Can’t Travel Right Now? Identify Overseas Buyers from Your Office
Leverage Digital Marketing to Advance Export Growth with STEP Grant Support
International travel has long been a cornerstone of export development, including at trade missions, buyer meetings, and overseas trade shows. Starting during COVID and continuing today, travel poses more challenges for businesses.
When travel is delayed, restricted, or not yet approved, exporters still need ways to identify demand and connect with buyers abroad.
Digital marketing is the answer for many West Virginia companies. It now plays a critical role in helping exporters
- Test international markets,
- Identify qualified overseas buyers, and
- Build export pipelines before committing travel funds
Our STEP Grant program and several ITA Strategic Partners support digital market development activities as part of a modern export strategy.
How Digital Marketing Supports Export Development
Using digital marketing to grow business internationally allows West Virginian companies to:
- Target specific countries and regions
- Reach importers, distributors, and decision-makers by industry
- Generate qualified inquiries from overseas markets
- Collect real-time market intelligence to guide export strategy
Rather than replacing travel, digital outreach strengthens and de-risks it by ensuring companies engage markets with demonstrated interest.
STEP Grant–Eligible Digital Activities
While all applications are subject to approval, West Virginia’s STEP Grant program supports a variety of digital marketing activities, including:
- Market-specific digital campaigns
- International lead generation
- Website and landing page localization
- Digital market entry and buyer identification programs
These activities align with STEP objectives by helping West Virginian businesses improve their export readiness, enter new markets, and expand sales into existing markets while being able to measure outcomes and use funds efficiently and transparently.
Recently, Tecnocap, a Glen Dale-based manufacturer of metal closures, utilized STEP grants to explore opportunities for growing sales in new markets in Latin America.
According to Carlos Molina who leads Sustainability and Latin America Sales for Tecnocap, “Thanks to the support of your office and the U.S. Commercial Service we were able to launch a marketing campaign in South America. Partnering with Direct Online Marketing has given us the ability to get our name into countries in South America creating potential customers. It has been an objective to get our name brand recognized in this part of the world. Digital marketing is a great way to utilize the grant money provided by the state, instead of the common misconception that the money is used only for traveling.”
A Smarter Path to International Engagement
By using smart digital marketing strategies, exporters in the Mountain State can
- Prioritize high-potential markets,
- Improve meeting quality once travel resumes,
- Reduce the cost and risk of new market entry, and
- Support long-term export sustainability
For more information on STEP-supported digital export strategies, contact us today:
Jesus Velasco: jesus.velasco@wv.gov
Hanna Kruhlova: hanna.kruhlova@wv.gov