Content hacks to build credibility overseas as a b2b exporter

See how authentic and engaging content of your B2B business in action can build brand awareness, trust and loyalty in overseas markets.

B2B exporters competing in overseas markets should consider how their online content reflects their brand.

A Kiwi door manufacturer struggled to generate leads in the US. Their target customers were builders and construction companies who didn’t want to risk using a supplier 8,000 km away in New Zealand. Their marketing budget wasn’t huge, so they had to get creative.

The manufacturer decided to take videos of the team working with customers in the market and share them on LinkedIn to show prospects they were actually active in the market and ready to deliver and serve new customers. By doing this, they were able to generate quality conversations and leads.

Understand who your content is for and what they want to know.
Who are they?
What are they looking for at each stage of the funnel, what are the obstacles and barriers they’re dealing with?
Once they’ve purchased your product, what might they ask you?

Copying and pasting what you publish in NZ often doesn’t work.

If you’re a new brand in a large offshore market, a key opinion leader who reads a useful thought leadership post on LinkedIn might endorse your product if you give them something truly unique.

Whether you want to create a great website, useful FAQs, videos, whitepaper concepts, social media or blog posts, the content is probably already in someone's head at your business.

Try doing a video interview with a clever colleague. To get the best out of them, ask questions like:
What are the first things our overseas buyers ask us about?
What questions are we constantly getting from them?
What challenges do we help them solve?

With a digital tool like otter.ai, you can transcribe the entire conversation, which will supply everything you need to create a whitepaper, an opinion piece and a few different social posts.

A Kiwi exporter selling handrails did a LinkedIn blog post on the implications of a recent law change in one of their export markets. The insightful content educated potential customers and was used for other social posts that were ranked highly.

AI like Chat GPT can help you generate post ideas but remember it won’t produce anything as unique as what you and your team can come up with.

Businesses often have more content than they realise. See what other unique information you can tap into: a write up that’s been done about you, imagery you’ve whipped up for a product that can be repurposed, or pictures of people in your team.

Next Step:

Check out NZ Story for high-quality images. https://www.nzstory.govt.nz/

Start with at least one article or thought leadership piece on your website so you can capture an email address if they want to download it.

On social media, LinkedIn is the most common place for B2B thought leadership but find out where your customers are hanging out online.

There could be some more niche places to look at where you can share information, like a specific Facebook group.

Additional resources:

Interested in export or maybe you’re exporting already? Head over to myNZTE, your place for insights, tools and guidance to help you take your business to the world. https://my.nzte.govt.nz/onboarding