Get started

This online guide helps you in the process of developing or improving an online trade information service. Good practices, advisory and tips give you direction from assessment and strategy formulation all the way to management of an effective and sustainable trade intelligence portal. A mobile responsive service with an integration of social media channels to assist your business clients and other stakeholders to make informed decisions for their internationalization ambitions.

This online guide is especially useful for public and private trade support institutions that want to offer a value added trade information service to their clients.

Go directly to the 10 steps or do a self assessment first.

Trade Intelligence Portal Self assessment

You can check your current status by filling out the self assessment. This will give you an overview of the most important steps to improve.

Self assessment

Steps

Step 1: Situational assessment

Considering an upgrade of your trade intelligence portal? But wondering where to start…? We guide you to evaluate your portal performance, benchmark against other information providers and determine your added value!

Step 2: Strategy

You may have a portal, but do you also have a portal strategy that is prominently interlinked with your organizational strategy and service portfolio? Learn how to define your ambition level, scope and priorities, target audience, resources and strategic partners.

Step 3: Content and formats

Effective content? There is no alternative. It has to be Interactive, mobile friendly and visual. Less is more! Learn how value added content, focused on opportunities, and infographics and video formats, will contribute to higher customer satisfaction.

Step 4: Usability and functionalities

Usability is like oxygen – you never notice it until it is missing… But, don’t worry. We give you tips and guidelines to come up with an interface and interaction design with effective calls to action, navigation and key functionalities. A positive user experience guaranteed.

Step 5: Social media integration

Social media have created a shift in the way we communicate. And they will continue to do so. Your stakeholders expect you to respond, adapt your trade intelligence service and integrate your portal with social channels. We highlight the key success factors and main channels.

Step 6: Syndication and affiliation

In today’s information era syndication and affiliation of content can provide efficient solutions for your trade intelligence portal. We guide you to identify subject areas and syndication partners that may fit your syndication and affiliation strategies.

Step 7: Operational plan

To manage a Trade Intelligence Portal successfully requires more than an IT plan. We show you how content management, knowledge management, quality management and technical management come together in the operational management of a Trade Intelligence Portal.

Step 8: Monitoring and evaluation

It’s nice to track visitor statistics, but there’s much more that you can measure to determine success of your portal. We guide you to develop the right key performance indicators in relation to your strategy and to monitor conversion rates rather than visitor statistics.

Step 9: Promotion

Developing your Trade Intelligence Portal is one thing. Making it well known to the right visitors to achieve your objectives is another thing. In this step we highlight some angles for effective promotion. Something that is too often neglected.

Step 10: Sustainability

Your Trade Intelligence Portal is of strategic importance. In this step we offer suggestions and good practices of financial models including premium membership, advertisement and collaboration with banks to safeguard sustainability of the initiative.

Need help?

In case you need support or advice in order to develop or improve your Trade Intelligence Portal, feel free to contact us!

Get in touch



Good practice videos

Banks are becoming more and more active Banks are becoming more and more active in the domain of international trade information portals. This is an excellent means for them to be visible…

Step 10: Sustainability Your Trade Intelligence Portal is of strategic importance. In this step we offer suggestions and good practices of financial models including premium membership, advertisement and…

Step 9: Promotion Developing your Trade Intelligence Portal is one thing. Making it well known to the right visitors to achieve your objectives is another thing. In this…

All videos



Advisory services



Support by phone

In the process of optimizing your Trade Intelligence Portal? We are ready to help. Let us know your challenges, and get to know our tailored support.



Workshop at location

Over the years ITC has developed a full range of services to build capacity in TPOs such as yours. Through interactive workshops our specialists will guide you towards further improvement of your Trade Intelligence Portal and related services. From assessment to strategy development, and from best practices identification to content and promotion; you decide about the support that ITC will provide you with!



Sign up for E-alert

Stay tuned to the latest news and development in the area of Trade Intelligence Portals? Sign up now, it’s free!

Contact Us