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Order HereArticle Idea: This transcript can be re-written to form the basis of how an airline can offer a new service in a new geographic location
[5 tips for Marketing your Product Internationally]
Get the top 5 tips for selling a product or service to customers overseas. Find out how to research a new market and your options there (from licensing to full-scale distribution), and use the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) to create a great marketing mix.
Learn more about this topic in International Marketing Fundamentals.
Learn about the new market
(introduction music) – [Doug] The idea of expanding your business to international markets can seem like a huge task. And if you haven’t done it before, it can be very intimidating. It may seem like trying to climb Mount Everest without a Sherpa. My name is Doug Ladd. I’ve been teaching, writing, working for and consulting with companies all over the world for more than twenty-five years. In my experience, there are five key points you need to keep in mind. By doing these, you should be able to save yourself and your company some time, money and frustration.
The first point is to learn the market you are thinking of entering. You should gain appreciation for not only how the market operates in the country you’re targeting, but also some of the finer nuances. For example: you’ll need to know what legal and regulatory requirements are needed to enter the market, the exchange rate between the currency and the new market and that of your home country is important to note. You’ll want to know what the customers like in this market: what they value, how they purchase and use products in your category, and what other options are available to them if they don’t choose your offering.
You should also learn about the other competitors playing in the market today. Understanding which competitors you’ll face, the strategies they’ve used in the past when other companies have encroached on their turf, and the way not only the customer, but also the other portions of the distribution chain, see your competition will be very valuable to you in the long run. Entering a new country is not as simple as shipping a product and hoping someone buys it. There are things you should learn before taking the first step, but you should not be intimidated.
Climbing this learning curve can be done if you have the right guide.
Use available information
– The second tip for marketing your product internationally is to use the information freely available at your fingertips. Gathering information about markets and new geographies doesn’t require a team of Harvard MBA’s and an unlimited budget. There are a number of easy to access and free resources at your fingertips, where you can uncover great insights about the economies and markets of other countries. Regardless of where your company is headquartered, or the location of the seat you’re in today, you can tap into the economic research completed by numerous governments and agencies to inform your decisions.
With a little insight into where the best sources for data and research are located, you can save your company tens of thousands of dollars, that might otherwise be spent purchasing market reports from third-party vendors, by using some online resources. The US government has a number of websites, such as buysusa.gov and export.gov. Also, check out the CIA’s World Factbook at cia.gov. These resources can help you learn what’s required to enter a new geographic market, and also give you market-level data, that can be used to provide key insights to your market expansion strategy.
There are numerous other sites that share data, statistics, and information, and may be valuable to your company, that come from non-governmental organizations as well. Worldbank.org has a lot of information on emerging markets such as India, China, Brazil, and others. You can check out geerthofstede.com, to learn about differences in cultures, values, and societal norms from country to country. By searching these sites, reading the information available to you and developing insights based upon what you learn, you may be able to move faster into new geographies without investing much money.
Your boss may think you had a team of Harvard graduates working to build this treasure of knowledge, but the secret of how it’s really done can stay between the two of us.
Widen your options
– The third tip for successful expansion into international markets is to widen your options. Remember those high school days in algebra class when it wasn’t enough just to get the right answer on a quiz, you had to show your work too? That used to drive me nuts, because sometimes there’s more than one way to solve a problem. In a similar way, when you’re looking at options to expand into international markets, it’s important to widen your perspective, as there are several different paths to success. Which route you take is dependent not only upon the goals you have for your business, but also the resources at your disposal.
If you’re simply looking to test the waters and don’t have the capacity to change your product, pursuing an Ecommerce strategy where you can make your current offering available to consumers in a new country may be the way to go. And within this strategy, you have options ranging from selling on eBay or Amazon to creating an Ecommerce site in a different language. More expansive strategies, such as exporting through a distributor, developing a franchising or licensing model, finding a joint venture partner, or building a new business unit in a different country can be considered as well.
There isn’t one formula that works for all companies. But like algebra, you still have to follow certain principles if you’re going to be successful. There are laws and regulations with which you must comply, and these vary from country to country. Even an Ecommerce strategy will require some work on your behalf to ensure you aren’t breaking any laws. Determining which entry option to use can have a large impact on the strategic direction of your company. You don’t have to memorize all the tools to solve these types of problems, but being familiar with some of the methods used by other companies may help you find the right answer.
