One of the biggest challenges facing companies marketing their products and services in new overseas markets is levelling the playing field in terms of language and culture with existing, local companies. Local competitors obviously have the advantage of knowing and understanding their domestic market. Even if there are no existing competitors in a particular country, language and culture can still present many pitfalls for new overseas entrants as has been proven hundreds of times by even blue-chip multinationals. In order to market their products and services effectively, companies need to ‘act global but think local’.

Guest post by Ben Taylor, read more at Fourth Source, Localisation: Steering global online success.