Tips for Taking Your Business Global

If your business has been growing successfully at a steady pace in recent years, then you might assume that the next logical step is to take your business to an international market. Expanding your business globally represents a hugely valuable opportunity that has the potential to take your company to the next level. However, if this transition is not managed correctly then you might risk wasting resources, losing customers and harming your reputation.

When you are looking to take your business global it is vital that you spend a little time doing the necessary research so that you understand what it takes to make this transition successful.

 

1. Solidify Your Existing Customer Base

Before you start to focus on working to bring your business to an international market, it is first necessary to solidify your existing customer base. Having a bank of loyal, local existing customers will be essential when you are taking your business global. It is these customers who will provide you with the revenue you need to sustain the rapid business growth that is essential when you are expanding internationally.

 

You should make sure that you have focused attention on your existing customers to build a deep and meaningful relationship between customers and your brand. It is also useful to establish an ongoing marketing strategy to ensure your existing customers will be catered for during your transition.

 

2. Identifying The Right Markets

Identifying the right international markets is another key step that is needed to successfully launch your business on the international stage. When it comes to deciding where you are going to focus your efforts when expanding your business internationally, there are many areas that you can focus on.

 

You should look into the demand for products and services like yours to find out which countries would be interested in your brand. Ideally, you will be looking for countries that have a high demand for products or services like yours. However, business is rarely ever simple and you will likely find that countries with typically high demand come with a lot of competition.

 

It is even more difficult to compete with established companies in an international market than it is at home. Make sure to find an appropriate balance of consumer demand and the market competition before deciding on which markets you will focus on.

 

Don’t fall into the trap of taking the easy route if it does not make the most business sense. Many business owners are tempted to expand into international markets that use the same language. For example, if you are running in a company in America you might be tempted to expand to Britain or Australia. As Smartling explains, with so many high-quality translation management systems out there, you don’t need to be constricted by language.

 

3. Decide Your Business Structure

When you are taking your business global this will come with some form of restructuring. You will need to decide how you are going to fund the expansion and how you are going to manage your operations. For example, are you going to open up offices overseas? Are you going to manage everything in house or will you outsource some operations, like delivery, or overseas companies?

 

4. Identify Local Legal Rules

Most countries will have their own local laws and regulations for businesses. When you are looking to take your business international it is vital that you first learn all the relevant local laws. You should make sure to understand accounting rules, business taxes, regulations, government taxes, employment and privacy rules among others.

 

If you do not take the time to learn all relevant laws and regulations you risk falling into serious trouble later down the line. You could face legal repercussions that do not only harm your success in an international market but threaten the very future of your business at home too.

 

5. Create a Local Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy has the power to make or break the success of your business in an international market. It is vital that you localize your marketing efforts to ensure that you are able to devise the very best marketing strategy possible.

 

You will need to conduct localized marketing research, into your target audience in your market of choice. While your target audience demographic is likely to remain somewhat the same as your home target audience, there will be some differences. You should create a new customer persona for your target audience in your international marketplace of choice. Try to make this customer persona as detailed as possible to increase your understanding of your international target market.

 

You should also spend some time researching the marketing efforts of your competitors in the new marketplace. Researching your competition’s marketing efforts will help you to learn more about what is successful and unsuccessful in your international marketplace of choice.

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