A.M.Sall's Motivational/Inspirational Ramblings: Cross-cultural Communication Strategy – the 4 Building Blocks :The Cross-cultural Connector

Your Ultimate Cross-cultural Communication Objective: Achieve Global KLT (“Know – Like – Trust” on the Global Scene)

As a cross-cultural marketer you communicate to create and enhance Global KLT. You communicate about product or service benefits and features. You communicate to influence and persuade. You communicate to foster and develop connections and relationships across borders and cultures – both before, during, and after sales: Marketing, PR, Social Media, Sales, CRM…

Communication is all-pervasive, because “Commerce is Communication”

The 4 indispensable elements for a successful cross-cultural communication strategy:

I. The Global Mindset

II. Global Knowledge

III. Global Skills 1: Cross-cultural skills

IV. Global Skills 2: Business Skills

I. The Global Mindset

“We would define a global mindset as one that combines an openness to and awareness of diversity across cultures and markets with a propensity and ability to synthesize across this diversity.”

Adopt a “world-is-my-market” strategy. Let the Global Mindset inform everything you do and add strategic power and depth.

Upgrade your firm from reactive (ad-hoc international activity based on client inquiries, management interest, and inquiries from potential overseas partners) to proactive (strategic, consciously planned business development, quite the opposite of a “hit-and-run” going-global type of activity.)

II. Global Knowledge

Know the world, the Global Marketplace, your place of action, because you are a Global Player and the Whole Wide World is your Playground. Your judgment, thoughts and actions are all soundly based on “objective knowledge”. You know what’s going on in the World…

Fields covered:

Globalization
Global Trade/International Trade
Free Trade/Open Trade and Protectionism
Legal Environment/Regulatory Issues
Transparency/Corruption
Intellectual Property
Politics
Foreign Government Incentives
Economics
Finance
Investment
Currencies
Migration
Tourism/Business Travel
Expatriation/Relocation
Transportation and Logistics
Natural Resources
Outsourcing/Offshoring
Current Affairs
Development/Aid
Geography/Continents/Countries
Genetics
Demography
History
Global Issues (e.g. Climate Change, Global Warming, etc.)
Energy
Technology
The Global Elite
Big Picture Thinking

III. Global Skills 1: Cross-cultural Skills

Ability to understand, work with, and influence people from other cultures. Know your own culture as well as other cultures. Cultivate the ability to spot and make use of both similarities and differences between cultures.

Fields covered:

Culture
Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
Cultural Competency (G. Hofstede/F. Trompenaars/Michael Bond/Milton Bennett/P. Rosinski, etc.)
Cultural Awareness
Empathy
Cross-cultural Negotiation
Cross-cultural Deal making
Multiculturalism/Interculturalism
Diversity
Multilingual Content
Global Content Management
GILT (Globalization/Internationalization/Localization/Translation)
Language Technology
Language Learning
Anthropology
Sociology
Psychology

IV. Global Skills 2: Business Skills

Hone your skills and ability to Select your market, to Choose your market entry strategy, to Research your market (Market Intelligence), to Define and Implement strategies: Cross-cultural Marketing, PR, Social media, International Business…

Fields covered:

Going Global
Strategy, Management
Market Research
Market Entry
EMC, ETC
Local Representative
Export/Import
Cross-cultural Marketing
Communication
Social Media
PR, Publicity
Old Media
Blogging
Advertising
CRM/Customer Relations/Customer Retention
Internet Marketing
eCommerce
Website Localization
International SEO
Cross-cultural Email
Multilingual Search

These 4 elements are the basis of our activity on The Cross-cultural Connector blog, Facebook Page and Facebook Profile, Linkedin Group and Linkedin Profile, Twitter, Google Buzz and on many other venues online.

We also use these elements to build our products and services:

Cultural Awareness Training

Coaching and Consulting

Books and ebooks

Workshops

Webinars

Podcasts and Video

Public Speaking

Translation/localization, Transcreation

Now you possess the Mindset, Knowledge, and Skills to achieve your ultimate goal of Global KLT. Once you have reached this goal, you can say: “the sky’s the limit”, and nothing will ever stop you because, whether domestically or internationally, people will always follow this eternal law of business: “People prefer to deal with and buy from people they know, like, and trust” (Note the repetition of the word “people”, because ultimately, Communication is a “people thing”)

You have more than enough material here to define and implement your own highly successful cross-cultural communication strategy or, if you are not the do-it-yourself type, just get in touch with us: we are here to help.

Now a couple of questions before we go: Is there anything you’d like us to add here? What are your biggest cross-cultural communication challenges? What can you tell us about your going global experience?

Please give us your feedback on all this.

Amadou M. Sall