Aligning businesses with different cultures

When you first start marketing to different countries you need to organize your information on your website.

How do you go about doing this ?

If you have a website you will naturally have questions buzzing around your head about search engine results. You don’t want to lose any of your Search Engine Optimization efforts.

In the very beginning you have two choices to prepare for international business development. You can decide to start with :

• A separate English language International website
• Internationalizing your current website

This is just preparation. Internationalizing your website can even be compared to doing a little housekeeping. It simply cleans up your website.

The next step after this is to create country specific content for your international audience. Once you create country specific content, what do you do with it ?More…

You actually have three choices in separating your culture specific content on your website :

Subdirectories

• www.yourcompanyname.com/countryname

Many people start here. This is very easy to set up.

Sub Domains

• www.countryname.yourcompanyname.com

This is an easy method to separate content. It is also a very easy way to manage your country specific content.

Companies choose this option when they want everything on one server, as opposed to using the Top Level Domains.

Top Level Domains

• www.yourcompanyname.fr for France

This is what we just referred to for Website Localization.

Use this when you have enough different content for each country you are targeting.

To find out

• guidelines to help you to decide which option is best for you
• how Google can help you with better international search results

Read the full article here :

• How To Organize Country Specific Content On Your Website

Here’s to your international success,

Cindy King

Cross Cultural Web Copy Architect

PS : laissez-moi vos commentaires sur mes blogs :

www.cindyking.biz

www.getinternationalclients.com

Mon autre site en français en cours de démarrage :

www.clienteleinternationale.com

Prior to your first cross cultural negotiation give some thought on how you will keep on track.

A Beginners Guideline

Here is a guideline to help beginners.

If you find yourself on your own in a country where negotiation practices are different to your own, there is a strategy to follow. Prior To Your Negotiations

Do your research on what will be expected of you. Define your schedule, and what you are expected to wear and bring. If you are a woman, be sure to verify standard practices beforehand.

Are there any standard culturally specific negotiating practices ? Remember to ask for advice prior to cross-cultural negotiations.

If you feel you will be in a different environment than you are used to you have two options to consider :

1. Hire local representation. Some large multi-national companies hire local company representatives to facilitate all business procedures in certain countries in the Middle East and the Far East.

2. Arrange for a local third party to accompany you. Look for someone who can tell you if you are making any cultural blunders. This will give you a certain peace of mind.

Prior research helps, but even so, it is not always easy. You will also need to keep your own behavior and attitudes turned towards your negotiation.

This is where the following 8 points are important.

Best Practices During Your First Cross Cultural Negotiation

1. Ask and find out what is expected of you.

2. Explain that you are looking forward to the business opportunities open to both of you.

3. Explain that this is your first trip and you have not done business in their country before.

4. State your good will and that you do not mean to do anything awkward.

5. Ask to be told or shown what to do.

6. Apologize if you do or say something that seems to be out of place.

7. Continue to show your desire to proceed in the negotiations.

8. Continue to say that your look forward to doing business with them and learning more about their culture.

How To Use This Guideline

Keep this guideline in mind during your negotiations.

• Remain constantly aware of your environment so you can implement any of these points if needed.
• Use each point appropriately when needed.
• Do not go overboard. Overly stating your enthusiasm or apologizing incessantly can be destructive to your negotiations in some cultures.

Use this guideline as a gentle reminder to stay tuned to where the other party is at. If you feel in any way that you need to refer to one of the points above, do so, and continue your negotiation. Your Skills Improve With Experience

Cross cultural communication is a process where you adjust your communication a little and learn to meet another culture in the area where you both feel comfortable. It is about knowing when to ask discretely for feedback to make sure you are all on the same path.

Your first cross cultural negotiation will simply be a first step in the process of adjusting to another culture. Your cross cultural communication skills improve with practice.

Follow these guidelines for your first cross cultural negotiation and you will not make any blunders you are unable to recuperate from.

This is an extract of an article on Get International Clients.

You can read the full article here :

• Your Guideline For Successful First Time Cross Cultural Negotiations In Any Culture

Here’s to your international success,

Cindy King

Cross Cultural Web Copy Architect

PS : laissez-moi vos commentaires sur mes blogs :

www.cindyking.biz

www.getinternationalclients.com

Mon site en français en cours de démarrage :

www.clienteleinternationale.com

Vous pouvez commencer directement sur :

• Web Tools For Cultural Communication

Basic Guidelines For Using Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools

This is the beginning of a new series on Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools.

Before we start, I need to set important guidelines.

I am going to spend the next couple of months covering one different cross cultural communication web tool each day. These are web tools for you to use when marketing to specific foreign cultures.

I will give you web tools for each of the two different ends of the five scales of cultural behaviors. But it’s important to remember certain guidelines when implementing these tools.

