The Global Marketing Show

I had the pleasure of first meeting Aytul Ercil at the 2022 International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) Awards Conference in Madrid, where we celebrated the cooperation of women-owned businesses throughout the world. In addition to being a delightful conversationalist, Aytul is a mathematician, professor, scholar, applied research expert, and entrepreneur; in this episode she describes her move away from theoretical research and toward its real-world business applications. Even with applied research, she explains, universities specialize only in research and developing prototypes but don’t take the products to market, instead they find existing companies to take the lead and launch. Working in applied research fueled her interest in launching the products herself; she started her first company alongside two graduate students and sold it to a strong and successful German company.

Now onto her second company, Vispera offers image processing for retail stores. By providing in-store monitoring with either pictures or installed videos, companies can keep track of compliance with price and promotion deals, stocking levels, layout and display issues, and inventory reporting. It helps solve the major pain in retail of capturing information on the selling floor to maintain inventory and increase sales. The Vispera system’s speed, accuracy, and precision in gathering information on the selling floor helps clients better manage production, operations, and distribution. In addition, with retailers managing ecommerce, they have the information to manage the coordination of in-store and on-line ordering.

Before the Vispera platform, companies relied on sales reps to visit stores, count items, fix displays, and communicate information – all very tactical and manual work. Now, sales reps can be more strategic when working with customers.

Based in Türkiye, Aytul knew from the start that she would need to launch internationally for success. Since her first target clients were large, international companies, she chose to build an English-only website, knowing it would reach more people than a Turkish language website. The strategy worked; her first customer, based outside of Türkiye, found Vispera through an online search.

Now implemented in 35 countries with clients such as Coca-Cola, CircleK, and Unilever, Vispera’s technology solution requires custom buildouts and adaptation, so rather than adapting her website and content, she hires bilingual employees to handle in-country communications with frontline customers. Since she hires local bilingual employees, I asked if she needs to culturally adapt her messaging for geographic markets. She says that most clients are large global companies dealing with the same issues and problems; in India, however, the company may have to adjust its messaging to account for the large number of “mom and pop” stores. Similarly, she does predict a need for website and other translation for particular countries.

While Vispera currently markets only in English, and the company continues to optimize their website for English search terms, its technologies can easily be adapted to other languages; for instance, it provides a Spanish-language platform for clients in South America.

Aytul lists her biggest challenges as:

• Having enough money for development and expansion
• Marketing resources
• Hiring good salespeople
• Meeting in-person with global teams around the world

(I can certainly relate to these – how about you!?)

And her biggest mistakes?

In her first company, to support development they accepted project-based work, quickly finding that delivering said projects meant little time for development. Once they found funding, Aytul recognized that doing the project work for so long slowed down the larger development of their initiative. Gaining funding and working with a partner sped up their success.

She adds that even a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Brown University does not mean you will understand finance or accounting; asked for a P&L statement, she had to look up its meaning, and made a few unwise financial decisions before taking the time to learn about the numbers.

Finally, as all sales managers can attest to, Aytul admits that it’s been a challenge to hire good sales representatives. It is an expensive position to fill, and she’s made mistakes. Now more seasoned when it comes to hiring, for her international expansion she’s found highly capable Managing Directors in key markets to build the local teams and the pipeline. To keep the company aligned, she holds regular meetings with the Managing Directors from each country and weekly meetings with each company manager.

Her final recommendations?

1. Hire good people in each country that can manage the team and build a pipeline.
2. Have a good on-boarding strategy and process for clients and employees and have it all documented and ready to go.
3. Communicate with the team so that everyone is aligned to the same goal.

Fittingly, Aytul’s favorite foreign words are “perseverance” and “resilience”!

 

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayt%C3%BCl_Er%C3%A7il

https://turkishwin.com/aytul-ercil

https://turkishwin.com/connect-grow/visit-learning-center/talks/category/sector/technology/aytul-ercil-a-visionary-in-computer-vision

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Aytul - https://www.linkedin.com/in/aytul-ercil-b833b43/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Amy Kenigsberg, Cofounder and COO of K2 Global, joined me on The Global Marketing Show to discuss WIIFM (“what’s in it for me?”) communications, cultural messaging, and ChatGPT. K2 focuses on precise, nuanced messaging to impact everyone involved in the purchasing process, a strategy especially critical within account-based marketing (ABM). To that end, Amy developed a process that her agency uses to build a “Bible of Messages”: starting with the engineers from its technology company clients, K2 translates all the features and benefits of the “tech talk” into “marketing talk,” which is then customized to each of the decision makers in the buying process.

