Do you blog for international business?

Tweak Your Biz » Global » Do you blog for international business?

Do you blog for international business?

by Una Coleman on April 26th, 2010
40 Comments

I’ve been doing some research on the Irish SME sector and the role of blogging in companies’ international marketing strategy. There aren’t many doing it yet so it’s not possible to draw many conclusions.

From the outset I proffer three points:

A blog is another channel to raise awareness for your company.
A blog is a great mechanism to anchor your Social Media Marketing strategy.
A blog can only be one of a number of your international marketing activities.

Today I am looking at Ceramicx Ireland Ltd, a technical infrared heater manufacturer, exporting to 63 countries around the world. It operates out of its manufacturing and research facility on the stunning backdrop of the Mizen Peninsula, Ballydehob, West Cork, Ireland.

Ceramicx’s MD, Frank Wilson is an engineer by profession but is an advocate for marketing.

Key Facts

Most of its revenue comes from exports.
Some country revenue is from one-off client sales.
It has an industry leading R&D orientatation.
It is number 2 in the world in ceramics – size wise.
It is 1 of 7 recognized world players.
The industry is long established with a strong community.

Ceramicx are now focusing on a number of markets:

China
Far East
Germany
Russia
The English speaking markets – UK/USA

The company is passionate about:

Its products and expertise and shaping the industry through R&D:

Marketing: Frank Wilson, its CEO, is an engineer by profession but believes marketing, niche positioning and Thought Leadership are fundamental to building a global and sustainable business. In addition, Frank believes communication through story-telling, strong brand personality (and a little controversy on occasion), help build its online presence and reach and engage its existing customers and new target customers.

Marketing objectives
Ceramicx allocates a significant budget to marketing.
They are working from a 5 year strategic plan which now integrates on and offline marketing.

Ceramicx’s objectives are to a) to define the industry and b) build an online community around the industry with itself at the centre.

Social Media Marketing Strategy
Ceramicx believes in the power of Social Media Marketing. Like many organisations, it started its eStrategy in 2009. It is using its blog to anchor its SMM strategy and to communicate the brand values, history and stories of the company, while at the same time, building followers, loyal employees and converting leads from interested observers to buyers.

It uses Linkedin to connect and engage with its industry, joining relevant groups, and it is starting and getting involved in discussions and online forums. Ceramicx engages with its competitors online and invites them to join in on their discussions. Together, they make the industry stronger.

It hasn’t yet set up a Ceramicx Linkedin Group but plans to do so once it has better established itself as an authority.

Ceramix also has a Twitter account, @ceramicx which it opened in the 3rd quarter of 2009. It doesn’t yet have critical mass and needs to devote more time to this platform.

Its blog stream is automatically published on Linkedin.

Right now, Ceramicx realize that many of the influencers within its target group don’t have the proficiency to interact via these new social networking platforms: neither does it fall within their remit. This group hasn’t yet recognized the entire value of an online community. But, Ceramicx sees a growing trend and believes in time its target audience will be online and community based.

Blogging
Ceramicx posts new content on average once or twice a week.

The focus of the blog is to generate content that will validate Ceramicx’s brand as a Thought Leader and authority on its subject matter.

In time, they plan to add more guest posts to their blog.

Interaction with other blogs
At the moment Ceramicx is tracking other blogs in its industry. It is however, focusing on building its reputation as an authority now, rather than leaving too many comments on other blogs. It expects to interact more at a later stage in its campaign.

Creating a blog character
To bring some fun and interest into their blog, Ceramicx are using Kelvin the cartoon character as a mouth piece to offer more controversial opinions. It is another way to tell stories and engage with its audience and keep bringing people back, while at the same time, protecting the brand for its more conservative readership.

Ceramicx's blog

http://www.ceramicx.com/en/2009/12/to-measure-is-to-manage-infrared-heating/

Kelvin is a chameleon and like infra-red, cannot be detected.

Ceramicx plan to use Kelvin more in the future.

Other Social Networking Platforms
They have a Facebook page but are not yet populating or building it in any meaningful way. Likewise, they have a limited number of videos as yet to upload to YouTube. Both of these platforms are on their list for increased activity towards the end of 2010.

Social Bookmarking
They are doing limited bookmarking at the moment but expect to increase this activity in the future.

