International Communication Planning

Thinking of writing a business plan? Then we would like you to seriously consider how you are going to tackle your international communication issues. After all, an International Communication Plan is an important part of strategic planning. It is best to address your concerns in advance because once the orders start flooding in, faxes in French, German e-mails, phone calls in Spanish, it is too late.

 

Important factors to consider when developing your International Communication Plan:

  • Examine geographical markets to select the ones best suited to your product or service. Planning to trade in international markets must be part of your original plan and not an afterthought.
  • Identify the language and cultural barriers that you would encounter when trading with your chosen markets.
  • Establish what language skills and degree of cultural awareness, if any, your existing employees possess. This may help you to select who to train further in the languages of your target markets.
  • Consider recruiting new employees, such as graduates, with the desired language skills who can help develop your international efforts.
  • Identify those staff members who will have the most contact with overseas clients as these will be the people for whom language skills is a priority.
  • Consider how you are going to deal with correspondence, meetings, marketing materials. For example, what kind of translation service will you need? Do you need interpreters? Will you need to channel phone enquiries through a multi-lingual call centre?
  • Determine whether you will require the services of a cultural consultant. It is often best to understand your customer’s culture before you attempt to use their language as culture could affect the name of your product, symbols, colours associated with it and the way in which you advertise. The context of where and how information will be used is as important as getting the language right.
  • Decide on how you will train staff. Will it be in-house at lunchtimes and after work or will it be residential and weekend courses through an external provider?

 

How to guides

The RLN has a range of business publications, including 'How to...' guides, which may be useful to you in developing your international communication plan.

Find out more go

Solvit

If you want to be able to communicate more effectively with your overseas business contacts then Solvit, an online tool maintained by CILT, the National Centre for Languages, will help you to address the challenges of international communications.

Visit the Solvit site

 

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