Useful links and resources for international marketers

If you’re looking for a handy list of links and resources for international digital marketing, then look no further. Bookmark this page for Oban’s curated list of resources covering market research, SEO, paid media, content, and social media.

For market research

BBC News country profiles – In-depth reports and profiles on every country in the world. Useful for an overview of the political, economic, geographical, social and historical aspects of each country. Also important information on population, currency, life expectancy and major languages spoken in each country.

The CIA World Factbook – Similar to the BBC News country profiles. This information comes from one of the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies and is up to date.

Internet World Stats – Provides data about internet usage by country. Useful for any company planning to enter a market by e-commerce to get a sense of the size of the market.

The International Trade Administration – an agency of the US Department of Commerce. Their website is useful for market research since it provides a large volume of trade statistics and information, such as the top exports and imports by country. It also provides licensing information, industry analyses, competitiveness information and much more.

International Trade Center – A fantastic resource for international market research, providing a wide variety of useful research tools.

Hofstede Insights – A wealth of insights based on Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions. Includes a useful country comparison tool which allows you to compare markets.

Google Market Finder – Provides ideas and information on new potential markets for expansion.

For SEO

Google Search Central blog – Get news straight from Google. Google shares updates about crawling, indexing and ranking on this blog.

Search Engine Land – Provides daily breaking news and coverage of all aspects of the search industry.

Search Engine Roundtable – Provides daily reportage and opinion on the latest industry news, events and discussions.

The Moz blog – Features tips and advice on the topics of SEO, social media and content. Also the home of Whiteboard Friday, where an expert breaks down a large topic via a whiteboard.

Ahrefs – A useful SEO and keyword research tool. You can use it to see what your competitors are ranking for, how much organic traffic they’re getting, and see what content of theirs is performing the best. You can also compare domains to see content gaps and track specific keywords over time, while they’ve also added keyword data for sites like YouTube, Baidu, and Amazon.

SEMrush – Shows a range of metrics around keywords, paid search, and rankings. You can search 10 URLs for free which will show limited results. To see all the data you need to upgrade to a paid subscription.

For content and social media

Brandwatch – With detailed searches, categorisation, rules, alerts, and over 85 million sites monitored, you can refine the platform to match your requirements, including your competitor’s social media output. You can create searches to track all mentions of your competitors across the web, staying up to date with their content and news stories. Tracking your industry allows you to view changing share of voice, monitor sentiment around each brand and keep tabs on your competitor’s content.

Buzzsumo – The free tools allow you to search for content by keyword or entering a competitor’s URL. You can then refine the search by published date, content type, and shares across social sites. It also has a trending section for different industries. More data and tools are available in the paid account.

Content Marketing Institute – Provides regular updates on content industry news. As well as their useful content, CMI has a large online community. CMI also hosts live events and publishes a magazine, so if you’re looking for helpful tips on content marketing, it’s worth taking a look at.

Help a Reporter – Reporter liaison service which is useful for gaining news coverage for your brand. Help A Reporter connects journalists seeking expertise to include in their content with sources who have that expertise.

Social Media Examiner – One of the largest hubs for social media marketing information. They offer a wide variety of detailed guides, instructions and explanations on effective ways to promote content and market on social media. Their content also contains detailed video guides, images and infographics.

For paid media

iSpionage – The tool identifies your top PPC competitors, reveals their monthly budget and Google Ads strategy. You can pay to access seven years’ worth of PPC and SEO keyword data.

What Runs Where – See where your competitors are advertising and what their ads look like, and how effective these adverts are. You can also pay to access campaign data from 150,000 top performing display publishers.

PPC Hero – Well written and authoritative blog covering topics related to paid media.

Web traffic tools

Google Trends  – Shows popular searches and enables you to review keyword trends by market.

QuestionDB – Identifying questions users are entering into search engines, QuestionDB uses Reddit to source these user queries. Users often post more personal or in-depth questions on Reddit, and harnessing the platform is a great way of uncovering people’s concerns that they want answers to. Use QuestionDB to source new topics for blog posts and other content.

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Planning an international digital marketing campaign? Oban can help. Our network of Local In-Market Experts provide valuable cultural, linguistic and digital insights which often make the difference between success and failure. Get in touch to find out more.

Oban International is the digital marketing agency specialising in international expansion. Our LIME (Local In-Market Expert) Network provides up to date cultural input and insights from over 80 markets around the world, helping clients realise the best marketing opportunities and avoid the costliest mistakes.