Thinking International?
Here is a 5-point checklist before you launch your Website in other countries
By Bill Dunlap, Managing Director
Euro-Marketing Associates
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The Internet has made it easier than ever to market products and services across the globe. Most companies
today are so focused on their domestic market that they do not pay any attention to the overseas markets.
Nevertheless, the international markets represent an immense potential. (A North American company can
triple its turnover by properly addressing the world market). Of course, one must budget sufficiently for
marketing to achieve this goal.
Things become more complicated when dealing with other countries where English is not the official
language. Our main point here is that most everyone accesses the Internet in their own language. If they
live in a non-English country, they are most likely not going to access the Internet in English. In order to
market to them, you have to determine where they congregate (i.e. other language areas of the Internet) and
market to them there. A Web site needs to be able to attract visitors from many countries without them
having to wonder whether they will understand the message once they arrive at your Web site. This idea is
equally true for translated Web sites. No one overseas could possibly find your it (even if translated) unless
you make an effort to make it visible in the language(s) concerned.
The importance of marketing a Web site cannot be overemphasized. Recent statistics show that large
American corporations are actually cutting their budget for Internet business, since they did not achieve the
results they expected a year or so after they launched their Web site. The real reason for lack of online
business goes back to lack of marketing the Web site, not lack of interest from those online. Even in
English-speaking countries, there has not been enough marketing and promotion of the existing Websites.
It is strongly recommended to budget just as much for promoting one's Web site as for creating it.
Here are some basic points that need to be understood and followed to achieve success in international
online marketing. [The basics of multilingual Web site promotion are presented in another article on this
site.]
1. Whether to translate? Which languages?
2. Don't forget email marketing.
3. Make sure you have established your logistics in advance.
4. Promote and advertise your Web site abroad.
5. Other techniques.
1. Choose which countries (or languages) to target:
As you start using the Web to present your company's products orservices to the international market, your
analysis needs to keepin mind two factors:
•which countries you already sell to•which countries are sufficiently online to attract clients
a. To translate or not to translate:
Not all Web sites have to be translated. It depends on who your market is and what you are selling, and
how much English your target market already understands. For technical products and services, English is
commonly understood, and only a "jumper" page needs to be translated (with links to your English pages).
A "jumper" page is a summary of your offer, translated, so that the Web page can be registered with the
local indexes of the countries you are targeting. Typical translation costs are $50-$100 for a short page
(200-300 words).
If you choose not to translate your site, but still want to draw visitors from Northern Europe (where English
is widely understood), at least promote your Website in these countries, in their own language(s). They will
find their way to your Web site and usually be able to understand it adequately in English.
At the opposite extreme are products and services that are marketed to everyone abroad: entertainment,
household products, CDs, etc. Here you need to translate as much as you can afford, to have as much of
your site as accessible as possible. You cannot just create your Web site in English for the world market
and just assume it will be understood. (The attitude that "visitors will have to read English or nothing".)
Most Websites, however, fall between these two extremes, where it is good to translate part of the Web
site. Not translating will always make a portion of your audience click elsewhere, since they cannot
understand English or do not want to read it in English at that time.
The importance of language can never be overemphasized. Overall, only 15% of Europe's population
speaks English as a first language, and only 28% speaks English at all. A recent major research study of
almost 38,000 European Internet users (http://www.blueskyinc.com/langues.htm) found that English is
cited as the first language by 55% of all European users (or, not counting the U.K./Ireland, English is used
by only 32% of users, followed by German at 22% and French at 17%).
An extremely enlightening article about the international aspect of online business is in Hambricht and
Quist's online e-zine, "I-Word", at http://www.hamquist.com/iword/iword23/istory23.html. It is one of the
best articles on the subject, underlining the need for American companies to seriously address international
markets. Excerpt:
"One of the best ways for maturing U.S. businesses to maintain or exceed their historic rates of growth is to
expand internationally by targeting under-served markets overseas. This has been the case for myriad U.S.
companies ranging from Ford and McDonald's to US West and Walt Disney. The same now holds true for
high-growth U.S. Internet companies. While we would be the last to suggest that growth opportunities for
Internet content and service providers in the U.S. market are anywhere close to being fully exploited, many
are now investing significant sums of capital to extend their services into regional markets around the
globe.