They then test rough draft messaging across industries, roles, and geography to validate the messaging specific to each player, driving each to emotionally connect with the client’s brand.

Continued client support combines K2’s Bible of Messages with the PESO Model™ developed by Gini Dietrich, of OBI. The PESO Model™ integrates and optimizes use of the four media types – paid, earned, shared, and owned. Building the Model based on specifics from the Bible of Messages accelerates the end-result of helping companies build authority and thought leadership more efficiently.

Recently, clients have asked Amy about ChatGPT and its ability to write content. Like many content creators and translators, we are watching the technology to see what it will do to our respective industries, and here’s what we’ve seen so far.

The good:

The speed and ability of ChatGPT is amazing and it’s great at smashing writer’s block. It can clearly develop a thoughtful flow to the content for an initial “pre-draft” (rather than a “rough” draft, which is simply putting ideas on paper). It gives great ideas for short content like social posts, it corrects grammatical errors, it eliminates boring rote tasks.

The Bad:

The program pulls from historical content, so even if it’s dated, ChatGPT makes it seem current, and real. Add to that the seemingly worldwide trend toward a “post-fact” culture and it’s easy to imagine how the continued recycling of inaccuracies could kick-start the multiplier effect of a world operating on widespread misinformation.

The content is consolidated, with neither source nor attribution to the original writers. When we write and publish, we cite our sources to add legitimacy to our work. Hopefully, the tide will likewise demand and formalize citation of content from any automated source.

Its ability to adapt the tone of its output to the intended purpose is still limited. With the lack of emotion, ChatGPT content can get boring to read. It may make sense to use it to generate an automatic first draft and then edit for nuance, urgency, and other emotional cues, but outside of potentially helping with a writer’s block, it wouldn’t necessarily save time.

The Ugly:

Have you ever heard of the Infinite Monkey Theorem? It states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. Amy compares ChatGPT to this theorem!  Given enough tries, maybe the program can come up with a creative story that encapsulates your marketing message with enough emotion to capture your buyer’s attention.

The Concerns:

Amy describes her additional concerns:

On his Revisionist History podcast, Malcolm Gladwell explained the difference between an anecdote and a story. An anecdote talks about something that happened: “I went to the store and used a $5 bill to pay for the items I bought.”

A story adds some spice to the anecdote: “I went to the store and tried to pay for my items with a $5 bill. The shopkeeper laughed and threw the bill back at me.”

(OK, I edited it a tad from the podcast, but you get the idea.)

In essence, an anecdote recites; a story keeps you interested, and you want to know more.

ChatGPT can produce anecdotes; creative writers tell stories.

Good marketers are creative writers.

 

Perhaps inspired by our conversation, Amy says her favorite foreign word is the noun “balagan,” which is Hebrew for “mess”!

 

Links:

https://k2-gc.com/  

https://www.linkedin.com/company/k2-global-communications

https://mobile.twitter.com/k2gcomm

https://www.facebook.com/K2GlobalCommunications

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Amy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amykenigsberg/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Marcus Mogéus, Chief Marketing Officer of AutoStore, explains that when you maximize efficient use of your space, you help the environment and the planet by minimizing your land usage – for industrial buildings, for instance. AutoStore helps warehouses, manufacturers, ecommerce companies and grocery stores optimize logistics and simplify fulfillment; the need for such services are clear, based on the company’s growth. With over 50% CAGR over the last 10 years, and over 70% CAGR during Covid, AutoStore’s global growth has been consistently explosive.  

When AutoStore started in 1996 in a small town in Norway, its founder thought about global expansion from the start. Their mantra then and now:

“Let’s get as many bins as there are people in the world.”

To do this, they built a proprietary system that uses robots and tracks to move storage bins quickly to fulfill orders. Each system is custom-designed and -built for the client.

Operating in in over 45+ countries through a network of qualified partners and servicing multiple industries, Marcus’s biggest challenge in global marketing has been getting the messages right across countries and industries. For example, some countries focus on decreasing the costs of human involvement, while others want to focus on increased automation. Yet, it’s not as easy as localizing the message for each country. 

Industries vary in what they want from AutoStore’s cube storage automation. An online apparel store cares about the speed of fulfillment, while an industrial products company may care more about cost efficiencies. These differences can then align across countries.