Commitment
Ceramicx is committing significant resources to its eStrategy and Social Media Marketing strategy: the maintenance and online interaction on its active social networking platforms is in the region of 5 – 6 hours per week.

Multi-lingual markets
Frank lived and worked for many years outside Ireland. He believes one of his key strengths is communicating with his non-English speaking clients and prospects in a way that neither party is disadvantaged by a lack of fluency in each other’s mother tongue. He regards it a joy of his professional life that he is privileged to work with people in places as diverse as the Middle East, China and Germany.

•   If we care to interact and communicate with the customers in these regions – we can do business.
•   By interacting in their language – we are INCREASING our chances of being successful.
•   Its about the 3rd Step of Globalization – Acting and Marketing your business like a local player.
•   With the Internet – this means using a “local” website, with local languages that can meet local requirements.

Ceramicx, within normal business constraints, is consequently committed to communicating in the local market language. Ceramicx’s website is currently translated into 9 languages. The degree of translation is dictated by Ceramicx’s activity and prospects in that market. Their foreign language websites have been up for more than 2 years which has helped google ranking in those local markets.

Frank Wilson, MD Ceramicx

Their blog is not yet translated but it is in their future planning. As revenues grow in each foreign language market they will be able to pledge further marketing resource.

At the moment Ceramicx is profiled in each country as a.com vesus .de (for Germany, for instance). They may in the future move to local country hosting.

Measurement
In Frank’s own words “To manage is to measure”. Ceramicx will only continue with its SMM and eStrategy if the analytics confirm that its initiatives are working. And they are!

Headline Figures are for last 4 months versus the same months in the previous year are:
•   Website Traffic is up 176%
•   Unique Visitors up 180%
•   High success in 14 of 15 English Key phrases (targeted phrases with volume)
•   High success in 32 of 36 multilingual key phrases (same as above)
•   Major increases in website traffic from 24 of 25 countries
•   Organic Google Search Traffic up 170%
•   Organic Yahoo Search Traffic up 170%
•   Direct Traffic up 85%

SEO
Granite Consulting (www.granite.ie) support Ceramicx’s e-Strategy with SEO. They have identified 9 key phrases in English for optimization: highly trafficked terms. Blogs and content reference these key words and phrases.

They track traffic via google analytics and google alerts to identify where Ceramicx is being mentioned.

In the past year Ceramicx has reduced its google ad campaigns as its organic ranking has significantly improved as a result of consistent and good content posted to its blog.

Links
Granite also does a lot of work with Ceramicx in relation to link building: identifying relevant sites with which to link: identifying individuals within those organizations to contact and making the contact – with relevant “business case” to request the link.

Online Reputation Management
At the moment their activity and tracking is limited to Google Alerts and management by requirement. They expect to have to pay more attention to this in the future as they extend their activities across platforms and in more countries.

Social Media Marketing Policies
As it is only a few key individuals within Ceramicx who are creating content and representing the Ceramixc brand online, they have not felt a need to develop SMM policies.

Conclusion
Ceramicx is wholly committed to building its brand and reputation using Social Media Marketing: its blog and linkedin are its key social networking platforms currently but it expects to develop and exploit other platforms in due course. To-date it is pleased with the results it’s achieving and the ROI (return on investment) for its marketing budget.

The figures speak for themselves!

Do you know of any Irish companies who are successfully blogging for international business? Please share your experiences.

Category: International Marketing, Strategy

Tags: International Marketing, internationalization, marketing abroad, marketing overseas

The Author: Una Coleman

I am an International Strategy and Marketing Consultant with over 20 years experience in marketing and strategy and international operations both in the US and Europe. Broad functional experience in: Marketing and Communications Strategic and Financial analytics including Business Case Development Consulting and Operational management Client Relationship Management Deep financial services sector knowledge. Worked in organisations ranging from technology start-ups, fast-paced direct marketing agency to large corporates. Member of Enterprise Ireland Mentor Panel Member of IIA (Irish Internet Association) International Strategy Working Group Committee member of the MBA Association of Ireland: http://www.mbaassociation.ie/pages/home.asp http://www.codegaconsulting.com

Add Your Comment

Anonymous

Good points to remember, Emma. But as Barney says in the post after yours, keeping your head on the sand is good sometimes!

