What information is required for Multilingual Site?
We have been trying to sell to countries around the world for a long time, and we would love to discuss this with you. I am sure there are many ways to sell internationally, but for now, please tell us all about the latest trends!
International expansion requires Multilingual Site management
First, let me briefly review the methods of international expansion,
For international sales,
[Real]
1 Visiting international companies for face-to-face sales
2 Face-to-face sales by setting up a booth at a trade show, etc.
[Online]
3 Remote sales using online negotiation tools
4 Cross-border EC sales (own website)
5 Cross-border EC sales (opening a store on a platform – amazon, etc.)
and others.
Instead of selling directly from your company to local customers, do you sell through a trading company, or through an international local wholesaler or retailer, etc.?
Good question.
There are two ways to have a product sold through a trading company
(1) Work with trading companies on 1-3 above, and maintain 4 and 5 on their own.
(2) Ask a trading company to accompany you only for international sales in 1 above, and maintain 2 to 5 on your own.
However, sales through trading companies have been declining compared to their heyday, so (1) is probably much less common in recent years.
Even if sales are made through a trading company, it will be essential for manufacturers to develop their own multilingual websites and create the tools and content necessary for international sales.
The most likely scenario is that a local wholesaler or retailer will approach you directly after learning of your company’s existence at an international trade show (see 2) or after learning of your products on their own cross-border e-commerce site (see 4 or 5).
I see.
By the way, just a thought,
Trading companies, local wholesalers and retailers are good partners who work hard every day to sell Japanese manufacturers’ products.
What will happen to trading companies, wholesalers, and retailers when manufacturers begin to sell and market directly to local customers from their own websites or cross-border e-commerce platform sites?
I think that the relationship between the two companies can be a bit iffy. I think there are a lot of things, like price, follow-up after the sale, etc.
It’s good!
It is a shrewd point of view.
As you say, in recent international expansion, where offline (real) and online (website) distribution is mixed, traffic management in this area is the key, and requires careful strategy.
The strategy to be adopted will vary depending on the company’s products and services and international distribution, but in the end, it is up to you, the seller, to take the initiative in developing a “three-goods(buyer, seller and society)” situation on a case-by-case basis.
Strategies, to be developed,
It’s going to be difficult…
I hope this helps you with your thinking,
In the age of the New Normal, there seem to be many options for how to sell internationally, and when you get down to it, you will find that it comes down to one of the following two things.
・What can (and should) be sold only on cross-border e-commerce sites and company websites
・In addition to cross-border e-commerce sites and corporate websites, more effective combinations with international exhibition participation and visits to international companies
Like ever,
80% face-to-face international sales: 20% via website sales,
and so on,
50% face-to-face international sales: 50% via website sales,
Or,
face-to-face International Sales 0% or 20%: Website All the rest,
It is moving in the direction of.
As international sales itself is being replaced by websites, the ability to complete the process on the website itself is beginning to be appreciated, except for products and services that salespeople cannot close without a face-to-face meeting.
Therefore, each website development company creates websites from the viewpoint of how the website can replace international sales for users 24 hours a day. This is the perspective from which we create our websites.
(No need for an international sales person…?)
Your products are industrial products.
For example, could you sell your products on a cross-border e-commerce site?
Oh, no, probably not.
Oh, Mr. President~,
You are well tanned.
I’m walking, because fitness is the key to international expansion.
Walk walk walk every day!
Great!
Walking is a great stress reliever.
I just got off one station earlier in the morning and started walking,
I burned calories in a different way by walking in circles because I took the wrong exit from the station three days in a row (as there is even an exit 20).
You are The Directionless!
…
By the way (laughs), about what you just said,
We sell the machines and parts we manufacture to our customers either through trading companies or directly.
In both cases, it is necessary to have a meeting to determine specifications, and I think it is a bit difficult to sell parts and machinery on an e-commerce site.
What is an international website that brings you closer to international customers?
I think that has certainly been the case until now.
Describe your main products and technologies on the company website, and even for products not listed, “Please contact us first,
Can you do this? and then we would communicate with the client several times to confirm the details, or visit the client to determine the specifications and propose a quotation.
