Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
You’ve conquered your local market, making mincemeat of the competition. You next set your sights on national dominance, stepping up to the plate to tangle with the big boys. Like David facing off against Goliath, you knew that what you lacked in stature you more than made up for in agility, wits and ambition. But after expanding your reach internationally, you wept like Alexander The Great because there were no worlds left to conquer. Or were there? With some trepidation, you’re considering expanding your brand’s reach to international markets. China, India, Latin America, Europe. Wherever you set your sights, you can expect to find a host of opportunities… but you can also expect every international market to bring its own unique set of challenges. If you’re serious about conquering international markets, you’ll need to reinvent some parts of the wheel that you’ve spent years creating.
Here are some key things to remember when growing your brand internationally...
It starts with market research
Market research should be an ongoing part of your business operations anyway. How can you be the best in your field if you don’t have your finger on the pulse of what your audience wants? You likely carried out exhaustive market research when building your brand. But if it’s been a while, you may need to take yourself back to school. The better you know the attitudes, values and aspirations of your target market, the better placed you are to appeal to them. Which brings us to...
You’ll need to rethink your approach to advertising overseas
Think you can slap some new text on your existing advertising copy and roll it out overseas? Think again! That kind of attitude has led to a wide range of embarrassing cultural insensitivities and tone deaf campaigns from brands that should know better. You need to understand your overseas prospects as well as you understand your existing customers to find international success. And you may need some insider help to do so. An international agency can help you to better understand how to advertise in China or wherever your sights are set. Don’t make the mistake of assuming knowledge of territories that are new to you. While some facets of consumer behavior are universal, you’ll need to account for cultural biases, history, different socio economic climates and myriad other factors which can influence how advertising copy is perceived by international markets.
International SEO is a slightly different beast
It goes without saying that if you want to get noticed by international clients, you’ll need to invest in Search Engine Optimization for the territories you’re targeting. But SEO is not a one-size-fits-all game. You’ll need to get to know a number of technical and non-technical techniques to tailor your content to better appeal to overseas search engines. From international-friendly URL structures to language tags to learning new optimized keywords you’ll need to re-learn much of what you take for granted in the world of SEO.
When you are well prepared, open minded and aided by the right partners, you can make the dream of international reach a reality!