Convert your unknowns
– My fourth tip for expanding into international markets is to convert your unknowns to knowns. One of the options you could pursue to expand in a new international markets is to open a location in a new country, hire a team, and start selling. Are you ready to write the big check to do this? Not many businesses are willing to jump into such a big commitment without a deep analysis of the other available options. I’d like you to think about another level of analysis to add. Think about it this way, if you’re moving into a new geography with your business there are certain things that you’re very confident you know about the market, the customers, the competitors, the laws and regulations, and so on.
For each of these categories there’s also a list of things you think you know. Put another way, these are some of your big assumptions, pieces and bits of information where you’ve got a gut feeling, or maybe some anecdotal information, but no real quantifiable data you can hang your hat on. Then there’s the list of things you don’t know about this new country, these are things you just don’t have the answer. Some of these may be small details that won’t trip up your overall plan, but others may have a large bearing on your strategy.
Some of the companies with whom I’ve worked will lay these items out in a spreadsheet and assign probabilities that they’ll encounter each. Then they can work on moving things that you think you know or are unknown to the category of being known, by doing more research or testing. Some of the most expensive mistakes in business history have been made by companies that thought they knew how the customer would respond to their offering. You don’t want to repeat these same catastrophes, and there are several ways to learn about these markets before you write that big check.
Consider components of the marketing mix
– The fifth tip is to consider all the components of your marketing mix when expanding internationally. If your home country is the United States, and all of your promotional and customer-facing materials are in English, you’ll certainly need to translate those items to different languages if you’re going to expand to new geographies such as Mexico, China or Germany. But you shouldn’t stop there. The other four Ps of the marketing mix may require some adjustment as well. Some companies have learned they needed to revise their product to enter a new market. This could be a change in the formulation to ensure you’re compliant with local laws on chemicals, or landfill requirements.
Or it could lead to a change in the packaging of your product so it’ll fit onto the retail setting of the market. And your pricing strategy may need some tweaking as well. In some countries your new consumers may not value the same features as your U.S.-based customers. Or you could learn that you don’t face the same competitive pressures. The key is this. Do not assume that your pricing strategy will be the same. If you’ve got the opportunity to position your product at more of a premium, you may be able to get higher margins in other geographies.
You will also need to consider your distribution strategy in the new market. The path you choose to enter the market, whether it’s exporting, licensing, joint venture or going direct will have a bearing on how the end consumer gets access to your product. And this may be different from the way you operate at home. The thing to remember is that your distribution channels may be longer and may take a bigger bite out of your gross margins when you go international. Finally, think about the other revisions that may be needed to your promotional plans. While global consumerism is on the rise, the tools that work to reach your end customer to create awareness and stimulate demand may be different in each market.
Your use of apps and social media may not be as effective in markets where smartphones are not as common. And the use of traditional print media may be more impactful in some countries than it is in the U.S. If you would like to learn more about going international, be sure to check out International Marketing Fundamentals on Lynda.com where I cover these five keys and much, much more.
The information on this page may have been provided by a contributor and no guarantees can be made about the accuracy of any content. Contributors must obtain all necessary licenses and/or ownership rights from the relevant content owner(s) before submitting the same for publication. AIRLINE PARTNERSHIP disclaims all liability arising from the publication of content received from contributors. Please refer to our Disclaimer for more details.
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Order HereArticle Idea: This transcript can be re-written to form the basis of how an airline can offer a new service in a new geographic location
[5 tips for Marketing your Product Internationally]
Get the top 5 tips for selling a product or service to customers overseas. Find out how to research a new market and your options there (from licensing to full-scale distribution), and use the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) to create a great marketing mix.
Learn more about this topic in International Marketing Fundamentals.
Learn about the new market
(introduction music) – [Doug] The idea of expanding your business to international markets can seem like a huge task. And if you haven’t done it before, it can be very intimidating. It may seem like trying to climb Mount Everest without a Sherpa. My name is Doug Ladd. I’ve been teaching, writing, working for and consulting with companies all over the world for more than twenty-five years. In my experience, there are five key points you need to keep in mind. By doing these, you should be able to save yourself and your company some time, money and frustration.
The first point is to learn the market you are thinking of entering. You should gain appreciation for not only how the market operates in the country you’re targeting, but also some of the finer nuances. For example: you’ll need to know what legal and regulatory requirements are needed to enter the market, the exchange rate between the currency and the new market and that of your home country is important to note. You’ll want to know what the customers like in this market: what they value, how they purchase and use products in your category, and what other options are available to them if they don’t choose your offering.
You should also learn about the other competitors playing in the market today. Understanding which competitors you’ll face, the strategies they’ve used in the past when other companies have encroached on their turf, and the way not only the customer, but also the other portions of the distribution chain, see your competition will be very valuable to you in the long run. Entering a new country is not as simple as shipping a product and hoping someone buys it. There are things you should learn before taking the first step, but you should not be intimidated.