Yes.
In fact, even before Corona, the behavior patterns of international customers up to the point of purchase have been changing, and the axis of action has shifted about halfway to the use of the Web.
When an international company contacts us via our website asking, “Can you do this?” they often contact us with the confidence that we can do it.
The companies that receive such inquiries are properly aware that they are getting closer and closer to their customers, and they are becoming more and more sensitive each year, and they work even harder.
What?
“Marketing.”
Marketing, yes, but…
(I don’t know if I’m supposed to work hard at marketing, but I don’t know hoo…)
There are many types of international marketing, such as inbound marketing, content marketing, web marketing, etc,
It is also an attempt to alleviate the “decision-making difficulties” of international customers before they make the right purchase, while carrying the burden with them.
An international website that gets closer to international customers is a website that has a marketing perspective.
Content creation is vital to the international websites of small and medium-sized companies that are not well known.
An increasing number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are converting their Japanese websites into multilingual websites or building their own e-commerce sites in order to develop international sales channels.
Just,
・We have received inquiries where we can take advantage of our strengths,
・Stable and regular orders should be received,
are still not many.
And even if you set up an English-language website or a cross-border e-commerce site, you can’t compete with Amazon in terms of attracting customers,
A web writer friend of mine said that if you don’t spend money on SEO, you won’t get more visitors to your website.
In fact, we have yet to receive any inquiries from overseas! There have been no inquiries from overseas, and come to think of it, there has been almost no access to the site.
(Isn’t it so easy to sell your products internationally just by setting up a website for international customers? Between you and me…)
By the way.
You mentioned ‘marketing’ earlier.
To set up a website or e-commerce site,
I think “creating a mechanism to sell” = “doing marketing” itself, but isn’t this perception wrong?
You are right, it is not wrong.
I am not wrong, but I may be ‘lacking’,
As marketing, it is the ‘lack of content’ that is being sent outside the company.
It is important to consider the question, “Is there enough information that you want to share with international customers? However, it is important to consider whether or not the content includes enough of the information that overseas customers really want to know.
For example, the information on the website is
・Company Profile, Access
・Introduction of Products and Services
・Case Studies and Results
・Prices and inquiries
I think the most common examples are
When it comes to companies that are a little more marketing conscious,
・Vision, Mission, and Values
・Thoughts of the Representative
・Reasons for choosing us and our strengths
・Customer Comments
・Technical data and various evidences
・Company, store, representative and employee photos
There may also be
Our website is just barely in the company of marketing conscious companies – just in time.
If the vision mission is replaced by the management philosophy, the item is fulfilled!
It was good.
So what about the items from here?
Is there content production for “Information that enables international customers to take action”?
・The “Why Our Company is Chosen” includes a third-party perspective.
In other words, we can say, not with self-praise, that it makes sense for any potential customer in any position in any country to buy from us, no matter what their decision is.
(I can tell you that it makes sense to import them (at a cost from Japan) and then buy them.
・The overall map of the relevant industry, both domestic and international, is available as a basis for making such decisions. The latest information on the industry in major countries, at least Japan, is presented in an easy-to-understand manner (using graphs, illustrations, and other diagrams, as well as photos and images), Our position in the market can be clearly and concretely understood by first-time visitors from other countries, almost eliminating any hesitation about initial transactions or trade deals.
・There are explanations and chart flows that list the flow after an inquiry and after an order is placed. If an international transaction is initiated, it is possible to predict in advance how long it will take, how the process of meetings, contracts, orders, and shipments will proceed, and what kind of time and risk will be involved on the part of the international customer.
・The company can check multiple customer testimonials and results that are similar to the company’s scale and projects.The worst and best patterns of doing business internationally can be imagined in advance, and questions can be asked in a simple, unprepared manner (using tools such as multilingual inquiry forms and multilingual chatbots) until there is no longer any uncertainty about the matter.
・The company has been providing unparalleled information that competitors have not been able to provide for a long period of time. There is a basis for trust as a new company to do business with. We are committed to conducting the fullest possible comparative verification of our services and products with the equivalent products of other companies.
