Email presents a great opportunity for marketing a business internationally.

When it comes to marketing a business and putting a strategy together, email marketing often seems to fall by the wayside.

There are several reasons for this, most of them based on misconceptions about response and open rates. Getting it right can be a huge boost for your business – particularly if you want to generate more enquiries from overseas.

If exporting is an option for you, email marketing is one of the few forms of promotion which would offer a relatively simple and cost-effective way of reaching your intended audience.

There are ten points to consider if you want to promote your business through an international email marketing campaign.

1.       Of course, language is an issue, and you need to make sure you use the right one for your audience. Many countries have more than one language, and use different languages in different regions.

2.       The translation of your content may cause problems, because the translated pieces may be longer than the original, which will have an impact on the layout of your email. You will also need to ensure the translated message is aligned with the original one.

3.       There are technical considerations for your translated email. Images, links and footnotes should all be checked meticulously before sending – especially if the images also have translated copy and the links go to country specific pages.

4.       Cultural differences will have an impact, too. Even something as simple as the colour of your email could betray an ignorance of political, cultural or religious sensitivities.

5.       You need to be sure the tone of your email is correct. Some countries, products or services will require a more formal voice, while others require informality. For example, sports equipment would require a different tone to financial services.

6.       The timing of your email will be important, just as it is in this country. It’s best to avoid Mondays and Fridays, and sending before 10am or after 4pm, so knowledge of the time zones of your target audience is required.

7.       You also need to know about national holidays. In France, for example, if a public holiday falls on Tuesdays, many people will also take the Monday off as well. Sending an email on a Monday or Tuesday would have less impact if it clashes with one of those holidays.

8.       Legally, you need to be very careful, particularly if you are targeting more than one country with your email promotion. Your content may be fine here, but could simultaneously break the law in many other countries, which could present you with a very large legal bill to worry about.

9.       The logistical aspects need to be considered. Are your usual sales channels available in all countries? Is your promotion applicable everywhere? Your email could do more harm than good if you can’t satisfy demand.

10.     Also, consider what you want to achieve with your promotion. If you want to attract traffic to your website, should you have a version in the language of the mail that you have sent? If you want to generate phone calls or emails, do you have someone who can translate back into English for you?

Email presents a great opportunity for marketing a business internationally, and in the current economic climate, opening new markets overseas could be attractive.

Taking care to ensure your email promotion ticks all the boxes could make a big difference to the future success of your business.