International growth can be exciting. It can also become expensive very quickly if you try to be everywhere, target everyone and do everything at once.

We recently joined a Department for Business and Trade Export Academy session led by Martin Calvert, Marketing Director at ICS-digital and ICS-translate, exploring how businesses can use digital marketing to support international sales.

The session covered everything from SEO and competitor research to localisation, AI visibility, social proof and digital PR. But one message came through particularly clearly:

So, we've pulled together the points we think are most useful for HGA members and, more importantly, what you can actually do with them.

Takeaway 1

Don't start by asking, "Which country should we sell to?"

When the potential market is the whole world, it's very easy to get carried away.

But unless you have an unlimited marketing budget, international expansion needs prioritisation. Martin highlighted three things businesses should consider when deciding where to focus:

Rather than spreading your budget thinly across multiple countries, look for realistic and achievable opportunities and build from there.

Takeaway 2

Audit what you've already got before spending more

Before booking an international trade show, launching an advertising campaign or investing heavily in a new market, take a proper look at your existing online presence.

There are two audiences your website needs to work for:

Getting those fundamentals right gives you a much stronger base for everything that comes next.

Takeaway 3

Use digital tools to test demand before you invest

One of the most useful parts of the session was how much you can learn about a potential market without physically being there.

Keyword and competitor research can help you understand what people are searching for, how often they're searching, what competitors are ranking for and even what businesses are paying to advertise against particular searches.

You don't necessarily need every tool. The point is to use the information available to you to make an informed decision rather than relying purely on instinct.

Takeaway 4

Remember the customers you can't see

This was probably one of our favourite points from the session.

Potential international customers may be researching your business long before they ever contact you. They're looking at your website, products, reviews, social media, press coverage and competitors.

They're silently evaluating you.

If you're waiting for someone to make an enquiry before answering their questions, you may already have lost them.

Takeaway 5

Create content for people, not just algorithms

SEO has changed enormously, but the principle behind good content is refreshingly simple: be useful.

The session highlighted Google's focus on E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trust.

Rather than creating pages simply because you want to rank for a keyword, think about whether the content genuinely answers the customer's question.

Takeaway 6

AI is changing how customers discover brands

Search isn't disappearing, but it is changing.

Google AI Overviews can answer research questions before someone clicks through to a website, while tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are increasingly being used for research, recommendations and purchase planning.

That means your brand needs to be easy for both people and machines to understand.

Takeaway 7

Social proof becomes even more important when you're the outsider

Imagine you're a buyer choosing between a local supplier you already recognise and an overseas brand you've never worked with.

Why should they take the risk on you?

This is where social proof matters. The session highlighted three particularly useful forms:

Without those trust signals, you can end up competing with established local businesses primarily on price, which is rarely where you want to be.

Takeaway 8

Translation and localisation aren't the same thing

If you're targeting a market where another language is used, simply translating your UK website word-for-word isn't necessarily enough.

Good localisation considers the market, audience, terminology, search behaviour, tone of voice and local expectations.

The session recommended using subject matter experts and native-language editors, particularly because it's difficult to judge the quality of a translation yourself when you don't speak the language.

This HGA Takeaway is based on the Department for Business and Trade Export Academy session, "Build a Digital Marketing Strategy to Drive International Sales", presented by Martin Calvert, Marketing Director at ICS-digital and ICS-translate.