Putting Digital Marketing at the Centre of your International Business Strategy

Kevin Moran, IMS Marketing

26th October 2017

About UsB2B Full Service Marketing Partner10 year in business in February 2017

Market KnowledgeKey markets: Healthcare, ICT, Software, Industrial and Precision Engineering

International80% of our projects assist companies in the marketing of their products and services internationally. Combination of Irish and international client base

DigitalWeb and Digital planning and implementation across 16 countries in the past 3 years

Our Team14 full-time marketing and design professionals based in Galway

Survey HighlightsResponses from 209 companies across all sectors in Dec’16

• 29% planned an increase in marketing spend in 2017 (64% planned to spend the same)

• Almost 80% of companies planned marketing investment in their web presence

Concluding question posed in this survey:

“ Digital: Have the fundamentals of marketing, branding and communication been lost in the rush? “

Our Experience

In many cases, YES!

Many companies put considerable effort into the design of a new website

for their business but fail to consider the broader strategic marketing issues around their online presence

6 Strategic Digital Considerations

……before you build your website

1. What is your business goal?2. Define your target market3. Sharpen your value proposition4. Do your digital research 5. Have you a plan to promote your business online6. Ensure your business processes are aligned

And some successful client examples…..

1. Why do you want to be online?

• To sell……(e-commerce)

• To generate leads

• To support our channel partners

• To support customer service

• To increase brand awareness

• Because everyone else is………….?

Today, almost every company is online (web and

social media) but very few have clarity of purpose

regarding their online presence.

And if you are confused, your target customers will

also be confused….

Confusion !

Question: What is this website trying to promote? Answer: Everything!

If you have a clear goal for your website, then your visitors will also be clear

Clarity

2. Defining your target market:

The Digital Market Opportunity is HUGE !!

Population of: Ireland: 4.6mUK: 65m x14 timesUSA: 321m x70 timesEurope: 743m x160 timesIndia 1.3bn x280 times

However………• 14 times the market potential, can often mean 14 times the

degree of local competition• Being online doesn’t necessarily mean being visible

2. Defining your target market:

In developing export markets for your products and services

you would carefully research and decide which markets you

would enter first, and why.

Your international digital strategy should be no different !

Where possible, adopt a focused approach to your

international digital expansion

An international strategy doesn’t mean a global strategy

Hello, I am Gerhard.I am 45 years old and live in Munich, Germany.I have heard nice things about Ireland but I have never heard of your company.

Tell me why should I use your product or service?

3. Sharpen your Value Proposition

Every business already knows that every customer isn’t the same. However this is rarely considered in developing an international web or digital strategy. Instead the tendency is to cast out a uniform message and see what happens…..

What is your value proposition?• Do you understand the local market conditions?• Can you answer how/why you are better than local competitors?

How does this impact communications?• English or translated to local language• Localised content based on local preferences• Choice of domain names used, etc

3. Sharpen your Value Proposition

4. Do your Digital Research

We are entering the age of BIG DATA

Every day new technologies and tools emerge that

forensically analyse ‘all things digital’

These tools provide companies with the opportunity to

understand the international digital landscape before they invest in campaigns

The 5 key elements of a Digital

Audit:

• Local search behaviour and keywords

• Competitiveness and cost of acquiring traffic

• Competitor digital landscape

• Social media audience sizes and levels of engagement

• Your present performance and the gap to compete for

online and social media visibility

5. Importance of a Digital Marketing Plan

To develop any export market requires ongoing resources and investment. Digital is no different!

1. What are your objectives? Ref: Digital Audit

2. What tools are you going to employ?Organic: SEO, Blogs, Social Media, E-Mail, etcSponsored: Social Media, Adwords, 3rd party portals, etcIntegrated: Digital supports for traditional marketing –shows, events, etc

3. What is your promotional calendar? Timings of promotions to support key business activities (markets, products, partners, etc)

4. How will you measure results?Ref: Digital AuditPractically everything you do online can be measuredRemove subjectivity, use factsMonthly KPI Report

5. Who will drive this plan in your organisation?You would not target new business development internationally without the necessary sales resources. Have you the necessary resources to support your online digital strategy?

