How to Translate Social Media Activities Into International Expansion

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Liz Elting, co-founder and Co-CEO of TransPerfect, provides common pitfalls when translating social media activities into international expansion.

Four Social Media Pitfalls to Avoid As Your Business Goes Global

Here are the four:

1. Let social media efforts carry the international marketing campaign.
2. Isolate social media efforts from the rest of the international marketing strategy.
3. Adopt social media marketing abroad no matter what.
4. Put resources into social media at the beginning of a campaign, then taper off those efforts.

How to Take Your Business to the Next Level By Going Global

The iPad Makes It Easy to Take Your Business Global

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According to Gartner research analyst Raphael Vasquez:

"PC market growth will be impacted by devices that enable better on-the-go content consumption such as media tablets and next-generation smartphones," added research analyst Raphael Vasquez. "These devices will be increasingly embraced as complements if not substitutes for PCs where voice and light data consumption are desired."

 And according to Laurel Delaney, founder of GlobeTrade:

"The iPad will make it a whole heck of lot easier and more fun to take your business global."

Read more here.

Going Global Can Take Place Anywhere in the World

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Repeat: You can take your business global from any point in the world (such as this small town shown above) provided you have access to the Internet to help facilitate things. Got it?

Read this Portfolio (now available only online) article:

Small Town, Big World

Entrepreneurs in Sonoma have figured something out. You don’t have to be in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles to go global. Sometimes, you can do it right in the backyard of your own little California town.

How to Grow Your Business Globally and Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy

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On February 9th, I served as a panelist for the San Francisco-based SMB Summit, "How Businesses Can Capitalize on the Rebounding Economy," that was hosted by Verio and Inc. Magazine and for private-company CEOs, business owners, and Inc. 500|5000 alumni. It was a great experience to share insights with other leading experts in the SMB sphere, including:

• Donna Fenn, Moderator, International Author, Contributing Editor/Blogger at Inc. Magazine
• Mitchell Merrifield, Senior Director of Managed Computing Solutions, Verio, Inc.
• Brian Burch, Director of SMB Marketing, Americas Region, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
• Laurel Delaney, President, GlobeTrade.com
• Kristin Micalizio, V.P. Strategic Initiatives, Office Depot North America
• Alex Freemon, Volunteer, Silicon Valley Chapter, SCORE

My focus was on how small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) can grow and capitalize on the rebounding economy by taking their businesses global. Here are some of the questions I addressed, my responses, stories I shared and some other issues that came up as a result of our lively conversation (attendees were magnificent!).

Snippet:

Q: Let’s start by addressing the 800-pound gorilla in the room: Is the economy rebounding? Tell us if you’ve seen some glimmers of recovery; how are you reading the tea leaves?

My response: Not really, although I find it hard to imagine it getting any worse. We are at rock bottom so the only way is up. Nothing, other than the “tech” industry, tells me there’s a rebound. What I mean by that is Cisco (Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers indicated, “This is one of the most robust positive turnarounds I’ve seen in my career”), Microsoft, IBM, Apple, NetSuite and Google all reported stunning profit results for the last quarter of 2009, which means SMB owners might be getting more tech savvy in preparation for a slow recovery. But let’s face it, money is not just tight. There is no money for growth unless you are running an established business with a wildly successful track record. That’s scary for people who have insanely great ideas and can’t get them funded. The good news for SMB owners who are tinkering with the notion of taking their business global is that our commerce secretary, Gary Locke, pledged $6 billion a year in export financing for USA small businesses through the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Aside from all this, the only real sign I am seeing with SMB owners related to recovery is ...

Read the entire piece here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

How To Organize An Export Trial Run

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Despite harsh economic times, you can still formulate a plan to take your business global. In this case, it's getting ready to export.

I prepared this article, Organizing Your Export Trial Run (3 of a 5-part series) for Small Business Trends over at the OPEN Forum by American Express OPEN blog.

If you like it, click on the useful button (and add your comments). If you don't, please email me at ldelaney(at)globetrade.com. I always welcome feedback.

Just Go For It: Take Your Business Global!

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I participated in this fabulous program UPS (along with Inc. and IBM) put on in November. I can't encourage you enough to take the time to listen to these podcasts where global small business owners share their successes that will inspire and empower you to take your business to the next level: global. If you can't tune-in to all of them, pick one or two that appeal to your interests.

And don't forget to download and read the invaluable Business Monitor Reports (refer to the upper right hand side of the site) to find out what's really holding small businesses back on going global.

Take Your Business Global

Everybody is focusing on going global these days. Looks like we are on to something!

Read CNN's article here.

And most of the guidelines mentioned for expanding your business internationally have been featured in Entrepreneur magazine's Global Village column. We've covered the World Bank's website (see Easy Street, June, 2007), Export Assistance Center and U.S. Department of Commerce (Study Abroad, May, 2006) and the World Citizen's Guide (American Outcast, February, 2006) -- so we're on it!