Lesson 7 of 8

Lesson 2.4.7

Sourcing in other languages and offline markets

6 min readIntermediate

What this costs

The same as any other sourcing. The saving is that nobody else has this list.

Before you start

A market that a US built database covers badly.

The widest coverage gap in every commercial database is anything that is not large, English speaking and online first. That gap is not a problem to work around, it is the most defensible list you can build, because your competitors are all buying from the vendors that have the same blind spot.

The approach that travels

  1. 1

    Source in the local language, not in English

    Search the category the way a local business describes itself. An English category term returns the companies that market to foreigners, which is a different population.

  2. 2

    Find the local equivalent of the six sources

    Every market has a chamber of commerce, a trade body, a registry and a review platform. They are just not the ones you know.

  3. 3

    Expect the domain to be the hard part

    Local businesses use local platforms, social pages and marketplaces instead of a domain. Resolution rates are lower and that is normal, not a failure.

  4. 4

    Keep the local language values in the row

    Do not translate away the category and the description. They are what makes the row verifiable, and translations lose the exact term.

This is the practical form of the edge data argument the original Akademy made at length: everyone buying from the same vendors gets the same list, so the advantage sits in the markets those vendors skipped.

Check yourself

0 of 2 answered

1.Why search in the local language rather than in English?

2.Domain resolution rates are lower in these markets. What does that mean?

Answer all 2, then open Build a list from who engaged with a post to tick this lesson off.

This lesson is written and complete. Its screen recording is still to come, and the written walkthrough is designed to stand on its own without one.