・The objectively superior and not-so-superior parts can be easily understood logically, without thinking too hard.
・The information and data necessary for new transactions are received within 24 hours of inquiry. Customers can download multilingual content on “Reasons to switch to us” and “Three-way benefits of doing so” that can be used for internal approval, handed directly to external upstream and downstream companies, or to the distributors involved.
Hmmm, so much?
On the home page?
Yes, on the home page.
So far, you are here.
I can’t believe you’re here.
It is as if it were a real exchange, or, to some extent, a level of content that can be discussed in the course of a business meeting,
From the beginning, you explain so much on your website, don’t you?
That’s right.
By “explaining” to this point, we can clear one more attempt to alleviate the “decision-making hassle” that international customers have to go through to make the right purchase, while carrying the burden of the decision together with them.
If the volume of description (content) is low, SEO is also disadvantageous.
Without an explanation (and lots of reasons to push back), it will not be in the consideration frame for purchase.
International customers are always looking for goods and services.
Even in the midst of the Corona disaster, it was common for purchasing managers/buyers to send us purchase orders out of the blue, saying they saw your website.
Looking at the Web site of the company that received the order, it is easy to see why.
The concerns of international companies when placing an order were carefully dispelled, and then, just to be sure, we went through several different search terms and related websites to get the ura, and to make sure that new inquiries and purchases from overseas were not the wrong choice, photos of past exhibitions, media reviews, consumer reviews, etc., etc. The process of “confirming” that the purchase from overseas is not a wrong choice is also in hand. I can tell, by looking at their international website.
Try to do international procurement via an international company’s website (find out what international users are having trouble with! (find out)
I was in charge of the website 、、、、 I am in charge of the website.
I thought I did my best to produce it, but now I feel like I am missing a whole lot of what you taught me.
I’m shocked.
A website is not created by the person in charge alone.
The website is “the embodiment of the president’s mind,
Actually, the president is the main person in charge.
(Embodiment in my head…umm…I’m in charge)
Times are moving so fast that what was right five years ago may be a little different now.
But it’s okay.
・The information is sufficient to enable international customers to take action,
・The following is a summary of the new version of the report,
・If we can disseminate information appropriately,
The number of inquiries from international customers is gradually increasing. Even orders come in.
Can we improve it?
Somehow, I want to improve it.
It’s okay.
A hint can be grasped by imagining a series of “buying things from overseas, only by correspondence”.
Please think as if you were in the opposite position, as if you were the customer.
Without ever meeting that international company,
・I can procure exactly what I want,
・We will have the products shipped internationally on time,
・No sample or physical confirmation is required at the time of the transaction, which is completed only by correspondence,
・ Such a system and speed are always in place,
・They have websites and e-commerce sites that embody them,
How much effort, how much thought, how much tireless corporate effort is involved?
For a major international website makeover, you should first browse many websites of international companies.
Pretend you are actually a potential customer,
・What information is missing?
・What perspectives are misaligned?
It’s hard to understand at first, but as you see more and more,
・This is what I think is great,
・I would be surprised if the information is this comprehensive,
・This explanation is confusing and page abandonment is a must,
・the barriers to ordering from international are still high.
I think there are many things to discover as a user, such as
Then, you will work with a website production company with extensive experience in international website production to create a website that reflects the points you have discovered and want to reflect in your international website.
When assessing a production company, do not be limited by price alone, design alone, or the ability to manage advertisements alone. It is important that they accompany you in the creation of your desired content.
Well, you know, international websites are in English, right?
I wonder how long it takes to browse a lot of English sites to cultivate a user’s point of view.
Of course, it is English.
It doesn’t matter if you can’t translate it perfectly, just visit the site first and give it a try!
(I’m going to do it, hoo, what am I going to do?)
Maybe I’ll try it with you.
The manager didn’t even know about the international competitor’s site,
There’s no international expansion or anything.
（You are not alone…)
Nice!
The depth and originality of your content creation will differ before and after you know what you really feel as a visitor about the information you need for your international website.
After viewing many international websites, together we can evaluate whether there was or was not information that would allow international users to take action without difficulty.
Because the verifying your answers to that question is the most important!
