Doing business online has made it easier than ever before to take your products and/or services to literally any country on earth. Everything you need is at your disposal, such as automatic translators for the major browsers and everything from website builders to cloud hosting to shopping carts and payment gateways, all you need to do is have an online presence and you can reach a global audience, right? Not exactly.
There is more to being able to reach a global audience than just having a website where you can conduct business online. You also need to understand who you are marketing to as each culture around the world has specific buying trends and cultural influences that will require you to understand how to engage them so that they are ready to browse around and make a purchase. There is actually one degree that may give you all the insight you’ll ever need and you probably will not believe what that degree is!
One Field of Study You May Want to Consider
While so many marketing students focus on getting a masters in business administration, there is actually one degree that may serve you better if you are reaching out beyond your own culture to other areas of the globe. That would be an online masters degree in philosophy from a university like Rutgers, for example. Why philosophy? The answer to that is really easier than you think.
While we are all human and have the same basic primal instincts, each culture has a variety of societal motivators that influence their buying decisions. What works in the West may be totally ineffective in the East, and in fact may be highly offensive which wouldn’t help you market to that audience in any way, shape or form. An online masters in philosophy can help you understand the thinking and logic of a diverse global audience which would mean more to your marketing endeavors than a degree in the sound business practices you’d study in an online MBA degree program.
There Is Always Something Lost in the Translation
Then, you need to remember that there is always something lost in the translation from one language to the next. While some words and phrases come close, there are other terms that simply do not translate well and so this can be a real problem when trying to list the benefits of a product you are promoting. One piece of advice you might want to seriously consider is to also hire the services of a professional transcription agency.
These go beyond translating as they transcribe in closer terminology what you are saying so it is better understood and more acceptable to your target audience. What it takes to reach a global audience then is an understanding of the cultures you are reaching out to and a way to tell them what you have in a way they can comprehend – a way that will not offend them within the parameters of their understanding. It takes understanding their culture from a philosophical world vantage point and the ability to communicate with them in a language they can understand. Accomplish that and there is no market you cannot own.