International marketing: how to see the results from your efforts
The internet removed many physical barriers and sped up communication times for businesses. Instead of being restricted to their geographical regions, brands or companies of all sizes (provided they have a structure for international business) are now increasingly likely to sell their products or services to consumers all over the world.
For entrepreneurs, this provides a great opportunity to expand their brands internationally. Consumers, on the other hand, can easily research and compare prices for a nearly endless range of products. With that in mind, many companies have invested in international marketing as a way of reaching customers in other countries. But how should they go about that? How can they be sure of getting the expected return for their investment?
Check out this post and find out more on how to see results from your international marketing efforts.
What are the main challenges in international marketing?
Companies looking to expand their operations and offer their products or services beyond their national borders are sure to face some strategic challenges. Each country’s unique culture is reflected in aspects such as purchasing process, customer needs and business opportunities.
If you create an advertisement campaign and want to use in different countries, you’ll first have to adapt its content to each market. Luckily, you can turn to companies that specialize in this type of work, and are capable of providing top-quality translation and localization.
Some of the challenges include:
• cultural differences;
• market maturity;
• consumer behavior;
• localizing your product portfolio and communication materials;
• the need for translations;
• logistics.
All of these points must be addressed in order to successfully expand your brand. Another important aspect, however, is the analysis of each individual investment. Businesses need to know which actions are effective, and which ones need to be better developed, or even abandoned.
How to assess international marketing results?
Each action must be measured and evaluated by the appropriate team. Companies that do not measure their indicators are unable to properly assess their performance, making it harder to improve. The following are essential steps to evaluating results:
1. Define your metrics
Each company has its own key metrics, which can vary according to their line of business. The appropriate team should assess and define which items will be monitored, and how they will be used to determine the results of each marketing action.
Companies must keep in mind that each metric chosen will have a direct impact on their business goals. There is no point in monitoring an indicator that does not provide information relevant to your company.
Good examples of metrics include:
• Marketing ROI;
• Customer acquisition cost (CAC);
• Average ticket;
• Click rate;
• Cost per click (CPC);
• Unique visitors;
• Cost per lead.
2. Define monitoring frequency
Each metric varies according to time and the specific action. In addition to identifying the indicators, the company should establish the monitoring and measurement frequency (e.g., weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.).
It is important to understand how each metric changes, and the reasons behind this change. When launching an ad campaign, it’s a good idea to gauge the reaction to it, and how it impacts sales.
3. Define the monitoring method (data collection)
Proper data collection is a prerequisite for monitoring indicators. Make sure you have the right structure to collect the right data and store them to be measured later.
Knowing where each result is measured and controlled is an essential step to measuring your efforts.
4. Calculate your marketing ROI, including translation
Every investment in marketing must be made with the goal of attracting or taking advantage of an opportunity. Every time you create publicity materials (a campaign, a manual, a prospectus, any type of text on the internet), hire a company to translate and localize this content for a particular country, and have already determined all measurement points and where to find the data, all you need to do is to calculate your return on investment.
This way, you can figure out which actions are working and what the best practices are, identifying where you get the best results for your efforts and making the necessary adjustments over time.
Expanding your brand and investing in international marketing is a key step for every company. Each geographical territory has its own characteristics, its customs and its particular way of doing business. It is very important to remain aware of these specific situations and to adapt the corporate communication to each local culture. One way to make sure that you have every detail covered in your campaigns is to hire professional translation companies that adapt your content to your specific needs. Another advantage of hiring professional language services is that it frees up your marketing staff to focus on their core activities, leaving the translations to experts.
Remember, it is very important to monitor your marketing actions, and to assess their results through metrics. Identify the key metrics, define monitoring frequency and where to find data. After that, you will be able to calculate the return on each investment, assessing the best practices and the results from your efforts.
Now that you know how to see the results from your efforts, check out our article on how to optimize translation quality with desktop publishing.