Expanding your business overseas is an extremely exciting move for any organization. It’s a sign that your business is not only competitive in your domestic market but has grown enough to venture into the international market. There is a lot to think about when it comes to global ventures, and a substantial amount of risk involved, so here are 4 tips to help ensure the success of your overseas business venture.
1. Do Your Research
By far the most important aspect of an overseas venture’s success is whether it will be well received in your target market. The only way to ensure this is by doing your research, and doing a lot of it. From trends in customer tastes to cultural norms and competitors’ actions, you need to know everything about your market, customers, and their behaviour, if you’re to have a successful move into the international sphere.
2. Adapt Your Product or Service If Necessary
After carrying out research, you may find that you need to tweak your business offering slightly to better suit your target market. Having a good global commercialization strategy is key here, because it will help you understand exactly what needs to change. It allows you to look at things such as social media trends, and gain insights to how people may use your product or service in your target market, as well as how your competitors present themselves online too. Understanding the language, customs and culture of your target market can also be gained from your extensive market research and will inform any changes you make. An understanding of macro factors is also vital, including legal, economic and political contexts.
This information will guide your marketing strategy, and help you to successfully connect with your target market. There are many things to consider when adapting your product, including:
- Packaging
- Branding
- Website Localization
- Social Media
3. Find Local Partners
Another important part of ensuring the success of an international venture is the operations side of things. Of course getting the marketing and messaging right is crucial, but the physical process of getting your products to your new market or putting in place the right provisions so that you can offer your services is just as important. To ensure success, you need to establish a trusted, reliable supply chain. This includes everything from distributors to suppliers and admin.
A good practice is to find locals who know the market better than anyone else, as they can provide invaluable information and insights that will only further support your business venture.
4. Hire Locals
Similar to how having local partners boosts your competitiveness with inside knowledge about your target market, the same goes for your personnel. Whether you are opening stores or offices in your new market, hiring locals is a surefire way to ensure the success of your overseas business venture. Naturally, you’ll send over some personnel to help carry over your brand and company culture, but they need to work with locals who can provide not only skills but invaluable experience and knowledge about your target market.
Overseas ventures can be risky, but putting measures such as these in place will help mitigate risk and boost your chances of success.