Let’s have a look at the basics in using these cross cultural communication web tools:More…

Important Note :

Before we start, remember do not stop using a web tool just because it is not recommended as your best cross cultural tool. This is not about eliminating tools, it is about identifying which web tools should be :

• Highlighted
• emphasized
• Place in a more prominent position
• Remember to keep good web marketing practices at all times.

Web Tools For Better Communication

The purpose of this series is to give you web tools for you to get better cross cultural communication. This is not a cookie cutter solution.

You need to :

• Find the right mixture of tools for your market
• Interpret them correctly
• Highlight them in the right way
• Test the tools to find the best response for your specific cultural audience

Why You Need These Web Tools

These web tools aim for better communication adapted to cultures with different behavioral traits. The right emphasis on these web tools make your web communication more appealing to your foreign target market.

What happens if you don’t emphasize these web tools ?

• Cultural barriers pop up if you emphasize the web tools for the opposite behavioral trait.
• If there are no conflicting web tools, your website will not resonate strongly with the culture you are communicating with.

How To Find Cultural Behavior Scores

Much research has been done on the 5 different cultural behaviors.

• High Individualism versus High Collectivism Behavior
• High versus Low Uncertainty Avoidance Behavior
• High versus Low Power Distance Behavior
• High Masculinity versus High Femininity Behavior
• High versus Low Context Behavior

You can research online or buy books with results in them. However, much of this research was done some time ago. Cultures change. And like everything in this series, you will have to interpret these scores accurately. Everyone has a cultural bias, even those who wrote those reports and did the research. Will you be able to understand the results on the same level they are given ?

I believe you can get much good information from your own market research. This is why I have not included much information on individual country scores here in this series. This type of market research will also open your own mindset.

I do list the top countries researched, for both ends of each of the five scales, in the current Get International Clients Newsletter 5 week series. But I feel you should spend more time getting to know your target markets rather than relying too much on this old research. You will get so much more out of it.

The cultural behaviors represent a great tool in aligning your communication with the culture you are targeting. The base of this communication should be founded on your own international market research.

So, spend a little time browsing the popular websites and your competitors websites in the country you are targeting. Keep the five cultural behaviors in mind and see what additional information you can learn about your foreign market.

Try to identify where this particular culture falls on each of the five scales of cultural behaviors. It is often easier than you imagine. Find All The Ingredients

It is important to remember as we look at the each cultural behavior trait individually that this is just one cultural behavioral element on five different scales.

• You need to identify all five of the cultural traits that apply to your foreign culture.

Each culture has a unique blend of the five cultural behaviors. And these 5 cultural behaviors are only one part of the elements to influence your cross cultural communication.

Find The Right Mix

It is essential to find the right mix of tools for best results.

• You need to identify the right mix with all five of the cultural traits that apply to your foreign culture.

The way to find the right mix of web tools is to study all of the web tools that appeal to the different behavioral traits, adapt your website and test your results.

Find The Correct Emphasis

You can highlight key web tools through a variety of ways :

• Graphics
• Size
• Prominence
• Position
• Color

It is important to find the right way to highlight each tool on your website. The changes may be very subtle.

• You need to identify the right way to emphasis each of the web tools that apply to your foreign culture.

Test Your Cross Cultural Communication

This is not an absolute science. These are guidelines to give you concrete tools to try to improve your cross cultural communication. It is a delicate and subtle mix. Cross cultural communication can be a minefield of potential errors. Cross cultural web communication is no different.

What can you do ?

• Look to see what works well in your foreign market.
• Make small changes.
• Go slowly.
• Be open.
• Test your results.

It is important to remain open minded and also to try very subtle changes in the way you highlight each web tool.

Use these web tools to inspire you to create more powerful cross cultural communication on your website

Don’t forget to go and check the guide for other web tools – I will be going through a long list of them over the next couple of months :

• Web Tools For Cultural Communication

Here’s to your international success,

Cindy King

Cross Cultural Web Copy Architect

PS : laissez-moi vos commentaires sur mes blogs :

www.cindyking.biz

www.getinternationalclients.com

Mon site en français en cours de démarrage :

www.clienteleinternationale.com

Small businesses not used to intercultural communication, can easily find dealing with international prospects challenging. It is sometimes hard to figure out exactly how your sales message has been received. You may have difficulty understanding what your international prospect needs to hear from you.

Just like with your own local leads, some of international prospects can appear to be ready to make the sale, some are hesitant and some just do not appear to be interested. With international clients, it is often not easy to interpret their reactions.

How do you know if you should step up your sales pitch, slow down or if it would be better to pass the ball to one of your colleagues who is a different gender than you are?

Often you naturally realize that you need to do a little more adjusting in your communication style to fit your international prospect.

This is especially true when your client is not following you, or appears to want to be someplace else in your sales process. The result is that you may appear less professional than you would want. Destabilizing situations can arise.

Things can even become comical. Or worse, you can have a frustrated prospect losing patience with you and moving on. Your international clients like to feel understood. How do you avoid this type of scenario? There is only one thing to do. [click to continue...]