The Business Equivalent To A Beach Landing

Is there a right way to grow your business? Well, that’s up for debate but we definitely know how not to grow your business. Fast and loose, high risk to low reward, too big too fast and many other ways have been documented and studied as proven ways of achieving failure. There are tried and tested ways that experts and great mentors try their best to teach young entrepreneurs. Yet, we’re all trying to get to the millionaire status, so we can get side-tracked by that goal and blinded by our ego. So every now and then you need to be reminded that Rome was not built in one day and neither will your business empire. Speaking of building an empire, in order to do that you must be prepared to eventually take to the shores of a foreign land. A business that cannot successfully penetrate a foreign market is doomed to be a national giant but never an international giant. So how would you in a manner of speaking, storm the beaches of another highly competitive foreign market?

Telltale signs of consumer thought

The number one things to do on your list will be, studying the consumer patterns, trends and overall mood of the nation you’re going to be entering. Understanding not just the culture of the people, but the consumer culture in this new mysterious land is paramount to your success. It needs to be well researched before you make a move. You might also realize that you don’t really like the culture of a particular country, whether it be national or consumer-wise. So, don’t be whimsical and rely on a stereotypical image of a particular country, go forth with an objective mindset.

How you will do this is quite simple. Governments publish consumer confidence reports in their annual GDP performances. In these very documented and detailed reports, you will find the telltale signs of consumer thought. Are consumers feeling bullish with their spending? Maybe more and more families are tightening their wallets and holding back from purchasing. What kinds of products do the population favor more than others and why? Real as many financial reports from magazines, newspapers and of course governments to gain a true feeling of consumer thought and culture in the nation you’re planning on entering.

Who are you up against?

You think some local business or national corporation is just going to take your newfound presence sitting down? They’re not going to take lightly to any new competitor, especially one that is foreign and is trying to take their customers from them. This is only natural, as you would do the same. If you can’t maintain a loyal customer base at home, where are you going to go and find success from? But who are these blank faces, and what are their capabilities compared to you? Audience analysis is one thing, but competitor analysis is a whole other ballgame. That’s why a professional SEO company that knows how to execute an international SEO campaign is needed at this point.

They first look to structure your domain so that your website has a version that is understandable in the language of the foreign nation. For example if you’re a business from Senegal and you want to advertise your products and or services to China, then you need to have a Cantonese version of your website. On-page optimization is another factor as different nations have their own style of web page layout. Japan has a very different standard web page design standard than for example France or Canada. Therefore a professional company will be able to do this for you and break down that language and layout barrier.

Starting out anew

The big hope is that your products and services will be adopted by the new nation’s people right? Well, that’s in fact a rare dream as only certain products are adopted in their original form by foreign markets. For example, Ford is very well known in a different way in Europe than it is in America. The smaller Ford Focus cars were designed for a European market and they didn’t do so well with American consumers. It's vice versa, as the larger pickup trucks like the F150 don’t sell well at all in Europe. Therefore Ford has made two different products, for two different markets. Your business will need to so the same also; if the feedback and evidence supports the decision.

With avid ‘on the ground’ feedback from customers, you will need to decide whether you carry on selling the same product in the foreign market or create a similar but different product. Starting anew is a big deal, as you will need to go back to the design room, implement a different manufacturing process, inform all management staff of the changes required as well as standards, and built a different product to suit specific new needs. By any stretch of the imagination, this is not an easy task to complete. You’ll need to have the stomach for it as changing your product will also be something that you might not want to do on principle.

Inviting new blood

What better way to land on the shores of another nation and learn how to conquer it's markets, than to hire local talent? Hiring people from the nation that you are entering into to do business, is a brilliant long-term solution move to make. First of all, you have people who can break down the language barrier. So any kind of tone that you want to take in your marketing campaigns, you can ask them to help you understand the culture of the people. This is especially crucial, if you’re going to be setting up inside the country and operating from within. Make sure you remain in continuous contact with your new employees during redesigns and marketing campaigns even if you’re abroad.

It's a very big challenge to enter into a foreign market and be successful. Choose a nation whose culture you can gel with and then look to change your website to fit it. This means the language, the domain and the web page layout.