Don’t Cause An International Disaster When Taking Your Business Global

Geeks are starting to rule the world of business. As the first adopters of many of the tech advances that are making their way into mainstream marketing and business methods, the savvy know half the tricks of the trade before the trade knows them. But if you really want to rule the world, it means getting out into it a little more. Going international can be a huge boost to your business. But it can also be an unmitigated disaster if you’re not careful.

Do plenty of research to prepare

There are plenty of roadblocks that can stop a business from potentially cracking a new market and that conundrum only quadruples when another business is involved. Your research needs to begin with feasibility. How much demand for your product could there be in the area you’re looking at, for instance? Once you know there’s a demand, you need to think about the logistics of it, from how well you’re able to ship goods to the country to the laws that will undoubtedly shape a lot of the business you do there. Whether you’re doing something ill-informed or illegal, it can be easily stopped with a little prior research.

Make a real appearance

You’re going to have to actually visit the country before you start doing business there. Establishing yourself in the market and beginning the process of networking with your regional contemporaries is important. It’s a good idea to keep an eye out for trade shows and conferences that you could use to introduce yourself to the market and even launch your new campaign. It’s worth considering taking an interpreter too, to help you navigate the language barrier more easily.

Translation isn’t enough

When it comes to communicating with the people in another culture, translation is good for getting the basics done. You can be coherent, but you will be missing a lot of the little details that have allowed you to succeed in your home country. Localization is the process of taking your content and making it seem like it was actually developed for that international audience. For instance, people will notice little details like idioms that don’t translate or a lack of regional symbols that businesses in their home country would use. Sites like copypastecharacter.com/currency can make it easier to thoroughly adapt your content to their language. It’s a good idea to consider a localization company, too.

Marketing needs context

In marketing, you have to deal with a lot more than language, however. You have to deal with ideas and imagery and here is where the cultural barrier can get particularly thick. Hongkiat.com/blog/international-marketing-strategy/ shows just how important culture is to a marketing strategy. If you’re looking to adapt existing ads, you need to make sure that iconography and ideas you use translate to share the same meaning. More importantly, you need to make sure they’re not inflammatory or offensive in the culture you’re trying to appeal to. Some sort of cultural advice is necessary to point out the obscure problems in your marketing that will be obvious to its intended audience.

To crack a country, you need to know it. That can take a lifetime, so it’s a good idea to have someone on your side who knows the ins-and-outs you don’t. Otherwise, your business can seem bizarre and even offensive.

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