Marcus explains that language translation is an important part of their go-to-market strategy. AutoStore works with local agencies for translation, while coordinating global branding and messaging with the corporate office. Our focus is always on the human element and what the customers can achieve, he adds, and that simple goal has revolutionized automated fulfillment.

Links:

https://www.autostoresystem.com/

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Marcus - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-mog%C3%A9us-52501194/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Tracy Gray is Founder and Managing Partner of The 22 Fund, a venture capital fund that is facing investment and equity injustice head-on – in the finance sector, women and people of color are historically and consistently underrepresented.

In her varied career, Tracy has worked as Senior Advisor for International Business to the Mayor of Los Angeles, as a systems engineer (aka “rocket scientist!”) on a space shuttle mission, and following her 2015 TEDx Talk on “Why It’s Time for Women to be Sexist With Capital,” established We Are Enough, a non-profit focused on educating ALL women on investing in women-owned, for-profit businesses.

The 22 Fund builds upon that belief, that women and people of color don’t need any more “mentorship” or “technical assistance”; they need capital and help with exporting. It is a “mission-driven fund looking for high-impact and high-end returns” for climate-focused, self-sustaining technologies and ideas, and intentionally includes these historically overlooked groups.

Tracy focuses her portfolio on manufacturing companies, which are typically located in low- or moderate-income communities, with the goal of exporting to elevate the community via higher wages and greater access to opportunities. Exporting coupled with manufacturing sees wages nearing $100K annually on average, they’re more likely to have healthcare, and increased generational wealth for women and people of color, says Tracy. “Our mission is to create the clean, quality jobs of the future” in these lower-income communities.

The 22 Fund’s portfolio has launched products as disparate as:

• a fertilizer grow-medium for indoor farming created from food waste, targeted for use in sub-Saharan Africa;
• an alternative to the petroleum-based carbon black, the main ingredient in textile colors, produced from wood waste; and,
• a hair care product for textured hair, which turned into Sienna Naturals, a company now co-owned by Issa Rae.

Tracy believes the time is right for an “all-government approach” to manufacturing and exports. “America is an insular, consumer-based economy that expects to sell just to each other – a system based largely on the fear of being taken advantage of, or the unknown – but economic instabilities aren’t well managed without exporting,” she explains.

Relying on government services – the Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, EXIM Bank – essentially comprises a concierge service that can move a company through:

• Market analysis
• Marketing partners on the ground
• All the things you need to export

And these government agencies don’t market themselves so knowing what’s available to you is critical to global success. The 22 Fund will help by “providing the capital that doesn’t exist for these companies, especially for manufacturers, women, people of color, all of the capital gaps that exist.” All the entrepreneur needs to bring to the table is a good idea and the courage to succeed.

 

Links:

The 22 Fund - https://the22fund.com/

TedxOlympicBlvdWomen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyggi2IYXXY

US Department of Commerce – Minority Business Development Agency - https://www.mbda.gov/

Small Business Administration Office of International Trade - https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-locations/headquarters-offices/office-international-trade

EXIM Bank - https://www.exim.gov/solutions/get-financing

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Tracy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracydgray/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Ognadon Eddy Djagou (“Eddy”) is Founder and CEO of Muscatine, IA-based Djaagou-a Export LLC. He is also the Small Business Administration’s Exporter of the Year for 2022!

Born and raised in French-speaking Togo in West Africa, Eddy holds a BA in Marketing from a West African university and immigrated to the US in 2011 on a Diversity visa. The Immigration Act of 1990 inspired the Diversity Visa program, a lottery by which 15,000 people come to the US each year.

In Togo, explains Eddy, between one and 2 million people apply for the lottery; only 100 to 200 are selected and submitted for consideration by the West African government. “My dream changed” upon arrival, he says.

Following a two-year “integration” period in Illinois – learning English, working, obtaining proper identification – Eddy relocated to Muscatine, IA, where he quickly realized that its residents typically traveled at least an hour to neighboring cities to get any international or ethnic goods – like fufu!

Established in 2017, Djaagou-a Export LLC grew out of an organic process of simply sending samples of US food products to friends in Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and other regions of West Africa. What started with small packages of goods by 2020 turned into container shipments of rice, sugar, meat and fish, snacks.

Eddy set up a storefront, found a supplier in Chicago, and simultaneously launched an importing business, addressing individual requests from customers both domestic and abroad. A visit to his homeland found larger orders from West African-based importers and turned Djaagou-a Export LLC into a B2B, B2C, and B2G (government) operation.

