In Q3, World Trade Center San Diego (WTC) continued to support the 15 companies in its MetroConnect international sales accelerator program. As part of the year-long export education curriculum, WTC hosted two workshops with subject matter experts on the topics of International Marketing & Sales and GDPR & Data Privacy.
MetroConnect Workshop #4 – International Marketing & Sales
Hosted in partnership with Reid Carr (CEO of Red Door Interactive), Judy Webster (Director of Global Partner Marketing at Qualcomm), and Josh Halpern (Chief Strategy Officer at California International Trade Center).
A few things we learned:
- Branding overseas starts with building a strong, authentic brand at home.
- Be mindful of language considerations, even within different regions in the same country. Sometimes you may want to opt for visual representations over words. If you do need a professional, industry-specific language translation tool, check out SYSTRAN Translate Pro.
- Understand which analytical tools you need (and can afford) to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns.
- Optimize your website to accommodate international customers. COVID-19 has only accelerated the unstoppable shift towards online shopping. Maximize your export opportunities through website localization and optimization.
MetroConnect Workshop #5 – GDPR & Data Privacy
Hosted in partnership with Elaine Harwell (Senior Counsel at Procopio) and Hannah Bracken (Commercial Specialist (Digital Policy) for the US Mission to the EU).
A few things we learned:
- Unlike in the European Union, the US does not have a single omnibus bill addressing data privacy. Instead, we have a patchwork of state and federal statutes, some sector-specific and others focused on the rights of consumers.
- The European Court of Justice’s recent ruling in Schrems II invalidated the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which many American companies have been using as a mechanism for transferring personal data from the EU to the US. (What happens now?)
- California has a data privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), however this may soon be replaced by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which is on the ballot this November. Remember to vote!
- If you are interested in learning more about GDPR and data privacy, our team will be recording a live webinar with Elaine Harwell (Procopio) on Thursday, October 29. Please reach out to Lucas Coleman at LC@sandiegobusiness.org and we will include you in our mailing list.