So, you’ve cracked the Aussie market? It’s time to expand your horizons to the international front. But adapting your business to reach worldwide objectives is no easy feat. Global growth takes guts, resilience and, perhaps most importantly, a whole lot of research into new, internationally-based audiences, as well as how to reach them.
Stay with us as we talk you through how to take your business from a local side hustle to a glowing global success story.
Reaching New Heights: Top Tips For Taking Your Current Audience Reach Global
You’ve successfully smashed the local market. Maybe your Australian online MBA has helped you propel your busy little side hustle to homegrown Aussie business success. But now, it’s time to take it further. You’ve got your sights set overseas: the European, Asian and American marketplaces are beckoning! However, moving your business’ audience and reach to the international stage takes more than just good luck. You need to actively cultivate it. But how do you actually break into overseas markets?
First things first, you’ll need to find yourself a local partner who understands how things work in their home stomping ground. In most scenarios, this means partnering up with an offshore distributor who can on-sell your products to their compatriots on your behalf. Get them to set up shop for you, and have them stock your wares locally in their hometown. Imagine, your product – your baby! – stocked on shelves on Japanese or Mexican soil, or perhaps, in stores lining the streets of Paris, London or New York?
Of course, it must be said that the buying habits of international audiences are also a world apart from our own. That is why it also pays to understand your new customers from a grassroots level. This is where thorough, in-depth international market research into foreign locales will prove itself to be invaluable.
Research Matters: Understanding Your New (Foreign) Customers
Want to diversify your client base on a global scale? You’ll need to get to know your offshore audience – intimately. The truth is, that working with a local partner who understands the consumer marketplace, and who can distribute your product locally for you, is only the beginning. To market your products internationally, you also need to understand what makes your foreign customers tick. What are their buying habits? What products do they require to go about their daily routines? Do they even really need what your business has to offer in their lives?
As well as these considerations, it’s also important to understand that cultural values and customs can differ a great deal from one country to another. Understanding these nuances will help inform your business’s international marketing strategies, as well as how to promote your products to your new audiences in ways that are both relatable and appropriate to them.
Of course, doing this means being able to overcome both cultural and language barriers to deliver advertising and marketing campaigns that resonate with locals abroad. You’ll also need to tailor your marketing strategies to relate to what matters to these audiences. In some cases, you may even need to rebrand! At the very least, you’ll need to realign your branding so that it makes sense to your international consumers.
Restructure Your Campaigns: Realigning Your Marketing Strategies for International Consumers
Cultural sensitivity goes a long way in reaching international audiences. Reaching internationally-based, foreign audiences requires localisation of your brand marketing strategies.
By this, we mean, you need to ensure that your marketing content is locally relevant. Use local, relatable models in your advertising and social media marketing campaigns. Be sensitive to and aware of local festivities and cultural events. Let’s consider trying to break into the Chinese market, for example. Centering your product marketing around Lunar New Year Celebrations can be an exceptionally effective business strategy. In this scenario, this could look like manufacturing specialised packaging for your product – in red or gold designs – to acknowledge this auspicious occasion and its importance to locals.
Of course, this is just one example of product and marketing localisation. Being culturally relevant is essential to branching out to international audiences, and is one of the most important considerations you’ll need to take into account when taking your business to the global marketplace.
