Amid economic trouble, here’s how to test internationally with digital marketing

But rather than fighting to keep digital marketing efforts prevalent in an economy experiencing a downturn, expanding your business into new international markets where there is demand for your products or services can be the lifeline your company is looking for.

Search Laboratory’s mother-tongue digital marketers have put together a white paper to identify growth opportunities in new international markets. By taking a gradual approach that utilizes international digital marketing research and testing methods, you can ensure products or services match an ideal customer base.

Find the best territory

Going from your local market to another overseas territory without conducting relevant research is doomed to fail. Before even attempting to take digital marketing channels and an entire business global, you must know where the highest demand lies for your products or services.

Another vital aspect of international expansion is gaining a foothold on key competitors’ behavior, as well as what devices and online platforms are used most frequently by your new audience. This allows your digital marketing to be targeted precisely toward users in the new market.

Know how much it may cost

Any business expansion initiatives will incur costs. International expansion is no different. But this isn’t a reason to stop pursuing brand growth in a new territory.

Part of your research needs to involve assessing the currency conversions, tax charges, and possible logistical costs when going international. Considering these financial factors again gives you more insights into your preferred target audience in a particular territory.

Testing methods

After researching where the best opportunities are for the business and working out how much it could cost, you need to decide on effective testing methods in the new territory.

Testing lets you take a soft-launch approach in your new territory and allows you to assess any failures, but also the successes surrounding your new target user base.

When it comes to increasing brand awareness, an effective testing method is utilizing a select number of paid media advertisements and PPC campaigns. This drip-feeds your brand to your new target audience and allows you to see how well impressions and conversions perform on a small scale.

For retail businesses, online marketplaces are your best friend for measuring response in a new territory. Because marketplaces are often already localized to each market, the financial resource and time you need to create an account is considerably decreased, making this an effective testing method.

For B2B businesses, one of the most effective testing methods is translating and localizing key landing pages. Carefully selecting certain web pages allows you to understand user behavior related to key goals on your website on a much more manageable scale than translating your whole website.

A/B testing is another effective method for analyzing responses in a new territory. This lets you see if specific changes to landing page structure or keyword variants are more effective at generating results than others. The result is a more rounded view of what resonates with new users the most.

You can download a free copy of the whitepaper for more information on how to take the initial steps toward international expansion.