:0)
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Well I suppose it’s something like jumping ahead and taking risks instead of weighing up the pros and cons and turning a potentially dangerous risk into a calculated risk, more chance of a successful outcome
I agree excitement is important – we need to feel energised by what we plan, but to pace ourselves also.
Thanks for the comment Fred!
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Indeed Paul,
Balance, timing, motivation, perseverance, energy are all key to following through a plan of action.
I just hope that those who ready, fire, and aim don’t kill off the plan on first shot
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Well you’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head there Niall – goals CAN be too loose! If that is the case – it is not a focused or “SMART” goal, and not worth having.
We need to tighten up the borders around goals and set proper plans and timing for them to be successful.
“Failure” is a chance to learn from the plan that simply didn’t work. Find the reasons and review, back to the drawing board so to speak, and change direction, do something different:
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results – Insanity (I would have to add here though, that a little madness is always good)
Anonymous

Its the poor innocent bystanders I am worried about

Think the people who penned that were targeting those who spend their life planning and never actually do anything or pull the trigger. I agree that planning is important!!

Thanks P
http://blog.myprojecttracker.com Barney Austen

Hi Elli, for me the addition I would make is not to accept the status quo or mediocraty in any element of a business. Every business has scope for improvement and people should not be afraid to put their hands up and suggest changes. Of course, management needs to encourage this kind of thinking in their teams and this is where companies often come unstuck!
Anonymous

Barney,

Thanks for the comment. It takes inner strength on the part of management in an organization to invite or even urge people to speak up and propose changes. There is an interesting company in Rhode Island called Rite Solutions and they encourage all of their employees to write proposals that will make either the products better or how the company runs better. This includes their plant management staff and administrative staff. When was the last time anyone asked a janitor or an administrative assistant what would make things work better?
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Hi Cindy, Thanks to you and Anita @bizsugar for all your hard work and efforts in putting this super competition together. Really looking forward to seeing some great posts. Cheers, Niall.
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Sounds great guys, pity I will be away.
Think I need to delegate someone to take my place for those few days!
Best of luck to everyone!
http://www.TheFranchiseKingBlog.com The Franchise King

Cindy, This is going to be awesome!
Anonymous

Great initiative. Should send us even higher into the blogosphere.
Anonymous

Better get back on the beta blockers over the weekend to keep the performance anxiety at bay…. What to write about? That is the question. Any winning ideas?
http://www.TonyJohnston.biz/ Tony Johnston

Brilliant concept – hope it’s a rip roaring success!
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Somehow, I think you will do just fine
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Love your enthusiasm , It’s infectious
http://www.fortysomethingbride.com/ Colleen Cole

I thought I was out because I knew the date had passed to enter, I was coming back to see the currently entries…now to write and submit quickly!
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Hi Coleen, lol, delighted you are entering #SugarTone. I will look forward to reading and commenting on your post. Thanks, Niall
Anonymous

FYI Submit URL doesn’t work under Cindy’s top photo but can under the Vote Articles section where it takes you the page where you can vote or submit.

Super contest idea. I hope you all will run it again. Will participate if I can after finishing a bunch of work, the week flew by.
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Hi Liz, thx for the heads up, fixed now.
http://www.stress-solutions4life.com/ Catherine Connors

Interesting post Niall and I agree with your comment here, I too try to be the same person online as I am offline, as you say behind every blog post and tweet there is a person, and each and every person is due the basic respect that we ourselves expect on both counts…..
Anonymous

Niall,

Truly, social media can be misused. It can be a hammer for those who are disatisfied with life and feel the need to “correct” us misguided types. It can be the illusion of a stage for wanna-be “rockstars.”

People get when people are truly on the level. (Like you!) We can choose how much of our energy we are willing to give to others. We choose to be civil or not. At the end of the day, the Internet and social media are reflections of in-person interactions anywhere. (Don’t lose faith! Your engagement is a gift!)
http://www.btbtraining.com/blog Niall Devitt

Una, this is a really interesting piece & wow the results are pretty significant so far. Frank is to be complimented for his foresight in relation to blogging. “There aren’t many doing it yet so it’s not possible to draw many conclusions” I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed that this is still the case, recession aside, we continue to play catch up.
http://www.seefincoaching.com/blog Elaine Rogers

Great post, very interesting read.
Some of it went over my head, but then again I am not active internationally, but appreciate when someone researches and highlights these points.
Thanks for sharing, Frank is lucky to be based in such an inspiring part of the country
DermotQ

Great post with some interesting insights into the power of online as an international force multiplier for SMEs.

