International Business and Technology Blog

Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world boasting over 400 million native speakers across 21 countries. These numbers make the Spanish-speaking world an especially appealing target for exporters. But this major trade language has variations that impact your global trade and online strategy. What are the differences between Spanish in Spain and Latin America? How different is Spanish to English? And most importantly from your online point of view, will one Spanish website cover all Spanish speaking countries? We want to share with you some of our experiences in helping our clients to get found, be understood and do business in Spanish-speaking markets using their online presence. 

Want your videos to deliver global sales, brand and business growth? Then make sure you have the right platform! Online video platforms (OVPs) have come a long way, in terms of commercial communications and business functionality, in the last 10 years. Today, we have real choice, with multitudes of OVPs vying for space in what is currently the fastest growing trend of our digital era.

This infographic is designed to be a helpful tool for someone who doesn’t know where to start with international social media. 

Social media is huge. There is no denying the power and amplitude of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn (among many others). Which is why it can be intimidating - especially for an exporter that is more concerned with keeping up with their products and services than how to fit a message in X amount of characters.

Social media is a fantastic way to boost your brand awareness and grow your sales in Mexico. Mexican consumers and businesses are reactive and engaged online: post great relevant content and watch it ricochet around your target prospect base! On top of that, online marketing prices are reasonable compared to many other large markets. So, if you get your social media and online marketing right, the return on investment for brand awareness and the sales that can go with it, are rapid. Below we share some of our insights to the Mexican online world that we use as international marketers to help our clients build their brand, sales and business in Mexico. 

Online solutions to identify and manage distributors

A good distributor is essential for most SMEs to grow their sales internationally, so finding the right in-market partner is key. But once that relationship is established, distributors need to be nurtured, maintained and managed. All this was challenging enough, but in this age of social distancing, as trade shows, frequent air travel and face-to-face meetings all get pushed back, companies are looking for digital alternatives. Exporters today need innovative online solutions that help them identify, recruit, and manage their international distributor networks. Localized websites can do that job!

Ecommerce plays a huge part in our every day online lives- and the numbers prove it! In a population of about 7.5 billion people, 4.5 billion are online, and 3.4 billion are shopping online, meaning about 45% of the world population makes purchases via ecommerce! Although ecommerce is prevalent in many countries all over the world, here we are going to focus on the big 3: China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. 

“Typically, something like 75% of our sales involve being face-to-face, on the floor in clients’ manufacturing facilities,” recalls Jonathan Szucs, president and owner of Advanced Superabrasives Inc. (ASI). Looking up at the webcam, waving and adding “So not being allowed to travel or visit customers, it is totally changing the way we have to do business” and “that’s why this website globalization is so important”.

ASI had been considering the Online Global programs before the pandemic, the increased grants and current state of the “lockdown” world, fast-tracked that decision. IBT Online is now working closely with ASI to completely redesign, build, and deliver best-practice, locally optimized business development websites and online marketing campaigns for target markets the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Today, face-to-face is online!

The Events Industry Council tells us that trade fairs, exhibitions and conferences annually involve >1.5Bn participants across 180 countries, employing 26M people supporting $1.5Tn of GDP. By May 2020 COVID-19 shuttered >2,600 such events, with 1,000's more to come, and no-end insight. The chances are that you, like me, were one of those participants, and we contributed to these numbers. Well, its all over now, in this social-distance imposed new online normal!

One of the earliest major fairs to be pulled was the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona scheduled for Feb 2020, quickly followed by cancellations of the International Tourism Fair in Berlin, then the Geneva Motor Show, and so it goes on. Event cancellations cross all sectors, all sizes and all locations; aerospace, to medical, via broad industrial, to beer, books and beekeeping (three of my favorites), in Europe, Asia and the America's.

The Michigan Online Global programs are a “no brainer”, with “return on investment (ROI), almost immediate” declares Head Honcho, Dave Yancho, Vice President and co-owner of Armor Protective Packaging (ARMOR). Dave is a forceful advocate for three reasons: 1) his international customers, 2) the immediate financial ROI and 3) the ease of working with IBT Online.

Today, ARMOR has best practice, optimally localized business development websites working hard 24/7 in Canada, Mexico, China and India, with Japan and Germany on the way!

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!