Companies that sell overseas need to understand cultural differences in search engine marketing

Great article about cultural differences in search engine marketing by Nathan Bomey | Ann Arbor Business Review
Tuesday July 07, 2009, 2:31 PM
 
Companies whose products or services demonstrate international appeal should consider using search engine marketing in overseas markets, experts said at a recent communications conference at Eastern Michigan University.
 
But it's important to develop an understanding of cultural differences and common language translation problems that threaten to undermine the effectiveness of an overseas search engine advertising campaign, they said at the first Tricontinental Conference on Global Advances in Business Communications.
Michal Lorenc
"There's a huge opportunity here that we're missing," said Linda Girard, CEO of Ann Arbor-based online marketing firm Pure Visibility. "People in marketing departments in large companies are focused mostly on the United States. They're not looking at all the other languages and other opportunities."
 
Michal Lorenc, regional director of online sales and operations for Google, said it's critical to recognize that various cultures respond differently to online marketing strategies. Although "content of the Internet is still predominantly English," he said, that's changing and international companies will increasingly have to market their goods in different languages to consumers and businesses in foreign regions.
 
"If you want to reach your customer, don't force your customer to speak your language. Speak your customer's language," said Lorenc, a native of Poland.
 
Most future growth in Web access will occur in the developing world, where millions of users are encountering Web advertising for the first time. Some 1.4 billion people have access to the Internet, accounting for less than a third of the world's population.
In the U.S., 188.1 million people have access to the Internet, representing market penetration of 63.6 percent - but that figure is expected to rise to 216.9 million in 2012, Lorenc said.
 
By contrast, in India, for example, some 32.6 million people have access to the Internet, representing 2.9 percent of the population. But that figure will nearly triple by 2012 to 81.3 million users.
 
That means that a sizable opportunity for sales growth is housed overseas, leading to inevitable cultural conflicts in online marketing.
Bud Gibson
Bud Gibson, an Eastern Michigan University professor and online marketing expert, said integrating a strong understanding of cultural differences would prove crucial in online communications.
 
"Search is the new infrastructure for the web," Gibson said.
 
However, that doesn't guarantee that Google will forever dominate the search industry. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter offer a different approach to online searching. Facebook is developing the capability to allow its users to search information and posts from their friends, and Twitter already integrates a real-time search function into its service.
 
Google's market domination is obvious in the U.S. But in the Czech Republic, for example, Google's market share is only 14 percent because of a strong locally-based competitor, Lorenc said. Google has more than 50 offices around the globe to ensure that it understands local needs.
 
"Local markets demand local innovation," Lorenc said.
 
Contact Nathan Bomey at (734) 302-1725 or nathanb@mbusinessreview.com.
 
Found at:
http://www.mlive.com/businessreview/annarbor/index.ssf/2009/07/companies_that_sell_overseas_n.html

Posted via email from Yellow Door Media