Global Intelligence and Business Growth

The Internet has removed geographical barriers to trade. Global business can be a highly profitable and rewarding business objective, but is nevertheless, fraught with many challenges along the way.

Traditionally businesses have grown internationally by exporting and acquiring local businesses, while this is a good way to gain local expertise, this approach is both expensive and potentially fraught with risk. The integration of two business cultures is normally the biggest challenge, closely followed by problems of centralising control.

With the biggest obstacle being that of language and culture, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the only way to find and support global customers is to employ staff across the world to deal with local demand. However there is a much more cost effective way of going global...

The growth strategy will be unique to your businesses depending on the amount of localisation and support needed. Most e-businesses are relatively easy, and you may already be actively exporting. Some companies for example with specialist software, requires much more by the way of product localisation and hence require further investment.

Reactive Strategy vs. Proactive

Unfortunately most businesses take a reactive approach to international trade. - Receiving an enquiry from a business in Barcelona, does not necessarily mean there must be a high demand for your services in Spain.

With international market testing, you can avoid the cost of employing international staff, and use your website to market your product and/or service across the globe. Did you know that a website in 10 languages will be understood by 80% of the worlds population? By creating and promoting multilingual micro sites (based on your English website), you can attract millions of visitors that otherwise would not have found you in the search engines. From your visitors you will be able to see the level of traffic, measure enquires, and even (for many businesses) fulfil international orders. Then after 6 months of having your website live you can see which countries and languages have the greatest demand from our report, which is based on measurable information such as web stats, enquiries and orders.

Proactive market testing will fulfil perhaps the most important objective: Identify the areas of greatest demand. The great news is that there are organisations such as UKTI that will help fund the cost of this market testing, and with prices from £985 + VAT per language it is as viable for SMEs as it is for large corporate organisations.

Relevant services:

Acting on your Global Business Intelligence

With your detailed analysis, it will be obvious which markets will generate your profit fastest and you'll quickly want to build on the successful markets. This is where the website is localised further to include all relevant information. At this stage we should create an international e-Marketing Strategy, to design and execute promotional campaigns.

Relevant strategic services:

International e-Marketing Strategy

Relevant tactical services:

Global Domination

As well as helping you test new and emerging markets, you will need services to keep you multilingual websites up-to-date. See Multilingual Content management. You will also need Language Asset Management, International Domain Management and more...

This is where Global Information Management is needed

Web-Translations combine the latest technology with the most qualified on-target consultants in order for your business globalisation to be an unqualified success! We can help you eliminate the most common mistakes made by UK businesses every year and show you the steps you can take to:

Reduce risk
Research and test online market potential
Strengthen relationships with distributors or agents

The opportunities that localisation can offer your business
Our unique approach to international e-business solutions
Our global communication tools and new technologies

Traditionally large organisations grow internationally through acquisition, but now there is a more cost-effective method available to businesses of all sizes. By choosing Web-Translations to design, implement and maintain your international business strategy you benefit from:

Return On Investment

How much did you pay for the English site? Your website is an asset, without much effort you can improve revenue. A well translated and promoted website will generate sales. Visitors are 4 times more likely to buy from a translated site. If you are in the business to business sector, internationalisation is one of the ways to earn credibility and reputation.

Reduced Risk of Threats

Selling to multiple markets spreads the risk of your business and reduces the overall vulnerability to external threats. There is no better way to test a market than to pilot a test marketing campaign.

Controllable Growth

Start with one language at a time, or several languages with reduced content and build on the most successful markets. Trading internationally is not just about selling. International e-procurement can substantially reduce costs.