Menu

Search

  |   Business

Menu

  |   Business

Search

Become globally recognized: Steps to take your business global

Every business wants to become the next Amazon. It's a beautiful dream to have – to go global and have your brand name plastered in every major city in the world.

But guess what? It's easier said than done. Not many who have these dreams actualize them. I'm guessing you hope your case will be different.

We can help with that. In this post are some steps you can take to take your business global. Who knows? You just might become the next Amazon.

Steps to take your business global

  1. Take a deep dive into the market

Before going global, it is important to first take a deep dive into the culture and markets you’re going into.

By taking a deep dive, we mean analyzing the country and markets up to the point where you have a deep understanding of everything involved with it.

For starters, taking a deep dive into a market means,

  • Preparing an informative market analysis: To understand your chances of selling in the new market.

  • Preparing local competition analysis: To understand where local competitors are falling short.

  • Analyzing cultural fit: To understand whether there are no social, religious, moral, or political obstacles that may hinder your entry.

  • Doing market sizing: To understand the size of the market and the growth potential. This helps you see whether the market is worth capturing at all.

  1. Come up with actionable plans

Everything in life starts with a dream, then a plan, and then actualization. To realize your dreams to go global, you need to make the right plans.

By making the right plans, we mean,

  • Coming up with short-, medium-, and long-term localized strategies to create and market your products.

  • Branding your business under the appropriate bodies to appear reputable in front of local prospects. For example, if your business participates in financial transactions, most people you'll deal with on a global scale will expect you to have an LEI Number. Also known as a Legal Entity Identifier, an LEI Application Number is a number that helps people believe that a company is recognized and reputable internationally.

  1. Putting together the right team

When going global, most companies usually prefer to hire workers from the country they’re staging the business. This is not a bad approach. But it isn’t the best either.

There should be a healthy mix of local workers and workers from the parent company. Even if you’re lucky to find local workers who are experienced in the field, it is always better to mix them with people who are familiar with your actual operations.

Furthermore, bringing in workers from the parent company will also make the transition a lot faster, as they’re already familiar with the operations. With them around, putting the local workforce through on how your operations go will not be a challenge.

  1. Get the right accreditations

Starting a business in another country is always a different experience. Oftentimes, there are bodies and authorities you have to meet with before you get started.

On the global scale, one such body is the LEI identifier regulations we mentioned earlier. It is a system that lets people know ‘who is who’ and ‘who owns whom’ internationally. As a financial entity, if you want to be respected and taken seriously on the international stage, getting your LEI application number is a no-brainer.

Without it, most international businesses might look down on you when you approach them for financial transactions and partnerships. Also, some customers who understand the significance of legal entity identifiers may choose not to patronize your business if they notice you haven't filed for your LEI application number.

If LEI number doesn’t concern your business, you need not bother about it. There are several other accreditations you may need to get, depending on your field and the country you’re going to. Find out what they are and get them before migrating.

  1. Make your products ‘localized’

Another important part of going global is the localization of products.

It may be that in your home country, you’re allowed to package products only in tin containers. While going to another place, you need to figure out the acceptable packaging standard and then tailor your products to suit that. That could mean switching from poly bags to foiled sealed bags or rigid tin boxes to plastic boxes.

Another critical aspect of product localization is product naming. You may have to translate your product name while moving into another country.

Finally, quality assurance is another point you don't want to ignore. The way your product tastes, feels, looks or smells may not align with the cultural, political, or social beliefs of the market you're going to.

In that case, you may need to reinvent your products to meet the new requirements.

  1. Prepare your marketing strategy

The way you market your products and pitch to customers in your home country may not work internationally.

For example, in some countries, distributing flyers and handbills is viewed as nothing but an utter waste of time because nobody has the time to read them. Whereas in other countries, this strategy works.

My point being? A crucial part of going global is understanding and implementing the best-localized marketing strategies. And that involves ‘due research.’ You must take a deep dive into the country’s marketing approach to figure out the techniques that work best there.

  1. Don’t forget the legal aspects

Going global means exploring new markets and new laws. And wherever law goes, litigation follows. To ensure you don’t end up breaking laws and ruining your business’ commercial appeal, you should get a local legal practitioner to work with. You must consider the legal documents to easily come up with timely startup growth.

If possible, get one before setting your foot in the country. That way, you can quickly take care of everything involving immigration, shipping, taxes, disputes, custom duties, and so on.

  1. Team up with local businesses

An excellent way to quickly expand your reach in any new market is by leveraging existing business customer bases.

Since local businesses already have the name and reputation, locals tend to believe what they say or who they endorse faster than anybody else.

As much as you want to appear on local TV shows and fly around on billboards, you also need to find ways to partner with local businesses. This could be through complementary projects, alliance programs, or partnership arrangements.

For example, if you’re a cosmetic business line, you could team up with a spa line to launch a community program where people get free cosmetic and massage services.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes



  • Market Data
Close

Welcome to EconoTimes

Sign up for daily updates for the most important
stories unfolding in the global economy.