Climbing this learning curve can be done if you have the right guide.
Use available information
– The second tip for marketing your product internationally is to use the information freely available at your fingertips. Gathering information about markets and new geographies doesn’t require a team of Harvard MBA’s and an unlimited budget. There are a number of easy to access and free resources at your fingertips, where you can uncover great insights about the economies and markets of other countries. Regardless of where your company is headquartered, or the location of the seat you’re in today, you can tap into the economic research completed by numerous governments and agencies to inform your decisions.
With a little insight into where the best sources for data and research are located, you can save your company tens of thousands of dollars, that might otherwise be spent purchasing market reports from third-party vendors, by using some online resources. The US government has a number of websites, such as buysusa.gov and export.gov. Also, check out the CIA’s World Factbook at cia.gov. These resources can help you learn what’s required to enter a new geographic market, and also give you market-level data, that can be used to provide key insights to your market expansion strategy.
There are numerous other sites that share data, statistics, and information, and may be valuable to your company, that come from non-governmental organizations as well. Worldbank.org has a lot of information on emerging markets such as India, China, Brazil, and others. You can check out geerthofstede.com, to learn about differences in cultures, values, and societal norms from country to country. By searching these sites, reading the information available to you and developing insights based upon what you learn, you may be able to move faster into new geographies without investing much money.
Your boss may think you had a team of Harvard graduates working to build this treasure of knowledge, but the secret of how it’s really done can stay between the two of us.
Widen your options
– The third tip for successful expansion into international markets is to widen your options. Remember those high school days in algebra class when it wasn’t enough just to get the right answer on a quiz, you had to show your work too? That used to drive me nuts, because sometimes there’s more than one way to solve a problem. In a similar way, when you’re looking at options to expand into international markets, it’s important to widen your perspective, as there are several different paths to success. Which route you take is dependent not only upon the goals you have for your business, but also the resources at your disposal.
If you’re simply looking to test the waters and don’t have the capacity to change your product, pursuing an Ecommerce strategy where you can make your current offering available to consumers in a new country may be the way to go. And within this strategy, you have options ranging from selling on eBay or Amazon to creating an Ecommerce site in a different language. More expansive strategies, such as exporting through a distributor, developing a franchising or licensing model, finding a joint venture partner, or building a new business unit in a different country can be considered as well.
There isn’t one formula that works for all companies. But like algebra, you still have to follow certain principles if you’re going to be successful. There are laws and regulations with which you must comply, and these vary from country to country. Even an Ecommerce strategy will require some work on your behalf to ensure you aren’t breaking any laws. Determining which entry option to use can have a large impact on the strategic direction of your company. You don’t have to memorize all the tools to solve these types of problems, but being familiar with some of the methods used by other companies may help you find the right answer.
Convert your unknowns
– My fourth tip for expanding into international markets is to convert your unknowns to knowns. One of the options you could pursue to expand in a new international markets is to open a location in a new country, hire a team, and start selling. Are you ready to write the big check to do this? Not many businesses are willing to jump into such a big commitment without a deep analysis of the other available options. I’d like you to think about another level of analysis to add. Think about it this way, if you’re moving into a new geography with your business there are certain things that you’re very confident you know about the market, the customers, the competitors, the laws and regulations, and so on.
For each of these categories there’s also a list of things you think you know. Put another way, these are some of your big assumptions, pieces and bits of information where you’ve got a gut feeling, or maybe some anecdotal information, but no real quantifiable data you can hang your hat on. Then there’s the list of things you don’t know about this new country, these are things you just don’t have the answer. Some of these may be small details that won’t trip up your overall plan, but others may have a large bearing on your strategy.
Some of the companies with whom I’ve worked will lay these items out in a spreadsheet and assign probabilities that they’ll encounter each. Then they can work on moving things that you think you know or are unknown to the category of being known, by doing more research or testing. Some of the most expensive mistakes in business history have been made by companies that thought they knew how the customer would respond to their offering. You don’t want to repeat these same catastrophes, and there are several ways to learn about these markets before you write that big check.
Consider components of the marketing mix
– The fifth tip is to consider all the components of your marketing mix when expanding internationally. If your home country is the United States, and all of your promotional and customer-facing materials are in English, you’ll certainly need to translate those items to different languages if you’re going to expand to new geographies such as Mexico, China or Germany. But you shouldn’t stop there. The other four Ps of the marketing mix may require some adjustment as well. Some companies have learned they needed to revise their product to enter a new market. This could be a change in the formulation to ensure you’re compliant with local laws on chemicals, or landfill requirements.
