Is your home country just not big enough for your business? Are you ready to go international? If so, here are the steps that you can take to expand your business overseas and across borders.
Research the Market
Before you start trying to sell your goods and products in a foreign country, first check to make sure that there is a place for you in the market. If you can, take a trip to that country and see what people are buying and how they are buying it. This will give you an idea of whether or not you will have success with what you’re selling.
If after all of your research you find you do have a spot, start with social media and see if you can drum up some business.
Is There Room For Further Growth?
Once you have decided where you are going to expand to, is there room for further growth? If you are expanding to Europe, do business in the UK. The UK is a great gateway to the rest of the continent. The UK also has a market for just about everything, and a high level of talent. If you are expanding to another continent, or if you are targeting a specific country, make sure there is going to be room in the future to continue expanding across borders.
Know the Language
You don’t have to be fluent, but know enough so that you can communicate with your new audience. Learning languages though Babel or Rosetta Stone are great ways to learn what you need to know about vocabulary specific to your industry. You can pick up terms and phrases that you will eventually be able to use in marketing, in social media, and in content creation.
Find a Marketing Company
Even though you are going to learn a lot of the language, hiring a foreign marketing company will help facilitate campaign creations and also knowing about the culture of the country. The last thing you want to do is offend anyone with language or images that may be sensitive or inappropriate.
A local marketing company will be able to work all of that out for you so that your first steps in this new country will be strong and to your advantage.
Set Up Your Tech
If you are opening a brick and mortar store, you are going to want to find the right tech solutions fast. Technology can change from region to region, so make sure you know what technology you are going to need and buy it right away then hire an IT expert to come and install everything for you.
Conclusion
It’s not impossible to expand to another country, but it takes careful planning. Knowing as much as you can about where you are going will make everything seem less stressful. You won’t feel like you are stepping into thin air.
Do your homework, learn as much as you can retain, and when you find how you can fit into the niches of this new area of the world, go forward boldly and start basking in the light of your international success.
