Here is why companies opt for the international market and how businesses manage to effectively expand globally.
Taking a business to the international level became one of the main goals for many company owners. Rapid globalization processes in business keep gaining traction.
Keep reading to find more details as in this article we will cover the following aspects:
- why businesses want to go internationally;
- challenges of global market penetration;
- how to effectively expand on the global level.
Why Businesses Want to Go Internationally
Business owners devote many resources, time and budget to take their companies to the global level. They also turn for help to language translation services to localize their websites and penetrate more smoothly on the international market. The main reason to do this is to expand sales and, respectively become more profitable. It can also be an option when a business has more chances to be successful abroad than on the local market.
Penetrating the global market will also allow you to reach broad audiences and significantly expand your client base. Besides, presenting your business on the international market will diminish your local market dependency.
Challenges of Global Market Penetration
The process of global market penetration is certainly beneficial for companies. Nevertheless, any business owner will encounter multiple challenges on their way to successful international integration. Before you choose this difficult path you have to be ready for the following inconveniences.
-
Cultural Differences
Each culture is unique and you will have to deal with lots of cultural differences. It will be the main task of a business owner and marketers to do extensive research and bridge all the cultural gaps to provide the smoothest customer experience. Different languages can also be an issue and translating a website will be also obligatory to allow people to get familiar with your website content in their native language.
-
Compliance and Regulatory Challenges
International compliance must be the most daunting aspect that you will have to deal with while taking your business to an international scale. It requires a lot of time and effort to get familiar and complete all the compliance paperwork accordingly.
-
Packaging
If you are an eCommerce business, for example, and are committing to offering your international clients your products then it means you will have to take care of adjusting the packaging as well. It will be necessary to translate the instructions, in the case of electronics, provide the proper voltage, and so on. Making such changes is necessary for further success. Quality translation is a must in this case as you will probably have to translate for multiple languages.
-
Slower Rhythm
Business development abroad can take more time and resources than expanding your business locally. You have to be prepared that waiting for results can take much longer than you are used to. Building trustful international relationships is the most time-consuming and burdensome task.
-
Competition
You will have to face enormous local competition. You will have to set apart from other local businesses that offer similar products. You have to impress with quality, price, customer approach, or product diversity. It’s paramount to convince your potential customers they need to choose you over other local brands.
How to Effectively Expand on a Global Level
Penetrating the global market is not an easy task, some ways can facilitate the process and make it more effective. Here are tips that will make you closer to conquering the global market.
-
Research
Before you tackle any particular task related to the international expansion you have to do some research, define the countries you are the most interested to work with. Then, it’s important to explore the needs of your future target audience to offer the most relevant options that they are going to love. Discover all the cultural differences as you will have to adjust all your marketing activities according to it.
-
Localize Your Website
Localizing your website is an important step that will convince an international audience to choose you over other companies and brands. You have to translate the website and customize the message according to their cultural differences. People tend to choose the website on which they can find all the needed information about the product, delivery, and terms of use in their native language. It will contribute to the positive decision-making process.
-
Conduct Marketing Research
Now, it’s time to tackle the marketing strategy. It’s important to find out what are the best working marketing channels that will bring you success. Research results can differ a lot from your local preferences. It’s important to customize your marketing plan to achieve better results in the future.
-
Conduct Regular A/B Tests
Going global is all about the experiments. In order to get better results, you will have to try out different tactics and approaches to see what’s working for international clients and what is not. It will take some time but eventually, you will understand your international audience better to provide the best relevant solutions and ways to let people find out about a company.
-
Take Care of International Shipping
This last one will be more applicable to online stores. One of the main things to do before going internationally will be to define the preferred payment methods that are more convenient for the target audience. Then, you have to take care of appropriate international shipping options that will be cost-effective and fast enough for your potential customers. Shipping costs also differ from country to country. If you cater shipping to Germany, take note that German shoppers are less willing to pay for standard shipping than other Europeans. According to a consumer market insight for Germany, 51% of Germans are not willing to order if they have to pay for shipping. Along with these aspects, it’s important to define the product’s return policy and options as well.
Final Thoughts
Taking your business to the international level is pretty challenging yet very desirable for many owners. Though it’s not an easy path, marketers and business owners strive to conquer the global market and allocate many resources, and put extra effort to reach this ambitious goal. With a proper international marketing strategy and approach, it will be much easier to get tangible results and achieve success.
Interesting related article: “What is International Trade?“