Launching your product in a new market can open up a completely new world for your business. The investment required to reach consumers in a new country can be dramatically more lucrative than trying to increase your native market share.
Taking the time to choose the right market often requires a lower investment that will ultimately reach a far higher number of potential new customers, which you can find out more about here>
However, to become one of the many businesses that are successful at breaking down international barriers, you must use a measured and thoughtful approach.
Identify your market
Once you have made the decision to open up a completely new legion of consumers to your products, you have to ensure you select the right consumers. Your particular product might be more relevant in some markets than others. Spending the time looking at the different markets now could save you a lot of hassle later on. When we think beyond Europe, most people think of China or South American countries like Brazil, but there is a huge number of potential markets to explore.
Good communication builds your brand
While you may already have a lot of marketing materials in place, simply running them through Google translate will rarely be sufficient. In advertising and marketing, they use a term called transcreation. This term is used to refer to messages that need translating into other languages but maintain the tone, style, intent, and context.
It’s regularly used in global multi-level marketing to ensure any communication with the local consumers has the same impact, whether you’re appealing to them emotionally or just trying to inspire confidence in a brand that’s new to the market, it’s all achieved through effective communication.
Transcreation will take into account all of the local cultural factors that could affect your message, ensuring you don’t upset any of your potential new customers. More importantly, a transcreated message will make sure you have the maximum impact in your new market.
However a potential new customer comes into contact with your brand, whether it’s through your website or social media, or simply by reading the instructions after purchasing a product, you need to make the right impression. Running your website through a free online translator will simply look unprofessional, incoherent, and shoddy, which is something we looked at in this blog post >
Consider the practicalities
Technology has shrunk the world of communication to some degree, but if you’re dealing with a physical product, you still need to be able to get it into the hands of your customers. You will need to explore if using a local distribution service or shipping from your native country is the best option.
There are businesses in most markets that will act as a distribution agent for you. You can start small for a surprisingly low amount, which allows you to test the water. If you’re investing heavily and expecting a bigger demand for your product then it might be beneficial to set up your own distribution in the new country.
If you’re setting up your own distribution you will need to consider local employment laws and any taxation that’s relevant. Finding a good local legal representative can be invaluable when you’re bouncing ideas around.
For more information, check out our success to exporting packages, or give us a call on +44 (0)1480 411514.