Or it could lead to a change in the packaging of your product so it’ll fit onto the retail setting of the market. And your pricing strategy may need some tweaking as well. In some countries your new consumers may not value the same features as your U.S.-based customers. Or you could learn that you don’t face the same competitive pressures. The key is this. Do not assume that your pricing strategy will be the same. If you’ve got the opportunity to position your product at more of a premium, you may be able to get higher margins in other geographies.
You will also need to consider your distribution strategy in the new market. The path you choose to enter the market, whether it’s exporting, licensing, joint venture or going direct will have a bearing on how the end consumer gets access to your product. And this may be different from the way you operate at home. The thing to remember is that your distribution channels may be longer and may take a bigger bite out of your gross margins when you go international. Finally, think about the other revisions that may be needed to your promotional plans. While global consumerism is on the rise, the tools that work to reach your end customer to create awareness and stimulate demand may be different in each market.
Your use of apps and social media may not be as effective in markets where smartphones are not as common. And the use of traditional print media may be more impactful in some countries than it is in the U.S. If you would like to learn more about going international, be sure to check out International Marketing Fundamentals on Lynda.com where I cover these five keys and much, much more.
The information on this page may have been provided by a contributor and no guarantees can be made about the accuracy of any content. Contributors must obtain all necessary licenses and/or ownership rights from the relevant content owner(s) before submitting the same for publication. AIRLINE PARTNERSHIP disclaims all liability arising from the publication of content received from contributors. Please refer to our Disclaimer for more details.
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Order HereArticle Idea: This transcript can be re-written to form the basis of how an airline can offer a new service in a new geographic location
[5 tips for Marketing your Product Internationally]
Get the top 5 tips for selling a product or service to customers overseas. Find out how to research a new market and your options there (from licensing to full-scale distribution), and use the 4 Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) to create a great marketing mix.
Learn more about this topic in International Marketing Fundamentals.
Learn about the new market
(introduction music) – [Doug] The idea of expanding your business to international markets can seem like a huge task. And if you haven’t done it before, it can be very intimidating. It may seem like trying to climb Mount Everest without a Sherpa. My name is Doug Ladd. I’ve been teaching, writing, working for and consulting with companies all over the world for more than twenty-five years. In my experience, there are five key points you need to keep in mind. By doing these, you should be able to save yourself and your company some time, money and frustration.
The first point is to learn the market you are thinking of entering. You should gain appreciation for not only how the market operates in the country you’re targeting, but also some of the finer nuances. For example: you’ll need to know what legal and regulatory requirements are needed to enter the market, the exchange rate between the currency and the new market and that of your home country is important to note. You’ll want to know what the customers like in this market: what they value, how they purchase and use products in your category, and what other options are available to them if they don’t choose your offering.
You should also learn about the other competitors playing in the market today. Understanding which competitors you’ll face, the strategies they’ve used in the past when other companies have encroached on their turf, and the way not only the customer, but also the other portions of the distribution chain, see your competition will be very valuable to you in the long run. Entering a new country is not as simple as shipping a product and hoping someone buys it. There are things you should learn before taking the first step, but you should not be intimidated.
Climbing this learning curve can be done if you have the right guide.
Use available information
– The second tip for marketing your product internationally is to use the information freely available at your fingertips. Gathering information about markets and new geographies doesn’t require a team of Harvard MBA’s and an unlimited budget. There are a number of easy to access and free resources at your fingertips, where you can uncover great insights about the economies and markets of other countries. Regardless of where your company is headquartered, or the location of the seat you’re in today, you can tap into the economic research completed by numerous governments and agencies to inform your decisions.
With a little insight into where the best sources for data and research are located, you can save your company tens of thousands of dollars, that might otherwise be spent purchasing market reports from third-party vendors, by using some online resources. The US government has a number of websites, such as buysusa.gov and export.gov. Also, check out the CIA’s World Factbook at cia.gov. These resources can help you learn what’s required to enter a new geographic market, and also give you market-level data, that can be used to provide key insights to your market expansion strategy.
There are numerous other sites that share data, statistics, and information, and may be valuable to your company, that come from non-governmental organizations as well. Worldbank.org has a lot of information on emerging markets such as India, China, Brazil, and others. You can check out geerthofstede.com, to learn about differences in cultures, values, and societal norms from country to country. By searching these sites, reading the information available to you and developing insights based upon what you learn, you may be able to move faster into new geographies without investing much money.
Your boss may think you had a team of Harvard graduates working to build this treasure of knowledge, but the secret of how it’s really done can stay between the two of us.
