On its own, Europe traded annually in exports worth almost seven billion dollars in recent years. If you want a piece of a global pie that this hints at, you need to expand your local brand to something that is worldwide. Although, do you know how to do this in a way that will grant you success without spending too much money?
Below we lay out some of the advice for taking your brand on the global stage. As you read through, note some of the specifics so that when you try you can form Global Expansion strategies that will propel you further than ever before. So read on, and good luck.
What Does Taking Your Brand Global Mean?
Many brands end up doing so well in a local area that they end up looking into new possibilities. They either spread to other local areas or even debate global expansion.
The main reason they do this is to try to expand their sales even further than they start at. It can be a balancing act, though, remaining loyal to your original customers while expanding elsewhere.
There are also other reasons why someone might want to test the waters elsewhere. For example, it might be that their local market is not a good fit, and there might be better opportunities elsewhere. People facing this issue should ensure that they are right about this second market too.
Another reason you might want to do this is to diversify your target market. Focusing on many areas helps you in case there is a sudden change in the market and one demographic is no longer able to offer you profit. This kind of security is always useful in the long run.
Do Market Research
When starting to investigate a new market, try to determine who your customers in the new area will be. You can research to work out their needs and desires so that you can both aim the product and its advertising at them.
If you are expanding from a local market to a global one, this will have a different focus. It is rarely focused on a geographic location. Instead, it relates to the demographics and personal circumstances of the audience.
Also, look at trends that are occurring. You may be able to use pop culture interests, historical precedents, or global politics to your advantage to help you sell more of what you make.
Do Market Research for the Future
Your market research should not only look at how things are right now but also how they could be in the future. To do this, look at how a market is already changing and project that into the future.
You may find that you have trouble with this, due to not having a great handle on your target markets. For this reason, engaging with a professional employer organization can help you hire experts. They will understand your potential customers or clients that much better.
See Yourself Through Your Customers’ Eyes
As well as understanding who your customer is and what makes them tick, you need to understand how they see you too. Your brand and its imagery might have specific meanings in the places where you aim for.
For example, it is common knowledge that many car brands often rebrand when entering markets that speak a different language. They do this to create a perception of their vehicles as powerful in the local market. Although they also do it to avoid negative connotations with their existing vehicle names.
You can then extrapolate to your own product or service. You should thus have a good understanding of who you are and what you are trying to promote in your marketing. Make sure that it means the same, or gives off the same mood, when talking in foreign markets.
Focus on the Right Human Need
Different markets do not only have different expressions of market forces. Also, the people who live in those markets can often express themselves in different ways.
As one example, be careful about the human needs of your target market. There is no point in targeting a campaign about one’s artistic expression at people who do not have other human needs covered.
Try to ensure that when you expand your business you do so in a way that promotes you as covering the correct set of needs to be wanted.
Understand Your New Region
If you have concerns about the culture or lifestyle of the people in any new region, you can always investigate hiring people from there. They will be able to help you get your foot in the door and have the cultural knowledge to keep it there. To help with this, you can always contact a global PEO company that will be able to find freelancers or salaried hires to help you.
Brand Yourself Around Your Identity
There is a specific honesty that people respond well to when it comes to expanding into foreign areas. You can see this when the experience you provide is not unwelcome but provides a unique novelty to your presentation.
Examples of these include the names of products in Ikea or the working methods of Lidl and Aldi. They each have styles that create a full brand expression that people come to know them for. The “Middle of Lidl” aisles even have their own promotional magazines in many English-speaking countries.
Prepare a Local Brand for Worldwide Success
You should now have a good understanding of how to make use of the resources you have to expand your business beyond the local and into the wider world. There is a lot to do, though, and only so much one can learn. So, if you want advice on moving your local brand onto the world’s stage, you might need a little bit of help.
We can help you with searching for local talent and empower you to understand and leverage any new region that you engage with. So, give us a call and we will be able to help you out moving forward.