On the other hand, it also illustrates the limitations: the ceramicx blog is still in English only and the content addresses a global rather than a local market. The ‘latest news’ section also remains in English on the localised pages of the ceramicx website.

The big constraint here is the cost of producing locally relevant content in the local language on a regular (weekly or monthly) basis – which is the stuff which is probably of most interest to customers. For the moment, there is no solution to cost effective, high quality translation and localisation services for SMEs that are affordable without a massive business case for market entry. That needs to change.
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Thanks Dermot. Your own insights on your recent post lend themselves well to this discussion. There are no quick fixes or cheap solutions. Howver, Ceramicx have had fantastic success with its global audience so far as demonstrated in the results – in the blog. Do you know any SME who has achieved international success with blogging?
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Thanks Elaine. There are indeed alot more challenges for the SME going international. Thanks for taking the time in any event to read and RT the post, particularly when it’s outside your own scope.
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Thanks Niall. I suppose for most organisations it’s a question of resources and alot of SMEs have cut back on their marketing during the recession, the downsides of which I mentioned in an earlier blog. Dermot made some great comments a couple of weeks ago on his post and the challenges facing SMEs in internationalising.
Pingback: Small Business News: Cyber Biz Basics | Small Business Trends
DermotQ

I think the jury is still out on international business blogging which is still largely a US cultural phenomena. For example, blogging is still restricted to a relatively small number of languages – in 2008, 37% of blogs were in Japanese, 36% were in English and the majority of the remainder in Simplified Chinese and Farsi (Technorati, 2008).

The reasons why people write and read blogs are also culturally specific – there are only 110 million Japanese speakers compared to 1.1 billion English speakers so the fact that Japanese beats English as a blogging language is quite remarkable. The content of Japanese blogs however is very different in content and tone to English blogs – Japanese blogs are deeply personal and are used to engender good relationships with others rather than for the kind of abrasive activism or as a platform for expertise that we see in the Anglo Saxon world.

The Technorati figures are also notable because of the low uptake of any kind of blogging – not just business blogging – in the Spanish speaking world (30+ countries) and in the Francophonie.

Unfortunately, the world isn’t flat – it’s still very lumpy in places! The Ceramicx case study is interesting as a litmus test – they will really be out on the curring edge if they do localise the interactive parts of their website like the blog. Look forward to hearing more! As always, Una a stimulating and forward looking post.
http://www.hal9000.ie Jennie

Hi Una,

I spoke to you briefly at the recent WordCamp in Kilkenny and at last I’ve had the chance to check out your posts here!

The company above is a very good example of a site well-optimised for organic search, their online marketing company obviously know what they’re doing. A useful little tool to check out how well a site is doing for organic search visibility on the web is http://www.websitegrader.com. You just enter a URL and the website is graded according to a variety of criteria and it’s free to use. The tool gives Ceramicx a score of 96% – top marks!

As you’ve said, the business blog and the fresh, relevant content contribute hugely to this. The other cornerstone of organic SEO ranking is in-bound links. Ceramicx have only around 28 links from root domains, but one of these is Wikipedia and links from here are great ‘Google juice’!

As Ceramicx have experienced, the time and effort put in to organic SEO yields longer-term rewards, and so is a much better long-term strategy than Google AdWords.
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Hi Jennie, lovely to hear from you. I will pass your comments onto Ceramicx – great nuggets for them and to add to the discussion. I am going to use websitegrader on a few other sites now to see what turns up. Just looked at your blog – SEO, SMO, organic ranking for international search and international business continues to evolve and it is a challenge for SMEs. Jennie, I’m a member of the Irish Internet Association International Strategy Working Group and we are hosting a breakout session during its upcoming conference, May 20 – “Helping Irish Companies Prepare their Website for Overseas Expansion. We will cover # Potential pitfalls when building an overseas website
# International SEO/SEM (Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing)
# International Social Media and Online PR
http://short.ie/x49nog
It’s a subject you’d be interested in. I’ll post some pieces here after the event.
Great to get your input and please do drop back again in the future. It’s an area that I’m very interested in myself as I support companies with marketing to generate international business
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Thanks Dermot. What’s great about bloggertone is that it gives us all, not just a forum to build community, raise awareness for our own brands but, outside the blog posts themselves, it’s a great way to pick up hints and tips from other experts.
You too will probably be interested in the IIA conference – see my comment above to Jennie.
http://www.granite.ie/about/robert-carpenter/ Robert C