Widen your options
– The third tip for successful expansion into international markets is to widen your options. Remember those high school days in algebra class when it wasn’t enough just to get the right answer on a quiz, you had to show your work too? That used to drive me nuts, because sometimes there’s more than one way to solve a problem. In a similar way, when you’re looking at options to expand into international markets, it’s important to widen your perspective, as there are several different paths to success. Which route you take is dependent not only upon the goals you have for your business, but also the resources at your disposal.
If you’re simply looking to test the waters and don’t have the capacity to change your product, pursuing an Ecommerce strategy where you can make your current offering available to consumers in a new country may be the way to go. And within this strategy, you have options ranging from selling on eBay or Amazon to creating an Ecommerce site in a different language. More expansive strategies, such as exporting through a distributor, developing a franchising or licensing model, finding a joint venture partner, or building a new business unit in a different country can be considered as well.
There isn’t one formula that works for all companies. But like algebra, you still have to follow certain principles if you’re going to be successful. There are laws and regulations with which you must comply, and these vary from country to country. Even an Ecommerce strategy will require some work on your behalf to ensure you aren’t breaking any laws. Determining which entry option to use can have a large impact on the strategic direction of your company. You don’t have to memorize all the tools to solve these types of problems, but being familiar with some of the methods used by other companies may help you find the right answer.
Convert your unknowns
– My fourth tip for expanding into international markets is to convert your unknowns to knowns. One of the options you could pursue to expand in a new international markets is to open a location in a new country, hire a team, and start selling. Are you ready to write the big check to do this? Not many businesses are willing to jump into such a big commitment without a deep analysis of the other available options. I’d like you to think about another level of analysis to add. Think about it this way, if you’re moving into a new geography with your business there are certain things that you’re very confident you know about the market, the customers, the competitors, the laws and regulations, and so on.
For each of these categories there’s also a list of things you think you know. Put another way, these are some of your big assumptions, pieces and bits of information where you’ve got a gut feeling, or maybe some anecdotal information, but no real quantifiable data you can hang your hat on. Then there’s the list of things you don’t know about this new country, these are things you just don’t have the answer. Some of these may be small details that won’t trip up your overall plan, but others may have a large bearing on your strategy.
Some of the companies with whom I’ve worked will lay these items out in a spreadsheet and assign probabilities that they’ll encounter each. Then they can work on moving things that you think you know or are unknown to the category of being known, by doing more research or testing. Some of the most expensive mistakes in business history have been made by companies that thought they knew how the customer would respond to their offering. You don’t want to repeat these same catastrophes, and there are several ways to learn about these markets before you write that big check.
Consider components of the marketing mix
– The fifth tip is to consider all the components of your marketing mix when expanding internationally. If your home country is the United States, and all of your promotional and customer-facing materials are in English, you’ll certainly need to translate those items to different languages if you’re going to expand to new geographies such as Mexico, China or Germany. But you shouldn’t stop there. The other four Ps of the marketing mix may require some adjustment as well. Some companies have learned they needed to revise their product to enter a new market. This could be a change in the formulation to ensure you’re compliant with local laws on chemicals, or landfill requirements.
Or it could lead to a change in the packaging of your product so it’ll fit onto the retail setting of the market. And your pricing strategy may need some tweaking as well. In some countries your new consumers may not value the same features as your U.S.-based customers. Or you could learn that you don’t face the same competitive pressures. The key is this. Do not assume that your pricing strategy will be the same. If you’ve got the opportunity to position your product at more of a premium, you may be able to get higher margins in other geographies.
You will also need to consider your distribution strategy in the new market. The path you choose to enter the market, whether it’s exporting, licensing, joint venture or going direct will have a bearing on how the end consumer gets access to your product. And this may be different from the way you operate at home. The thing to remember is that your distribution channels may be longer and may take a bigger bite out of your gross margins when you go international. Finally, think about the other revisions that may be needed to your promotional plans. While global consumerism is on the rise, the tools that work to reach your end customer to create awareness and stimulate demand may be different in each market.
Your use of apps and social media may not be as effective in markets where smartphones are not as common. And the use of traditional print media may be more impactful in some countries than it is in the U.S. If you would like to learn more about going international, be sure to check out International Marketing Fundamentals on Lynda.com where I cover these five keys and much, much more.
The information on this page may have been provided by a contributor and no guarantees can be made about the accuracy of any content. Contributors must obtain all necessary licenses and/or ownership rights from the relevant content owner(s) before submitting the same for publication. AIRLINE PARTNERSHIP disclaims all liability arising from the publication of content received from contributors. Please refer to our Disclaimer for more details.