com and www.directindustry.com
• (Digital Route 6) Ecommerce platforms such as www.alibaba.com.

And the ones we have tried and rejected because, for us, they did not work as well as other channels:

• (Tradional Route 3) Resellers. We tried these for several years but never got traction.
• (Tradional Route 4) Distributors. For us, it was difficult to get sufficient commitment and sales to justify continuing to work with this channel.
• (Traditional Route 2) Agents and independent reps.

While digital marketing gives you a solid strategy for entering export markets as your business evolves and continues to expand, it’s likely that you will have a blend of lead generation channels in place to suit your business and to maximize your worldwide export opportunities.

Good luck and please tell us your export stories, send them to [email protected]
We are always learning new routes to export markets by sharing the knowledge we have in the UK.
If you’re not currently exporting, start today because the sooner you start, the nearer you are to doubling the profitability of your organisation.

For more information on the internet and software tools we use as routes into exporting, provide your email address to receive this new eGuide for Internet & Software Tools that work for Export Marketing, coming soon.

Read the first part of this feature on traditional routes to market.

About the Authors

Written by Mark Neal and Daniel Waldron for Export Worldwide.
Edited by Daniel Waldron.

Mark Neal is the Managing Director of Armagard, winner of the Queen’s Award for International Trade and the British Chambers of Commerce ‘National Exporter of the Year Award.’

Daniel Waldron is Export Worldwide’s Head of Content and a Huffington Post contributor for ExportWorldwide.com