Putting digital marketing at the centre of your international business strategy
- 1. Putting Digital Marketing at the Centre of your International Business Strategy Kevin Moran, IMS Marketing 21st March 2018
- 2. About Us B2B Full Service Marketing Partner 11 years in business Market Knowledge Key markets: Healthcare, ICT, Software, Industrial and Precision Engineering International 80% of our projects assist companies in the marketing of their products and services internationally. Combination of Irish and international client base Digital Web and Digital planning and implementation across 16 countries in the past 3 years Our Team 15 full-time marketing and design professionals based in Galway
- 3. Purpose of my presentation this morning: • Building a great looking website is easy. • Putting a well developed digital strategy around this is more difficult. • What are the fundamental building blocks of a great digital strategy?
- 4. 6 Strategic Digital Building Blocks ……before you build your website 1. How do you want digital to support your business goals? 2. Define your (focused) target market 3. Sharpen your value proposition 4. Do your digital research 5. Have a plan to promote your business online 6. Ensure your business processes are aligned And some successful client examples…..
- 5. 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.
- 6. Reality: Digital Marketing can support all of these goals and more What makes a good digital strategy different to a great one? • It is linked to the commercial goals of the company! • It is based on many traditional business fundamentals • It understands and supports the sales process of the company from awareness through to customer communications
- 7. 2. Defining your target market: The Digital Market Opportunity is HUGE !! Population of: Ireland: 4.6m UK: 65m x14 times USA: 321m x70 times Europe: 743m x160 times India 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
- 8. 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
- 9. 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
- 10. 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
- 11. 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
- 12. 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
- 13. 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, etc Sponsored: Social Media, Adwords, 3rd party portals, etc Integrated: 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 Audit Practically everything you do online can be measured Remove subjectivity, use facts Monthly 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?
- 14. OK, so you have your decided to invest in a new website. Have you spoken to everyone else in the company yet?
- 15. 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 !!!
- 16. 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 ??!
- 17. 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.
- 18. A few examples of digital marketing success when strategic planning fundamentals are followed….
- 19. 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
- 20. 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!
- 21. EXAMPLE: 2 Using media instead of words to communicate a complex technical product Problem: How to communicate the benefits of noise insulation in commercial vehicles, to multiple stakeholders Benefits: Health & Safety Conformance, Passenger Comfort Solution: Let them experience the benefit! Industry Standard Sound Feature (to compliment technical datasheet)
- 22. 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
- 23. 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
- 24. 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. €50k investment has delivered >€300k in new business to-date
- 25. 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
- 26. 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.