July 18, 2019

by U.S. Translation Company, blog sponsor and partner of the Goddard School of Business & Economics

All ambitious business owners will acknowledge they are always on the lookout for ways to grow their business. When they have achieved something at home, they tend to set their sights abroad. Expanding internationally, however, can be a daunting prospect. Here are a few tips for success:

1. CHOOSE YOUR DESTINATION

Just like booking a holiday, planning is required to choose the premier destination. For some companies this might be easy — you might already have clients from that country, so ramping up sales, marketing, and production are probably the next logical steps. If you don’t have a clear-cut path of where you’d like to expand — here are some ways to find out:

• Speak to your sales and marketing department. They deal with clients constantly, so they will have an idea of somewhere with potential.
• Use analytics to determine from where visitors to your site are coming, and think about targeting those locations. It’s a lot easier to sell to people who have heard of you, versus trying to start from scratch.
• Speak with existing customers. They know and use your products and will know if your products have potential in their neck of the woods.
• Conduct market research, so you’re not pumping money into something that will not be lucrative.

2. LET SOCIAL MEDIA BE YOUR GUIDE

You can learn a lot about a foreign audience by digging in to social media. And the good news is that there are an abundance of new tools to make the job that much easier – or more manageable. Used correctly, these tools are a great way to target a new market.

Social media listening tools combine data and metrics from multiple social media platforms into one convenient place. If you aren’t sure what social media listening tools are, here is a quick breakdown of the top six. You’ll discover this type of data:

• What people are saying about you and your competitiors (or potential competitors) on social media. 
• Potential issues or scandals. Online reviews are this generations' way of group policing or influencing.  Buyers that like a product may write a decent review if prompted to do so, but customers who aren’t happy are significantly more likely to write multiple negative reviews saturating different platforms.  By following social “buzz”, you have the advantage of knowing about issues in real time and can make decisions based on them.
• New trends. When dealing with a new market, it’s often hard to know about up and coming trends, especially on the other side of the world. Social media doesn’t take a break and often has no boundaries.  Watching and listening closely to new markets will showcase trends and habits as they emerge.
• Audience segmentation. Marketing messages work better when they’re specifically targeted - which is why audience segmentation is such a useful part of a social listening tool.

Following and understanding social buzz with existing and new products, services and markets can provide a much smoother international launch. 

3. REMEMBER LOCAL RULES AND REGULATIONS

When going global, companies can be innundated by local rules and regulations. For example, when doing business in the EU, understanding the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through a trusted legal source is a must to avoid hefty fines. When doing business in Germany, companies are not allowed to reach out to prospects without their permission. The point is, hire a good general council that clearly understands and has actually navigated through these regulations, you'll save time, money and so much heartache.

Social media is much more than a marketing platform – used correctly, it can be an invaluable international expansion and customer service tool. While we’ve just exposed the tip of the iceberg with social media marketing and data analysis, there’s much, much more to discover and understand to be successful with international expansion. If you’d like a hand, seek an expert, we’re here to help!

---

ABOUT THE U.S. TRANSLATION COMPANY

BACK TO BLOG