"Because Internet adoption has -- as a whole -- been slower worldwide than in the United States, a number
of emerging foreign markets represent unique opportunities for American Internet companies to be first to
market, a key competitive advantage. Some will be able to establish their brands at even earlier stages of
market development than they were able to do in the United States.
"The international appetite for such services is unquestionable; today most major U.S. Internet companies
report that fully 25% to 35% of their customers access their U.S.-based English language services from
overseas. Yahoo! reports that users from 110 different countries access its core English language site at
www.yahoo.com on a daily basis. While European sources tell us that their markets are anywhere from 18
months to two years behind the United States in terms of Internet adoption, this should be viewed as an
opportunity for U.S. Internet companies looking to expand overseas. In fact, we at Hambrecht & Quist
believe it portends the type of explosive growth in Internet use that swept the United States between 1995
and 1996, especially as telecommunications deregulation begins to take effect in countries around the
world.
"We believe prevailing market research supports our contention. SIMBA Information, a market research
firm in Wilton, Conn., predicts that non-North American international markets will produce 30% of all
consumer online revenue by 2000, up from just 15% in 1995. Jupiter Communications, a market research
firm in New York City, forecasts that fully 40% of the world's online households will reside in Europe and
Asia/Pacific Rim by 2000, up from 29% today."
There is no reason for shrinking away from translating your Web site because of expense. Instead, translate
part of it at a time, and increase the marketing efforts on the language sections where you feel most
confident, and see the results in your sales. You can translate part of your Web site at a time, so that you
start with, say, two languages, and gradually develop more. Remember: "You can sell in any language you
want, but you only buy in your own language."
b. Which languages?
So you're convinced to translate part of your Web pages to attract visitors. But which languages? Make
your decision based on which countries you already sell in, as well as the logical conclusions from the
figures of how many people are online there. If you already sell in most of these countries, then let the
online language figures guide you. Certainly you need to provide translations of as many Web pages as you
can afford into Japanese, German and French, and if you can, at least one page in Swedish, Finnish and
Dutch (because of the high concentration of online population in these three countries). Next in importance
come Spanish, Dutch and Chinese.
There is a growing interest in bringing Web sites not only into European languages, but into Asian ones as
well -- especially Japanese. And don't think that these native language Web sites are aimed at Asia. There
are more Chinese online in the U.S. than in China (one-third of the 2 million Chinese-Americans), and
there are many Japanese, Koreans and Filipinos living in the U.S. and Europe -- all of whom prefer to
access various media in their own native language.
As of this writing (summer, 1997), there were approximately the following major language families. These
figures reflect the number of email accounts, not those with Web access (which generally represent one-
third of these figures):
•7.5-8 million Japanese online (Japan, U.S./Canada)•3 million German-speaking, French-speaking,
Swedish and Finns (Norwegians and Danes can understand a Swedish presentation too)•2 million Dutch-
speakers and Chinese-speakers (China, U.S./Canada, Europe, Australia)•1.5 million Spanish-speakers (U.S.
Hispanic, Spain, and Latin America) •1 million Brazilians (Portuguese language).
(The most recent figures are available on Web page http://www.euromktg.com/eurostats.html.) Only some
of these people can read English, ranging from only about 0.5% (Southern Europe) to 30% (Northern
Europe).
2. Don't forget email marketing in other languages
The figures for language groups online (above) represent how many people can receive email in each
language. According to Netscape, the number of those with Web access is generally one-third of these
figures (with certain exceptions). That means you can target overseas markets by certain Internet
environments with far more results than using only the Web.
Two acceptable techniques for email marketing are Newsgroups and online forums, both in the languages
of your target group. Although both areas are just developing for the first time now, both are accessible for
those people abroad who have access only to email. You can see German Newsgroups at "de.*", French
ones at "fr.*" (or at http://www.fr.net/news-fr/liste.html), Dutch ones at "nl.*", etc.
