Growth is key for all businesses and is vital for guaranteeing long-term success in any industry. But your domestic market can become saturated once you grow to a certain size. This is where it’s time to look at new growth opportunities for your business. In today’s modern world, diversifying markets is becoming increasingly popular.
If you are looking for new opportunities for your business in the global arena, there is a lot to think about. So whatever stage of the globalization process you’re at, we have the best tips to help you succeed and push your business into the global market.
How to Start the Globalisation Process
Firstly, before embarking on an international venture, you need to do a lot of research and preparation for your launch. These next few tips will help you to do that preparation and make key decisions, such as your new target market, and put the relevant strategies in place. After this decision has been made, the next steps will include putting measures in place to localize your content, for example, establishing an effective translation management system like globallink.translations.com.
1. Choose the Right Market
The globalization process starts with a decision about where you’re going to move your business to. It’s important to look at micro and macro factors to ensure that you’re making the best decision for your business.
Micro factors are to do with your business. They include:
- Your resources
- Your budget and assets
- The talent and capabilities within your business
- Business goals and objectives
- Your products and services
Each of these factors will determine what kind of new market you can target because they will dictate whether your international business venture is viable or not. For example, businesses with fewer resources may find it easier to launch in a neighboring country thanks to the lowered costs associated with shipping. Similarly, if you produce a product that already has a saturated market in some countries, it would be better to find an alternative to boost your chances of success.
Macro factors are the external factors that will be present, and distinct, across markets around the globe. These include:
- Political factors
- Economic variables
- Social attitudes
- Technological advancements
- Environmental factors
- Legal matters and variances
It’s crucial to be aware of all of these factors when choosing the right market for your business, as they can drastically affect your chances of success. Without looking into each of these factors in detail, you could come across obstacles that could have been avoided with in-depth research. The infrastructure of different markets will not bend around companies, so you must work out whether your brand has the capability to work around these external factors.
2. Research Your Target Market’s Needs
Once you’ve chosen where you want to launch, you need to understand exactly what your new target audience wants and needs. It’s only with this understanding that you can develop strategies to connect with your target audience and successfully build a customer base.
This is the time to do in-depth market research using all of the channels and tools available to you, from professional market research firms to social media. You can use the information gathered in your research to create detailed user profiles that you can use to align all communications with. These insights are vital if you want to successfully reach and connect to your target audience.
Before You Launch
This section covers the activities you carry out before launching in your new market to ensure that all of the research you’ve done is used effectively and that you are ready to launch your services in a different market.
3. Translate and Localize Your Business
If you’re launching in a market where the main language is different from your company’s, then translating your site, products and services is the first step to take after deciding where you are launching. But translating content is only half the battle. The other important thing is localization.
Localization is an absolutely vital practice for companies looking to enter the global arena. Language, culture, and values vary significantly across the planet, and even within languages, there are vast differences across regions and countries. This is why localization, or adapting your business to suit your target audience, is so important. And it’s not just written content that needs localization, it’s also branding, images, and even colors.
4. Define Your Marketing Plan
Being a new player in your target market will mean that marketing plays a hugely influential role in the success of your business venture. Even universally recognized companies need to communicate their brand and message effectively, so marketing must be a priority. Using your understanding of your target market, you need to find a way to effectively reach, and engage your new audience.
5. Hire Personnel
Depending on the size of your international venture, you may need to hire a team to help establish your presence in your new market. If you are simply shipping products to another country, then the chances are that you don’t need a team present in the new market. You will need distribution partners though, who need to be thoroughly researched and vetted, seeing as they will represent your brand overseas.
If you are opening stores or offices in a new market, then it’s obvious that a team is needed to manage business operations. A mixture of locals and expatriates is important to meet your target market’s needs and effectively communicate your brand.
When You’re Ready to Make the Move
Once all the preparation has been done, it’s time to make your move. This move will vary depending on the kind of globalization strategy you’ve chosen.
6. Start Shipping Internationally
For smaller-scale global ventures, your launch may not involve a physical presence in your new market. In today’s digitized and inter-connected world, businesses can ship to pretty much any country, all that you need is a stellar marketing strategy and reliable distribution partner.
7. Open a Store or Office Abroad
For large-scale moves, you may be opening offices or brick and mortar stores in your new market. This is a riskier strategy because of how much more investment it requires, but if you have the demand, and the resources to pull it off, a global venture can be an extremely successful one.