Today, Djaagou-a Export LLC has the added mission of supporting the local community with their own exporting endeavors, so Eddy continues to work closely with the State of Iowa, the US Commercial Service, EXIM Bank, and the Small Business Administration (including a STEP Grant used for website translation). The opportunities that were made available to him are available to anyone: trade shows in foreign countries, 50% reimbursement grants to get started in exporting (for sending samples overseas, for example), funding for expansion.

His best advice? Small US businesses that imagine exporting as “risky” should be assured that there is a lot of opportunity and government resources that will help you succeed. “Do not look afraid, try something good!”

 

Links:

https://djaagou-a.com/ 

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Eddy -

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddy-djagou-4321611a0/

Twitter: @EddyDjagou

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Melissa Muhammad is the Founder and CEO of the Black and Global Business Network (BGBN). An international tax attorney, Melissa founded BGBN after 20 years with the US government, connecting businesses with exporting resources, creating opportunities, lowering trade barriers, and working with other countries to avoid any “double tax” that might stifle trade.

When racial tensions in the US intensified after the killing of George Floyd, Melissa was called to reevaluate her “cushy government job” and address her “professional tragedy” of never seeing a black-owned business come across her desk throughout her 20 year career. She had worked in 50 countries, lived on 3 continents, but never used her time or talent to help the black business community.

Challenging her fears of becoming an entrepreneur, and with help from a black-owned marketing company, Melissa formed BGBN. Success was immediate and Melissa attributes it to the richness of her existing relationships (in 54 African countries, Canada, the UK, and the Caribbean) and her ability simply to “listen to the people with the expertise.” In its inaugural virtual summit in April 2021, BGBN welcomed 1,100 attendees from 58 countries.

Melissa is often met with disbelief by black-owned entrepreneurs that the government resources she touts actually exist. Breaking down that barrier – the historical belief within the black community of a suspect Federal government – is part of the BGBN process.

BGBN provides exporting education, tests for global readiness, offers cultural competencies training, and incubates black-owned businesses at any and every stage. Its “done for you” solution means BGBN represents a company to government agencies.

Melissa’s best advice is that your mindset changes the game. Making the shift to an international focus and challenging your uncertainties isn’t easy – “keep the paycheck if you’re looking for easy” – but will leave you fulfilled.

 

Links:

www.blackandglobalbusinessnetwork.com

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Melissa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-muhammad-829a6a15/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Devon Mitchell is CEO of DSN Energy Corporation. A competitive duathlete, aeronautical engineer, MBA, entrepreneur, and leadership expert, Mitchell founded DSN to facilitate strategic partnerships with US-based businesses, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations to provide training, mentoring, and leadership programs to the oil and gas sector in Guyana.

Mitchell’s family migrated from Guyana to the US when he was 10 and since, he has found success and a fruitful business network as an aeronautical engineer and Anytime Fitness franchise owner.

When Exxon Mobil, several years ago, discovered in Guyana one of the largest hidden oil reserves outside of the Middle East, Mitchell immediately recognized the opportunity to give back to his home country, his specific intent being to engage the Guyanese workforce and ensure they benefit from their own economy.

The only English-speaking country in South America, the Guyanese culture trends closer to the Caribbean, with British influences on education, for example. A country of fewer than 1 million, a sizeable number of people leave the country to work or study – drawing those residents back to Guyana could prove essential to engagement, and that will only be realized by creating opportunities.

From that vantage point of having first-hand knowledge of Guyanese culture and close personal connections, Mitchell decided to “look within and leverage” the skills and connections he acquired in the US to revive opportunities in Guyana. It’s a repeatable process of bringing diversity of thought and problem-solving to every country with an emerging, frontier market.

 

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Devon –

https://www.linkedin.com/in/devon-mitchell-038079137/

Devon.mitchell@dsnenergy.com

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Jorge Sanchez is President and CEO of San Antonio-based Thor Energy, which develops and finances energy-efficient projects throughout Mexico and South America.

Sanchez tells the fascinating story of how a start in his family’s business turned into Thor Energy, and how simply listening – to your customers, yourself, your children – holds the key to differentiating yourself from the competition.

From the start, Sanchez listened to customers’ specific needs and found a foothold selling locomotive parts to Mexican businesses. Leveraging the common language, Sanchez quickly expanded into South America, and listened when businesses in the marine and oil and gas industries – both of which utilize the same parts as the auto industry – asked for his services as well. At every turn, says Sanchez, listening to customers and their needs catapulted Thor over their competitors.