Lists of discussion groups can be found at:
German -- http://www.snafu.de/~klinger/einigeml.htm
French -- http://www.cru.fr/listes/
Other languages at the bottom of http://www.euromktg.com/eng/res/cybmktg/maillistex.html
Of course, you should always have autoresponders ready for prospective customers who request
information, and the text of one autoresponder can refer to other documents that the prospect can "pull" in
the same way.
Whereas there are starting to be acceptable means of targeting "opt-in" email databases, for people
interested in something quite specific, there is not yet any equivalent outside the English language. These
direct marketing lists will surely develop, but they are not prevalent yet. This being said, it is my
experience that Europeans are far more tolerant of direct marketing by email than Americans are, as long as
the presentation is professional.
3. Make sure you have established your logistics in advance:
Just because the Internet is global in scope does not mean that international business is easy. Let me be
quite clear of your goal in overseas marketing: your goal is to motivate potential buyers for your product or
service... to identify themselves. The rest is traditional international business practice, and is quite
straightforward. If you are not used to selling abroad, you need to consider issues that have been part of
international business for centuries.
a. Corresponding with prospects in their language (if they cannot communicate in English). b. Payments
from other countries. c. Delivery. d. After-sales service at a distance, in their language.
a. Correspondence.
If you are already doing business overseas, you have already encountered these issues, and should skip on
to the next section. If not, however, you need to think clearly about each step in the sales cycle, and how
your company will meet each challenge. Do you have people who speak languages in your company, who
can translate and answer email from interested prospects and established customers? If not, the best and
most economical solution is to use an automatic translator software, such as Globalink
(http://www.globalink.com), Transparent Language (www.transparent.com), and Systran Software
b. Payment Mechanisms. Once the prospect is prepared to place an order, there are several mechanisms that
exist for payment. For all amounts over $10, it is simply necessary to take a credit card number -- either by
email by using a secure form on your Web site, by fax or by telephone. If you are not set up to accept credit
cards First Virtual (www.fv.com) can provide this service at a reasonable charge. Be sure to have your
bank references handy if the amount is over, say, $500, in which case a wire transfer is more appropriate.
However, many overseas people online do not have credit cards (Germany and Switzerland in particular).
Bank transfers are more in order in these countries. If you are serious about doing business in these
countries long-term, you might consider opening up a branch office in Holland. (The cost is less than $100,
plus $35 annual renewal). This will give you the right to have a bank account in Europe and accept
electronic transfers.Thomas Cook just opened an online transfer procedure, "Virtual Trading Desk", and
your customers who order frequently can save money by using their service. A draft (check) from a regular
customer will cost them only $3.
c. International delivery is probably the most difficult problem to tackle for most products, as it needs to be
reasonable in both price and delivery time. International delivery is quite expensive, with top services such
as Federal Express, UPS, DHL, etc. You need to research this area well for your city and analyze what
options exist. These vary from city to city; there is no general solution. It all depends on the size, weight
and target markets (which countries) for your product. (Services and software do not present this difficulty,
of course.)
d. After-sales service usually depends on a geographically local warehouse, where defective products can
be exchanged. If you are targeting Europe, there are countless such warehouses in Holland who can stock
replacement products in a duty-free zone and respond to your customers in their local languages.
4. Promote and advertise your Web site abroad:
Now that you have established the beginnings of your non-English Web pages, how do you attract visitors
from other countries to them? The techniques are similar to the way you would promote your Web site in
English-speaking countries, except that you need to perform the actions in other languages now:
•Index registration•Press releases•Working the local Newsgroups and forums•Strategic links•Banner
advertising
These techniques were described in detail in a white paper, which should be read if you are not familiar
with these basics of Web site promotion.
A solid marketing plan will include elements of all of these points. Some Webmasters only register their
Web site in overseas indexes, expecting international visitors flock to their site. This is just as naive as
putting one's address in the phone directory and considering that enough marketing to attract lots of
business. No wonder they are disappointed and then discredit the online market. In reality, the international
market is quite vast and needs to be budgeted for accordingly.
