This episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast features Martin Calvert, Marketing Director at ICS-digital joining the podcast from Leeds, England. Martin breaks down the challenges agencies face when expanding into new markets, particularly when it comes to achieving online findability across different cultures, languages, and platforms.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience helping brands establish digital visibility across global markets, Martin shares practical lessons on managing risk, avoiding costly expansion mistakes, and building strategies that resonate across cultures.

Whether you're grappling with scaling your agency worldwide or building trust with clients in unfamiliar territories, this episode explores the hard truths and tips for navigating cross-cultural marketing.

What you will learn in this episode:

• The hidden pitfalls agencies face when expanding into unfamiliar international markets

• Practical strategies for de-risking global growth without falling into the trap of "fatal half-measures"

• What your agency can learn from ICS-digital's journey in adapting to both blunt and "polite" business cultures

• The surprising reality behind industry awards

• Strategies for managing regulated industries and ensuring creative, compliant work across global markets

Bio

Martin Calvert is Marketing Director at ICS-digital - a global agency specialising in all aspects of multilingual SEO, content and translation, as well as digital PR, influencer relations and paid media.

Resources:

• Website: https://www.ics-digital.com/

• Linkedin Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincalvert/

• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ics-digital/