International Marketing for American SMBs

Not your normal demand creation and communications….

International marketing is more than translated domestic marketing.  And yet in many companies staffing and resource structure assume that it is only a minor variant.  And results suffer…but in an insidious way – only rarely does the market alert you to your error.  But errors are avoidable and dynamic campaigns can create vibrant growth.  Consilium’s international marketing advisory services, a central element of our comprehensive international sales growth programs, gets companies on the right track.

We’re not about global brand building.  We specifically focus on helping American SMBs effectively market their products & services in target foreign markets.  Our efforts are focused on the near-term imperatives of driving traffic, creating qualified leads and nurturing those through to their conversion to customers.

INTERNATIONAL INBOUND MARKETING

• domestic inbound marketing - on steroids
• optimized SEO for multilingual key words
• Country Specific Social networks
• Localized content development for blog infrastructure
• language appropriate cta's

MARKETING LOCALIZATION

• link to prezi

INFRASTRUCTURE

• trademarks
• TLD urls
• regulations in markets

COMMUNICATIONS

• microsites
• collateral
• channel partner tools

INTERNATIONAL OUTBOUND MARKETING

• which trade shows
• market modality recommendations SMS/email/banners

RESEARCH

• market
• market specific persona, usage & messaging

PRODUCT LOCALIZATION

• packaging & labeling
• application and usage
• features requirements
• product line extensions

Consilium’s International Marketing Approach

We are focused on helping you build your business and profits.  Therefore our international marketing support tends to be very action oriented.  But frenetic action without a cerebral foundation squanders resources.  Our methodology therefore always works to ensure that:

• risks are mitigated (e.g. trademarks are registered, TLDs are captured for brand and product, & local regulations are recognized)
• resources are deployed conservatively
• qualified pipeline and customer conversions are likely direct results of any campaign effort

International Inbound Marketing – We’ll help you develop plan, develop and implement the right tools (localized content, SEOized primary and microsites and appropriate social media for the target market complete with off-page SEO/inbound linking.)   Then with our help you’ll create effective “Calls to Action” to convert the growing volumes of traffic from curious visitors into leads.  We’ll help you set up a system for automatic nurturing of those leads (you’re not going to waste your sales people’s time on them immediately, and you know how channel partners handle unqualified leads…..) until they are ready to have a serious conversation about becoming a customer.  Finally, we’ll arm you with metrics so that you can continuously manage and tweak the entire process to maximize effectiveness.  You will have complete control over this tool – a tool that will become your most efficient international business development engine.  (More international inbound marketing info here)

Marketing Localization – We’ll say it until we are annoying….and then say it some more.  This is WAY MORE than translation.  Sure, localized translation is important.  (not convinced?  reality check here!)  But localization is a comprehensive approach that takes into account a myriad of language, cultural and technical details.  Even your “pain point” and “value proposition” messaging may be different!

International Marketing Infrastructure – Consilium will work with you to make sure the “i’s” are dotted and “t’s” crossed.  For example are trademarks registered in key markets; are Top Level Domains (TLDs) reserved (both .x and .com.x); are local restrictions on direct reference to competitors applicable; what email or SMS restrictions exist; limitations on prospect data retention and privacy?

Communications – We’ll help you internationalize your web presence (primary site, multilingual CMS, microsites), sales collateral and content.  It needs to be localized and effective.  And critically important are the tools for your channel partners.  Training (product, sales method, FCPA, your company) needs to be effective and frequent.  Presentations and tools which they will use to approach prospects must be provided to guide them and preclude clumsy alternatives.

Outbound International Marketing – as the inbound effort pays off, you’ll need to nurture those visitors who are eagerly answering your calls-to-action and becoming leads.  Properly localized outbound email and social media (supplemented by SMS and other methods as specific market conditions dictate) is a central tool in that nurturing and engagement process.

Research – What markets should you target?  Where have your international competitors succeeded and why?  What local competition is active?  What cultural, demographic and lifestyle factors will impact adoption of your product?  There are many topics to research, and Consilium can supplement the work you have likely begun in this area.

Product Localization – International marketing isn’t just about the corporate communications side of the marketing world.  Product marketing is important too.  Often packaging, labeling and even features are localized.  Certain markets are perfect for profitable, localized line extensions.  Others will naturally innovate new applications for your product and you’ll discover new ways to market it domestically.  (download our free whitepaper here “How Exporting Teaches Lessons To Use At Home“)

Consilium can assist with a comprehensive end-to-end effort, simply in a single area, or in a market focused effort.  We are flexible in our approach, and determined to help you develop effective and economical international marketing.