The move from oil and gas and fossil fuels to renewable energy occurred when Sanchez’s daughter presented a school project on renewable energy; it was the moment he recognized not only the opportunity, but also an immediate need, to pivot in that direction.

Sanchez seamlessly transitioned the company into a service that recognizes a problem, identifies the technology to solve it, then finds funding for the partnership. In this instance, he explains, Thor quickly overtook the competition by adding the financing piece. Even large, State-run companies throughout South America often lack the financing up front to address pressing issues in the Amazon, he explains. Thor Energy can simultaneously find the partners and technology for a solution and conduct a visibility study to secure the financing to push projects forward.

Culturally, each country is its own entity, says Sanchez. To help bridge the gaps, pay attention to “country briefings” from the US Department of Commerce and utilize the services of the US Commercial Service and your local District Export Councils (DECs), both of which will open doors to the whole world.

 

Links:

United States Commercial Services - https://www.trade.gov/let-our-experts-help-0

National Association of District Export Councils - https://www.usaexporter.org/

The International Trade Administration’s Country Commercial Guides - https://www.trade.gov/ccg-landing-page

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Connect with Jorge –

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorge-g-sanchez-3151950/

jsan@thor-energy.com

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Carla Sydney Stone is President of the World Trade Center Delaware, which champions international opportunity through cultural programs, training in logistics and financing, and helps with market research. Its services include finding and evaluating trade leads, direction in hiring oversees, finding partner organizations and agencies, trade missions, and facilitating conferences and exhibits. 

 

An engineer at heart, Stone’s career originated in geophysics and mining, about which she says: “Minerals flunk geography, making it an international industry.” From there she traveled the world; she has been to every continent except Antarctica (which is on her to-do list) then segued into banking, where engineers are essential for proper industry valuations, and ultimately landing in technical assistance to the “alphabet soup of [government] agencies” and academia. 

 

Just prior to the WTC Delaware, Stone found herself at the intersection of engineering and public health (water, energy, avian influenza, telemedicine). Her work with NATO introduced  

telemedicine into rural and remote areas of several countries. 

 

The WTC Delaware has ushered a countless number of businesses onto the international stage. Why should companies export? “To start, over 95% of consumers live outside the US,” says Stone. In addition, companies that export are more stable, riding out downturns in the economy better due to customer diversity. They can also easily adjust by way of foreign exchange, leveraging exchange rates and seasonal business, for instance. 

 

A good example is Delaware’s Port of Wilmington, which is not only the largest banana port but also brings to the US produce from around the world. It boasts the largest cold storage and fumigation capacities in the US and organizes its import/export relationships seasonally. Companies that export have a “variety of places to buy and sell. In addition, these businesses are more profitable, stay in business longer, and pay employees more.” 

 

Stone recommends that companies expanding into new countries “read, read, read.” For countries with diaspora communities, don’t be afraid to call related organizations for help with inroads; build relationships with anyone with feet in both communities.  

 

Know that culturally, even gestures can get lost in translation and can affect a meeting insofar as its pacing, attendee reactions, etc. In Bulgaria, for instance, tilting your head left and right means “yes,” a nod up and down, “no.” “Many countries say ‘we will only do business with our friends,’” says Stone, “so relationship-building is essential.” 

 

Links: 

www.wtcde.com 

https://www.portofwilmington.com/ 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/ 

Connect with Carla -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlasstone/ 

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com 

Fatima Almeida, CEO and Founder of Angola-based BayQi, has a vision. Historically, online purchasing and payment systems have been problematic throughout Africa. Myriad issues are to blame, general access being the main obstacle; for example, in Angola there is a prohibitively high Visa interest rate.  

To promote financial inclusion, BayQi combined ecommerce and fintech to create a “super app” that now connects the 12 million people of Angola with the rest of the world. Backed by a  license from the National Bank of Angola, the system currently relies on the national currency (the Angolan Kwanza) and BayQi further envisions a one-payment system that will ultimately service all of Africa, in partnership with larger, known creditors such as Visa. 

The platform is currently available in Portuguese, English, French, and Italian. Most African people speak one of these languages, says Almeida, but BayQi is positioned to expand its offering according to what the future demands. 

Any African-based business struggles with access to resources, reports Almeida, but no matter: Africa can deliver what is needed and “we can create something for the world to use as well.” 

 

Links: 

https://bayqi.com/ 

https://www.state.gov/africasummit/ 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/ 

Connect with Fatima –  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/f%C3%A1tima-almeida-15b024116/  

falmeida@bayqi.com  

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com