International online marketing: many challenges!
Internationalization is progressing, and digitization is helping many companies get in touch with potential target groups abroad. However, international online marketing is subject to certain challenges that need to be mastered. Language barriers can arise here, major cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings, and country-specific legal and economic challenges ensure different approaches to online marketing than we are used to in the German market.
In this blog post, we would like to deal with the internationalization of online marketing strategies and show how the process for international online marketing should be planned. Here we go!
International online marketing: pitfalls & more
Internationalization enables companies to enter markets other than their home country, but advertisers face a number of challenges. A well-known pitfall is language. Of course, content for B2B topics can be communicated in English, but this neglects the potential of search engines. Contents and service descriptions should be recorded in the national language and marked accordingly with href marking for the search engine in order to be able to survive in international SEO and to generate visibility in the search engines in the countries.
In addition to the language, the country-specific culture is decisive for the search and surfing behaviors of the users. Trust symbols work differently in every country, and in this case, you should also use the know-how of a local web designer to evaluate whether your own website needs country-specific adjustments in design and appearance.
Content marketing in international online marketing
The content should not just be translated, either, because search behavior in other countries can be different than search behavior in your own country. Against this background, it is advisable to conduct dedicated keyword research in the target country in order to find out which search terms can potentially be used to search for your products. By looking at the market, the language barrier in internationalization can also be mastered.
The same applies to other countries as to your home country: put the users of your website at the center of your online marketing activities .
International online marketing: It depends on the channels!
In addition to language and culture, there is another decisive factor for internationalization in online marketing : the intensity of use of the platforms. Here in Germany, Google is the number one search engine, with over 90% of the search volume. This is not the case in every country. You can find a small overview of the distribution of search engine market shares from the colleagues at Luna-Park.
The social media portals are similar to the search engine platforms. Even if the use of Facebook is the benchmark in Germany, that doesn’t mean that it’s the same for other countries. For these reasons, it is advisable to look at each market individually when internationalizing and to develop an individual strategy for online marketing.
International Online Marketing: The Conclusion
An internationalization of online marketing activities brings great advantages for company growth and the diversification of company-specific risks. However, the development of new markets should also follow a strategy, because otherwise you run the risk of blindly adapting knowledge from existing markets and communicating past the target group in the target country.
