Marketing Internationally

Now you’ve decided on the country and the route to getting your product or service into that market, you need to think about your market strategy and marketing internationally. This is key to every new business venture because without a marketing budget and plan how will anyone know about your product or service? It is particularly important for service and business-to-business companies that need to develop a personal relationship with clients, however, every company working internationally needs to think about their brand positioning and reputation in that market.

Whatever your route to market, if you have a business partner they will want to know what expenditure is being allocated to promote your product on an ongoing basis. If you decide to use an agent or distributor or even a local marketing expert, it’s important that you are involved in matching your marketing with the characteristics of that country bearing in mind that the local business culture might be very different from what you are used to.

Remember, visiting the market and building relationships is part of your marketing strategy and you will usually need to have a regular and consistent approach to visiting the market no matter what route you are choosing.

Your marketing plan is an extension of your business plan and must describe in detail how you will position your business, product or service in the market and differentiate it from its competitors. You should think about your key messages, the tactics you will use to communicate with your potential customers and the costs involved.

Read more on writing an international marketing plan

If you are running an e-commerce business, selling your products or services online, your website is your platform for overseas sales success.

You will need to consider whether your local website will support international sales or whether 3rd party platforms such as Amazon and e-bay, for example, would be appropriate for your product.

Whilst online platforms such as Amazon have a global reach, China, for example, has completely different platforms and so it is important to make sure you pick the right ones for the markets you are getting in to. You will need specialist help with this so research it thoroughly and work with credible partners to get your products listed on the most appropriate sites.

Read more on maximising your digital presence