Online businesses offer unique expansion capabilities that are unparalleled to companies with a single base of operations. The global expansion brings explosive growth to companies with the resources and market to expand in this manner.
The opportunities are endless. Business owners can have sales streaming in from all four corners worldwide. Global expansion requires extensive planning and business relationship building but it has gotten easier over the years. Here are some tips for exploring a new international market to grow your business.
Carefully plan marketing efforts
Marketing success runs in parallel with high sales volumes. Carefully planning marketing efforts to the target countries or regions translates to consistent revenue flow. As a business owner, you need to be certain that the operations won’t be dead in the water after expanding to a different country.
Remember, conducting SEO in China is different from what is done in the U.S. Keyword research and other SEO elements need to be localized, and getting a guide on how to successfully market a business is part of any effective marketing plan. Wenomad Marketing also helps with budgeting the investment that might need to be poured into marketing efforts in the chosen target countries.
Plan logistics
A Baidu SEO agency can deliver remarkable results in sales. The responsibility lies with the business to meet the demand. Business owners looking to expand to a different country must meticulously plan logistics such as shipping and freight forwarding. Logistical planning entails establishing business relations with shipping companies servicing the target countries.
Negotiating prices can reasonably reduce high shipping charges to affordable cost estimates. In addition to building relations with shipping companies, business owners must understand import regulations. Any costs that emanate from import duties must be factored into product pricing. Some international companies prefer calculating these costs separately with each order. How you cover shipping and import costs is left to your discretion.
Conduct due diligence
Before getting the ball rolling on global expansion, conducting due diligence is an important step. The due diligence that must be conducted includes competitor research and even the old-fashioned SWOT analysis. Some questions that must be answered are:
- Is there a demand for your products in the target countries?
- Are locals prone to buy from a company based in a different country?
- What is the financial risk-reward ratio related to this global expansion?
Depending on your industry, there might be other critical questions that must be answered before expanding. Objectively conducting due diligence has the potential of saving business owners major financial loss and preventing a tarnished reputation should the expansion not go as planned.
Establish executive governance
If the expansion is financially viable and warranted by the results of the research conducted, you should set up a team to spearhead the project in-country. Recruiting talent and training any new executives takes time and could impede growth. Therefore, instead of establishing new executive management in-country, consider using senior managers already part of the company.
Executives already part of the company understand the corporate culture that needs to be implemented. At the same time, they understand the business’s brand voice and messaging. As time goes by, existing senior managers can help establish executive governance using local talent once the business operations are properly established.
Work on product readiness
Just as marketing efforts are important, product readiness also plays a critical role when expanding globally. Ensure the product is ready to be exported and imported easily across the respective borders. Research if all product offerings being provided to other countries are easily marketable.
That might require hiring localization experts to ensure that the product is ready for those new markets. Some product names or marketing phrases might not be suitable in other countries. Localizing all marketing copy and product names will contribute to a higher success rate.