I agree Dermot.

You are correct and your comments are very timely in relation to non localisation of the Ceramicx Blog.

While the constraints you mention to producing local content are real, Ceramicx are currently creating synergies with local experts to allow delivery of relevant and interesting content in the relevant markets.
Ceramicx are very close to the launch of a number of additional blogs both on .com and TLD’s which will accelerate the growth of their German market.
Significant work has also been done for Russian, Farsi and Arabic with Chinese, French Portuguese and Spanish a little further behind.

Ceramicx have learned that it is easy to find translation providers in local markets but to only focus on this element is a mistake. What people discuss and search for in 1 language rarely translates literally to another with examples of this wide and varying.

What Ceramicx have done differently here is firstly to understand what people search for and discuss in their local languages and then planning for each specific market.
Once you understand what your customers need in a new market – only then can you connect and offer a professional solution to meet those needs.

A question of my own – Has anyone proof of successful methods in generating comment/feedback on localised blogs(German especially as it will be first localised blog to launch)?
Ceramicx still struggle here with their english blog but possibly the topics are not provocative enough. Frank is beginning to beat the controversy churn so hopefully this is about to change…

BTW, Una well done on a good post.

Rob
DermotQ

Thanks Una, the IIA meeting clashes with the Localization Unconference 2010 also being held on May 20th in Dublin (see http://localizationunconference.com/) which I hope to attend, however greatly appreciate your feedback to Bloggertone on the breakout sessions at the IIA meet. I’m happy to provide some notes from that. D
http://risk20.wordpress.com Eddie

Una, thanks again for another thorough and insightful post on the nuances of internationally blogging. I’ve really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the international angle. In a sense, anyone who blogs is writing for an international audience whether they know it or not. The web allows for quite a wide and diverse audience. It’s also true that your target audience may find you rather than the other way around. You never know who you might appeal to. If you’re blogging for business, you have to be ready to embrace that new audience, who may be totally different from what you imagined at the outset.

So the considerations that you, Dermot, and others have brought up in this blog post and the comments are very important. Thanks again.
http://www.codegaconsulting.com Una Coleman

Thanks Eddie for taking the time to read and comment. If you come across anyone States side that you think is doing a good job for an international audience, please do let us know.
Julita Szumska

I’ve enjoyed reading your post! I found really interesting the part about multi-lingual markets!nI see Social Media and blogging as a great tool for international companies. It allowed to be ‘closer’ to the client and respond to their needs.nFew weeks ago on my blog I wrote about blogging in law firms and internalization of small business (www.julitaszumska.wordpress.com)n
http://www.npsteam.com/products/SAGE_Fund_Accounting.htm Verna Derosier

Ahh, the balance sheet. I remember my undergraduate days when we had basic accounting. According to some, it’s hard making both sides equal in a limited amount of time (those were exams, by the way) without the use of software. I bet that they would have wished that they knew this blog before so that they can read your accounting stuff. What you have here is really useful, Aonghus!
Z_omar_17

hi u00a0una , ni am phd student and i am so interested in doing my phd in social media and internationalsiation of firms ni mean for example the key success factors of using the social media in internationalisation of firms nso please i want to talk with you nmy email is z_omar_17@hotmail.com n@hotmail:disqusu00a0so can you send me email plz
http://www.headwise.net/index.php/virtual-services/globalseo Multilingual seo

Blog are very important for your business optimization but have some side effective that hire in the market like thousand blog create in one day mostly spammer are coming in blog area when search engine give you latest update about blog then show avoid spammer always give you not important your search result decrease when you use blog for commenting.

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