Before you start collecting and analyzing data, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. What are your international marketing goals and strategies? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect your progress and success? How will you align your metrics with your business objectives and market characteristics? Defining your objectives and metrics will help you focus on the most relevant and actionable data for your decision making.
Depending on your objectives and metrics, you will need to select the appropriate data sources and methods for collecting and analyzing data. You may use primary or secondary data, or a combination of both. Primary data is data that you collect yourself through surveys, interviews, experiments, or observations. Secondary data is data that is already available from external sources, such as market research reports, industry databases, government statistics, or social media platforms. You will also need to decide how to collect and analyze data, whether through quantitative or qualitative methods, or a mix of both. Quantitative methods involve numerical data and statistical analysis, while qualitative methods involve textual or visual data and thematic analysis.
Ensuring data quality and consistency when collecting and analyzing data from different sources and markets is a major challenge. Data quality encompasses accuracy, reliability, validity, and completeness, while data consistency refers to compatibility and comparability across sources and markets. To ensure both data quality and consistency, you should verify the credibility of the data sources, check for recent updates, use standardized definitions and units of measurement, apply consistent procedures for data collection and analysis, validate the results, cross-check the data, and address any gaps, errors, or outliers.
Collecting and analyzing data from different sources and markets can be a challenge due to the need to adapt to the market context and culture. This includes environmental, social, economic, political, and legal factors that influence the market behavior and preferences. To do this, research is necessary to understand the market size, structure, segmentation, trends, opportunities, threats, strengths, weaknesses, norms, values, beliefs, attitudes, regulations, ethics, and etiquette. Additionally, data collection and analysis methods must be customized to suit the market needs and expectations.
The final step of collecting and analyzing data from different sources and markets is visualizing and communicating your data insights. This process involves the presentation and interpretation of the data results in a clear, concise, and compelling way. To achieve this, you will need to use some tools such as charts, graphs, tables, maps, or dashboards to display your data results. Colors, shapes, sizes, or icons can be used to highlight your data patterns and trends, while titles, labels, captions, or legends can be used to explain your data elements and sources. Narratives, stories, or recommendations can be used to convey your data findings and implications. Lastly, formats, channels, or platforms can be used to deliver your data reports or presentations.