International Business and Technology Blog

Selling your products online is no longer a negotiable, it’s a must for every company that wants to continue to grow sales and reach new, untapped audiences. Yet, the struggle for many businesses is how to remain authentic to your brand and build a personalised experience for your customers online.

Businesses today are struggling to recreate that human touch that shoppers in physical stores have always loved and connected with. The solution is to humanize the online shopping experience, which means putting the interests and needs of their customers as the top priority and enhancing the customer’s personal experience with your brand.

The key to achieving this is video!

The Online Global Program is a proven path for launching brands into international markets and building a long-term sales pipeline.

That's  exactly what Redi-Rock International, a Michigan-based company, wanted to do, as Mattie Meadows, Marketing Manager states: "We wanted to show that we are an international company". To achieve this objective with confidence, Redi Rock partnered with IBT Online to expand their global online presence, starting with the French and German markets.

Now Redi-Rock can demonstrate to their domestic and international prospects, clients and partners that they are, indeed, a global business with a local digital footprint.

Whether we’re avid marketeers or not, we have all heard about Google’s latest new release, and the dreaded term 'transition' to GA4. If you haven't been following; as of July 2023, Google will discontinue all Universal Analytics properties and companies will only have access to their new system: GA4.  

With the introduction of GA4, users can expect many changes on how Google reports data and how to leverage the platform. So, what does that mean for your business, your website and how you are currently using and reporting your data?

Businesses today are investing in their video strategy as a way to shape their brand identity and reputation. In line with this trend, LinkedIn is doubling down on its roll out of video capabilities to meet the growing demand for video creation and viewership. Since introduced to the platform in 2017, video has quickly surpassed text and image as the preferred content format for LinkedIn. The latest updates on the platform, which include livestreaming, creating ‘profile videos’ and ‘auto-captions’, all point to LinkedIn’s objective of improving video capabilities and expanding their B2B platform as a place for creative content and ‘creators’ to flourish.

Across the board, businesses are ramping up their video marketing strategies and taking full advantage of LinkedIn’s video capabilities to achieve this. The data backs up this trend, as LinkedIn reports continue to demonstrate that brands have the highest chances of increasing their account performance by leveraging video.

The B2B digital market is growing now! The global B2B ecommerce market is valued a $14.9 trillion and is five times greater than the B2C market. A report from BigCommerce stated that 87% of B2B buyers admit they would pay more to a supplier with a better ecommerce portal and experience.

The new generation of procurement leaders and purchasing agents have grown up buying online for personal needs. They expect to be able to buy online for business development as well!

Your website is the most powerful tool for building trust and brand awareness in your target markets and therefore growing your export sales pipeline. 

Check out our infographic and get in touch with IBT Online to discover how online business development tools will make the internet work for you 24/7, 365 days/year to help your grow your exports, sales, brand and business. 

France is the 7th largest economy on the planet, and the French are one of the most well-connected people on the planet. Almost 100% are unique mobile users, and over 90% go online at least once a day.

Not only are they well connected, mobile, and social, but they also love to buy things online. France is the number 6 ecommerce market in the world- There is no wonder that France is such an attractive market for US exporters! 

Use online tools to your advantage to be found, understood, and transact your business in France!

The infographic below will help you grasp and understand the potential of France's online environment, social media, and ecommerce.

Video testimonials and case-studies are a highly personal way of showcasing your brand and it's values. When prospects can actually see and hear customers talk about their positive experience, it allows prospects to have their questions answered and to visualise themselves leveraging your products or services.

In this way, case-study videos can significantly nurture your lead through the buyer's journey and contribute to the decision to invest in your brand. As HubSpot states: “a powerful testimonial has the potential to convert a lead into a customer!” Having video testimonials within your marketing content and on your website demonstrates to your prospects that your company is in the business of putting the customer first! By creating video content that showcases your happy customers you are allowing a third-party member to champion your brand for you and answer possible questions and challenges that the prospects are facing. You are therefore changing the sales pitch into a more personalized, and tailored conversation to meet your prospect's needs.

Adding an online marketing strategy to your website and social media is like throwing gasoline on the fire! Your web traffic explodes, leads will increase,  and your brand recognition will grow.

Effective online marketing campaigns increase the number of international prospects that visit your website, drive up engagement on social media, help to educate your prospects about your products and services, and encourage them to buy! 

Check out our infographic and get in touch with IBT Online to discover how online business development tools will make the internet work for you 24/7, 365 days/year to help your grow your exports, sales, brand and business. 

China has one of the most unique online environments in the world.  Think of China as an enclosed and isolated island in the internet world, and this is due to their gradually tightened firewall.  

Platforms you will be familiar with such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn are all blocked in China. To succeed in this unique market you will need to adapt to their local equivalents such as Baidu, Weibo, WeChat, Youku, Tencent etc., and build a bespoke digital strategy before entering.  

In this blog we’ll be focusing on how you can leverage this unique and fascinating digital landscape to your advantage, as well as the main challenges faced by exporters when growing your business in China.

The United States is the largest economy on the planet, and people are one of the most well-connected on the planet. In a place that is there are more cell phones than people, and over 90% have visited an online retail store the past month, it is safe to say that the majority of potential customers are at your fingertips.

They are well connected, mobile, social, and more than comfortable to purchase goods and services online- There is no wonder that the United States is such an attractive market for businesses all over the world! 

Use online tools to your advantage to be found, understood, and transact your business in the United States!

The infographic below will help you grasp and understand the potential of United States' online environment, social media, and ecommerce.