The once powerful U.S. dollar has a bit of a dark cloud over it these days. But for U.S. companies, there’s a silver lining around that dark cloud. Because of the exchange rate, American-made products have increased in popularity. And for email marketers, that leads to opportunity.

According to MarketingSherpa, “One in five marketers at small organizations send more than 10% of their email across national borders, yet more than three in 10 consider transnational email an important priority. Transnational email is an important priority for more than half of all large organizations.”

According to a survey from Anderson Analytics conducted for the Marketing Executives Networking Group, China ranks as the #1 greatest area of opportunity (at 53 percent) for marketers with international responsibility, while India ranks second at 17 percent.

With foreign interests in U.S. products growing and foreign markets expanding (due to the rapid adoption of technology), global reach is gaining top of mind attention from email marketers. In fact, according to MarketingSherpa, close to 40 percent of companies surveyed stated that transnational email was a priority in 2010.

With that in mind, now is the time for email marketers to strike while the iron is hot - before the competition saturates these new markets and global email inboxes become cluttered.

Getting Started with Going Global

To get a jump on this opportunity, be sure to follow a couple of basic rules and best practices:

1. Talk in the “voice” of your audience. A good marketer knows that communicating in the “language” of their targets is critical to success. This holds especially true when expanding into the global inbox. Deliver messages that are relevant to your targets’ needs and interests and that resonate from both a cultural as well as localization standpoint.

2. Dig deeply into spam and privacy laws within every country where you plan to send commercial email marketing - these laws vary widely from country to country. This is, perhaps, one of the most important times to consider consulting with a qualified expert who can help you understand local laws and provide advice on how to best follow them. Getting this right means the difference between success … and a possible lawsuit! But don’t let this curb your enthusiasm. Just be aware that acting with due diligence in regards to privacy and spam laws of each country will always be to your benefit.

Equipped with this knowledge, you can use the flexibility, power, efficiency and accountability of online marketing to support your global initiatives.

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