Making Marketing Strategy for International Business in a Right Way

Devashish Dey

4 years ago

Thinking of going international with your business? Yes. Now more and more people are thinking in global perspective. The day by day modern becoming society gives you a huge opportunity to take your business to global level.

Establishing an international is not a walk in park but with a right strategy from the beginning you will feel as if it is a walk in park only

9 Tips for Expanding your Business internationally

1. Understand Your Product

Before jumping on to research for your product internationally you must first yourself understand your product. It is a must that you know your product totally as if you yourself are not clear about your product then you won’t be able to understand its proper usage.

When you have a full understanding of your product then you can easily make out what is your targeted customer and based on it you can do your further research.

2. Research

It is very important to perform an extensive research on the culture and trends of the international markets you want to sell your product in. It would be better if you personally visit the place and do some local search to understand the thought process of people.

Compile information about various opportunities and determine which markets have the greatest overall potential for your product. Read and gather information from local newspapers and articles to understand the market trends. Research is an important part of marketing strategies for international business.
Do a keyword research to find out if your product is sought in your targeted region or not.

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3. Assess the market size

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It might be happen that your product might not have much competition in the beginning but there is a possibility that it can have a big competition later on. Take the possible future competitors in consideration from the very beginning, by doing so you can be prepared for future and will be a step ahead your competition.

For Example: you are a seller of antique wine glass seller and there is already a glassware shop in market. May be today they are not selling a product same as you but the possibility is there so, you might want to be prepared and want to have constant innovations.

4. Build your team

Having a proper team is very important; you need to have a proper team both nationally and internationally. Have employees in the native country will give you advantage in understanding the local audience and help in dealing with issues efficiently.
After accessing your targeted market you will have a clear understanding of the strength of manpower you need in various fields.
Setup a proper logistic unit which will ensure timely import and export of your product. Take proper legal aid to ensure that you won’t face any unnecessary issues later on.
In early stage work on building good relation between your national and international so that your business smoothly and sufficiently.

5. Work with local partners

While you have a great team and setup for business adding local partners can be a great addition for you. It is not necessary you partner in your core business, you can have local logistic companies, media agencies and local customer service as your partner. Working with affiliates, partners, distributors, licensees or agents can help you get established in a new market. Close consultation with business partners on the ground will ensure that your marketing materials have local appeal and don’t include any mistakes.

6. Decide your pricing

When we talk about deciding pricing it does not mean just simply putting a price for your product. If you are going for targeting more than one country you simply cannot have a different price for different countries. You will have to come up with a standard rate for all countries. This price should be set with consideration of packaging and logistic prices and also the excise duty that may apply. You can come up with different shipping price for different countries but keep the basic rate same. Use a single currency sign to show basic rate and provide with currency converter options.

7. Start early Networking

Start your networking even before you start setting up your business. This will be beneficial for you time to time in setting up your business.

Alternative business development strategies include attending, sponsoring, and participating in industry networking events and conferences. Look into joining industry associations that have a footprint in your target markets, or that are native to the target market. Web-based networking groups (e.g. LinkedIn) can also help expand your network.

8. Travel

Over time, as your business will grow cold leads will become hot, and those hot leads will want face-to-face meetings. At that time you need to make the decision that are you ready to handle all the global travel expenses. If so, be prepared to reel in the business, as most of the world works on a handshake and face time is critical. Turn your business trips into tax-deductible vacations and see the world while you’re at it.

9. Review

On a quarterly basis, it’s very helpful to take a close look at your progress. Assess the effectiveness of your process, strategies and tactics and determine if you’re on the right track. If not, look for ways to fine-tune by breaking down the entire process. If you’ve seen success thus far, understand what is working well for you and decide whether or not you want to scale further. When that is the case, just start over at the research phase and begin searching for your next market opportunity.

It can be difficult for a small or medium-sized corporation to initially build an international marketing plan, because they generally don’t have the expertise or budget to launch the campaign. But if you follow these tricks you will be successful in expanding your business internationally in no time. All you need is focus and determination towards your goal.