Ewom Marketing

Yesterday I came down with a case of the Mumps, therefore I have the time to put something together on firms using Internet based market entry. Enjoy!

The Internet provides a market entry method that is particularly suitable for smaller, widespread niche markets. Whilst websites might be accessible worldwide, however, the firm may need to select markets to focus on, possibly excluding those where there may be particular barriers, such as language, legal, payment and over fulfilment problems. The cost of organising to serve certain markets might outweigh the possible benefits. For firms that already have a strong presence in many markets the Internet supports all aspects of their activity.

Web based services will be successful if firms develop a global strategy based upon the integrated value chain. As this is a pervasive method of entry, based on global communications, it can facilitate lower risk access to difficult markets. By building online delivery capability it is possible to service markets profitably where there might be limited demand. of course, an e-commerce strategy is limited scope simply because it appeals to a very specific transnational segment - those that are able to gain access, particularly high speed access, continues to grow this is a diminishing problem.

After attending a conference in London last week, I was lucky enough to meet a "Localisation Outsourcer Consultant" A type of consultant I hadn't heard of before, therefore I was eager to learn more, with my notebook at the ready I began to "network"..

With companies competing on international markets now realising that if they are going to maximise the value from their company websites, they need the capability to localise the content to suit the language and cultural sensitivities of the markets they are targeting. Therefore this allows the opportunity for "localisation outsourcers consultants" to offer to help companies do this. Usually they combine a mixture/combination of humans translators and machine translation technologies to translate and edit text in a culturally sensitive way.

But that's not all, Specialists claim that they can help clients protect the company brand by providing control over web based marketing strategies on a global basis. This is simply done by following a basic concept consisting of the following: Centralise the message, translate it, and colloquialise it.

Of course these specialists will also examine design concerns, such as looking at the cultural implications of color in advertisements. For those thinking now, hold on a second what does it matter what colours do I use around the world.....Well did you know that in some parts of Asia white is the color of death..........hence why Ronald MacDonald doesn't exist in Asia!

Another useful element these consultants can offer is to ensure you follow all legal and regulations set in different countries. I was shocked to find out following facts:

In France - Consumers can enjoy a one week grace period after they receive an online purchase.

In Germany - Comparative advertising is banned on the web.

In China - Company's may become unnerved when they find out that encrypted websites are regulated by the Chinese government.

Google is now started to target corporate users with its release of "Google Video for business", the newest addition to the Google Apps package. Google's aim for this application is to address the requirements of corporate videos. For example, executive communications, product training and reports.

Google Video is selling itself as foolproof to use, stating that anyone can use it to share videos in two easy steps - uploading the video to web application service Google Apps, and then inviting others to view it. "

It seems like Google are making a much to do about nothing......I think its simply a extension of their YouTube proposition. Also will businesses be happy with YouTube-quality footage? When other companies offer the option to have better quality? It seems difficult to imagine a CEO talking about end of quarter results on a poor quality video.

According to Google, more than 500,000 businesses utilise Google Apps, with more than 3,000 additional businesses signing up every day.