OK, so you have your decided to

invest in a new website. Have

you spoken to everyone else in the company yet?

Logistics:

We are going to sell to how many countries now? Do we even know how to handle shipping to these parts of the world?

Customer Service:

And how do we answer the phone after 5pm Irish time for West Coast USA? Don’t even suggest I do it; I’m already here from 8am every morning

Whopee !!; the website is in French but nobody in the office speaks bloody French !!!

Sales:

Our distributors will go crazy. It looks now like we are competing against them in their own back yard. This will never work! It will be your fault when our sales drop!

Quality:

Hold on a minute. Our products don’t even have regulatory approval for some of these countries.

Finance:

We need how much to spend on marketing the website after we build it ??!

6. Ensure your business processes are

aligned

The decisions you make around digital marketing can impact all areas of your business and sales operations.

Engage with stakeholders across the company from an early stage

Ensure there is alignment and that digital fits within the business plan and not outside of it.

A few examples of digital marketing

success when strategic planning fundamentals are followed….

EXAMPLE: 1

Understanding the importance of key influencers in the sales process.

Problem: How to target design engineers responsible for packaging design?

Solution: Educate the Quality teams on the risks of non compliance

Result: Most successful lead generation tool of the company. Over 100 subscribers to quarterly series of webinars between 2013 and 2014

EXAMPLE: 2

Using media instead of words to communicate a complex technical product

Problem: How to communicate the uniqueness of a highly technical solution without drowning your audience in boring detail

Solution: 30 second attention grabbing animation. Technical details come second when you are interested.

Result: #1 referenced discussion point for all sales enquiries direct. Used globally by channel partners to open doors. Sales pipeline doubled in 12 months!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p-wnGmbtlc

EXAMPLE: 3

The power of a focused campaign when your sales reach is limited

Problem: 1 sales person travelling to/from the UK to develop sales. Highly inefficient

Solution: Targeted online campaigns within a 50 mile radius of UK sales office. Population > Rep of Ireland!

Result: Highly successful, affordable and scalable lead generation. Campaigns were regularly paused to the company could catch-up

EXAMPLE: 4

How the effective use of CRM can drive digital campaign success

Problem: Large database of customers and contacts. No structured sales and marketing process. No idea what worked?

Solution: Implementation of Salesforce CRM supported by ongoing customer research and highly targeted outreach campaigns in Ireland and the UK

Result: Sales leads increased by 70% in six months. Salesforce became the driving force and measure for sales and marketing results in the company

EXAMPLE: 5

Localising your online campaigns in multi-lingual markets

Problem: Multi-lingual PPC Campaigns failing due to depth of content in local languages and in fact competed with larger distributors

Solution: Developed co-op Google PPC campaign strategy with distributors in 8 European markets.

Result: Campaigns were consistent and non-competitive. Openness of learnings budget efficient for all stakeholders. €30k investment delivered €200k in business to-date

What these examples highlight:

1. Your business is different. Your digital marketing

strategy needs to reflect this

2. Start with the business and sales process and the

right marketing will normally follow

3. Success is not about your company size. In our

view it is about focus and creativity

6 Takeaway Points in developing an international digital strategy:

1. Have a clear goal – Why do you want a website and what is its role in your overall sales and marketing strategy?

2. Define your target market – Global ambition sometimes requires global resources

3. Sharpen your value proposition – understand the markets you wish to target and what it will take to be successful in these markets

4. Do your digital research – Scope the opportunity online for your business and products before you start

5. Invest in a Digital Marketing Plan – Building a website is just Step1 of 100 steps. Content is King!

6. Ensure your business processes are aligned – The role of marketing is support the business; not the other way around.

Thank you

Kevin@imsmarketing.ie

www.imsmarketing.ie