Waikato has a long history of birthing innovative companies that take on the world. Whether it be a small e-commerce store selling its unique product around the world or a large multi-national corporation with its head office in Hamilton, selling internationally is great for our country and our region. Exports bring in export dollars, which we need to grow our economy and help our country thrive.
How Can Digital Marketing Help?
If your company is already selling internationally and wants to grow further, or if you want to start selling internationally for the first time, digital marketing is a very useful tool for expanding your international sales.
One of our clients sells cranes and custom-made truck trailers in the Australian market. These are big, expensive items, with some tough competition. We use Google Ads and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to get their products in front of potential Australian buyers.
Often, customers looking for those products will take a long time in the “consideration” phase before they are ready to make contact. Digital marketing can help there, too.
What About Remarketing Campaigns?
To grow awareness of their brand, we run remarketing campaigns. This means that people who have visited their website start to see ads for this company on YouTube and millions of other sites, like news sites, blog sites and social media.
This builds stronger brand awareness and increases the perceived influence of the company. Users can think, “These guys are advertising everywhere!” but the truth is, they are seeing the ads because they visited the website.
The Importance of Lead Generation
In addition, to help the sales team become aware of leads earlier in the buying cycle, we created a downloadable information pack on their website. Website visitors who are not ready to make contact are often in information-gathering mode, so downloading a detailed information pack can be attractive.
Before downloading, the user needs to enter their name and email. This gives the sales team insight into which companies are interested in their product, which they can turn into sales conversations.
Alternatively, at the small end of the scale, innovative e-commerce products or software products can achieve worldwide reach with savvy digital marketing.
Where Should You Advertise?
If people are searching for what you offer or are searching for competitor’s products, you can use Google Ads to insert your product into the conversation.
If people aren’t searching online for what you offer, then social media ads or email outreach are a good way to get in front of potential buyers.
For most companies, a combination of advertising is best. We work with a small company in Hamilton that sells an innovative tennis product around the world. For their marketing, we use a combination of Google Ads, SEO and Facebook/Instagram ads. The return on investment can be measured for each channel, and together, the campaigns enable them to sell products globally.
If you want to grow international sales in 2024, explore how digital marketing can be part of your strategy.
Josh Moore is the Managing Director at digital marketing agency Duoplus.
