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The world has become a smaller place with the use of the Internet and the latest technological advancements. By utilizing social media, companies can use digital marketing strategies to expand their business on a larger scale.
Globalization is not an easy task. And it’s not a trend. For the majority of companies, it’s a necessity in order to remain competitive within the industry and take advantage of many opportunities.
If you are considering global expansion, you are on the right track. Here are some of the most important things to consider before expanding your business globally.
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Before expanding globally, it’s crucial to do research and establish a strategy for further development. Is the target market in an area which is interested in your products or services? Is your product internationally appealing? If you’ve answered both of these questions positively, it’s time to consider expansion in another country.
One of the main factors to expanding internationally is participating in a CBI – Citizenship by Investment program. Here, you can obtain a second passport in a foreign country with a single investment either in national funds or real estate. The amount depends on the country you’ll apply to and the type of investment.
Additional benefits when having dual citizenship include: visa-free traveling, tax optimization benefits, lifestyle improvements, better education, and better healthcare systems. For example, the Grenada passport allows you to travel freely to more than 150 countries.
It is essential to make sure you are well-informed about the global expansion rules and regulations before diving into the international markets. Furthermore, perform a SWOT analysis and determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to your business operations before making the international leap. Consider the market sizing in prospective countries to define the timeframe of capturing the targeted sales.
Develop a Strategy
Each market has different conditions in regards to culture, government, and economy. You need to develop a business plan and a strategy that will give results locally first while being integrated with the overall objectives and corporate strategies.
First of all, you need to define the long-term, short-term and medium-term strategy, measure progress, and set reasonable goals. Identifying the goals, metrics and objectives are relevant in completing the business structure and deciding on how to organize and implement your business model. You will also need to develop an annual budget and a project plan to measure success.
Multiple Revenue Streams
Almost half of the midsize companies report doubled profits in their overseas office. If your business is well-situated and established in your native country, you are a step forward in succeeding globally. With potential new customers, you can create unique opportunities and identify local markets to fill in the gaps for your business.
Having multiple income streams is crucial in setting up a second office in another country. Thinking globally helps you to outpace the competition and take advantage of expanding options for manufacturing, hiring top talent, acquiring new customers, and saving on costs.
Strategies For Acquiring New Customers
When you’ve been operating domestically for quite a while, it can be hard to expand to another national location since customers are already aware of your product. So, if the sales are not going up as expected, it’s time to acquire new customers.
The international expansion opens the doors to a whole new base of customers that haven’t used your product. Key points when accessing new markets are:
- A right content marketing strategy – since it’s the foundation of advertising. It can be in the form of videos, blog posts, guides, ebooks, etc.
- Targeted ads – redefine your target audience and do a market segmentation based on demographics, geographics, behavior, and psychographics
- Develop business partnerships with SaaS companies
- Generate new leads by creating a lead generation site
- Focus on your product’s benefits instead of the features
- Be active on social media – 97% of adults log into their social media accounts at least once per month. And more than 3 million businesses do digital marketing on Facebook
- Become famous on forums – sites like Quora are crucial in establishing your brand image among potential customers
- Run giveaways, offer discounts and promotions
- Highlight positive testimonials of users who’ve already purchased and tried your products/services
Hire an International Team
When building your international business presence, find local resources to enter, understand and grow in foreign markets. Hire an international team through direct hiring, partnerships, or alliances, and begin connecting with other leaders in the field to expand your network.
Local employees of your target country have specific information, usieful for market penetration.
Get Ready!
To make the most of your business strategy, do your due diligence and set up a plan.
International expansion offers a number of ways to expand your business operations outside of the country, so make sure you are aware of the options.
Visit our blog to learn more about business opportunities or learn a couple of new tips and tricks about business expansion.