Registering one's Web site in international indexes, then, goes without saying: of course it is necessary.
Actively marketing the Web site involves ongoing activity in press releases, strategic linking and banner
advertising.
A word about non-English-language banner advertising, which is perhaps the most effective way of
advertising your Web site, since the reaction is immediate and emotional for someone online to see your
banner, click on it, and find you. Using this technique abroad works best when the words on the banner are
translated and placed on overseas Web pages best suited for the target market. Your click-through rate will
be much higher if it is in the local language than if it is in English. Contrary to what you may hear, there are
many people online in Europe do not read English.
Banner ads have just started now in countries outside the U.S./Canada. One cannot demand the
sophistication of auditing techniques and banner rotation that is common in the U.S. If you decide to place
banners abroad, consider that a banner seen by someone overseas might even be considered unusual, since
advertising is not very pervasive outside the U.S./Canada... which means that more people may be attracted
to click on your banner, to see what it is. (Remember your own reaction in 1994 or 1995 when you started
seeing banners for the first time on the Web. In those days, some banners resulted in nearly 80%-90%
clickthrough rate since no one understood what they were.)
5. Other techniques of promoting your Web site overseas:
Cyber cafes.
Europe is considerably under-equipped in PCs in the home, and there are hundreds of cybercafes that offer
Internet connectivity in a social setting. What better environment for you to approach people, as they are
being introduced to the Internet in their early days online? You can put your URL on the mousepads used at
cybercafes (a mousepad is as much an advertising space as a newspaper ad). Or you can even put your
URL on the screensavers at the cybercafes, so that when the PC is not in use, your URL will be one of
those passing across the screen.
Trade shows.
If you have distributors abroad, involve them in promoting your Web site in their language at their local
trade show: handouts, product literature, or anything that people can take home and use to find your Web
site in their own language.
Magazine ads in overseas publications.
Creating community in the languages of your target market. Email and Web-based discussion groups are
now common in English. They are still quite new abroad. If your product or service lends itself to this form
of discussion, your company can become the online authority of the subject at hand. Of course, it will
require native speakers to lead the discussion and give it life, but they can be found.
Examples of Successful Global Companies Using Language on their Web Site
•Hardware: Apple Computer (http://www.apple.com) (13 languages)•Hardware: Cisco
(http://www.cisco.com) (15 languages)•Software: Gif Wizard (http://www.gifwizard.com) (4
languages)•Software: Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com) (50 languages)•Online computer store:
Cyberian Outpost (13 languages): (http://www.cybout.com/cyberian.html)•Other: A marble company in
Spain: http://www.andalexport.arrakis.es/marfesa (5 languages)•Internet: Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
(4 languages)•Internet: Lycos (http://www.lycos.com) (7 languages)•Internet: Altavista
(http://www.altavista.telia.com) (23 languages)
Conclusion:
Marketing your Web site is like marketing anything else. You need to keep at it. Make sure that you
continue monitoring the international index sites where you list your URL to make sure that it is still listed.
Send more press releases. Add more online promotion work in the countries that you are targeting. It is an
excellent idea to establish a monthly budget for your international Web site promotion, as more visitors
turn into sales.
The Internet as a marketing medium is still quite young. Even in the U.S., there was very little marketing
done on the Internet before 1995, and in Europe and Asia the Internet is just starting to be known as a
marketing medium in 1997! (So don't think that you have missed the boat.) However, with the ever-rapid
growth of the online population, you should not wait: online history has proven that early entrants "lock up"
key positions in their market. The sooner you take your company marketing international, the sooner you
will move up the learning curve and your online marketing will begin turning into sales. Start now... before
your competition does.
"Internet marketing is not static, it is an ongoing process. Putting your site on the Web is not the end of
your journey, it is the beginning."
Written byBill Dunlap, Managing Director
Euro-Marketing Associates
ema@euromktg.com