International Marketing

Are you thinking of taking your company into new territories? Perhaps you're aiming at Europe, or further afield?

Marketing your business internationally comprises a number of elements which need to be taken into consideration.

Are you thinking of taking your company into new territories?

Perhaps you're aiming at Europe, or further afield?

If you’ve got plans for international expansion then you need a marketing expert that’s already been there and done that and can do the same for you.

Marketing your business internationally comprises a number of elements which need to be taken into consideration such as:

1. Will your product travel well exactly as it is? Or will it need to be adapted somewhat for the overseas market?

2. Can your current contacts and resources handle essentials like logistics, order fulfillment and customer service? Or will you need to employ additional expertise in these areas?

3. Is there enough demand for your product or service in the territories you want to expand to? If not, how will you create that demand?

4. Are there any trade barriers or health and safety restrictions which could limit your sales and marketing potential?

5. Is your branding right for the countries/ territories you plan to target? And how does your branding sit with local and cultural values, language variations and the accepted business etiquette of your new location?

6. What ‘marketing mix’ will you use for optimum business success in your new territory/ territories? (It may not be the same as you currently use here in the UK).

If you need help with your plans to expand into new locations, then an international marketing consultant will use his overseas business knowledge and associates to make the process as smooth as possible.

One way of ‘dipping your toe in the water without totally committing yourself, is to take a stand at an overseas trade show or exhibition. This can be a great way to make new contacts, gauge demand for your products, handle enquiries, make sales, and check up on the competition. Another way of assessing foreign opportunity is to undertake some internet marketing. A website written in the language of the country you are hoping to trade in along with some on line advertising could show you the potential and also create interest amongst suppliers.

A trade advisor will be pleased to attend relevant trade shows on your behalf to carry out the above. Alternatively you may wish them to accompany you or your team to a trade show, or on fact-finding mission to your chosen territory.

Planning your expansion early will take away the inevitable headache that comes with marketing to a brand new audience. An international trade operator has a wealth of experience in developing ecommerce and sales strategies for international markets and will help make the transition as pain-free as possible for you.

When you’re ready to make that move, contact the international marketing experts that speak your language.

You may well be too young to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, but speaking as someone who was travelling through West Berlin just three years previously, I remember enjoying a lively discussion with my German hosts as to whether we would witness the demise of this oppressive, albeit iconic structure, in our lifetimes. And yet just a few short years later, the world watched transfixed as the imposing Wall was dismantled before our very eyes.

I still have a photograph (somewhere) of me standing alongside a stretch of graffiti art which featured Humpty Dumpty and I distinctly remember getting my passport stamped at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ (something of a tourist ‘must do’ at the time). And to think that actual pieces of the Wall are now on display in one of London’s quirkiest museum concepts: Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! (Piccadilly Circus).

Today, Germany has established itself as the UK’s premier European export market, situated right at the heart of Europe and just an hour’s flight away from the UK’s main airports and several regional ones also. If you do regular business in Europe, or even if you send the occasional parcel to Germany, finding a reliable courier company is vital.

If your preference is to drive rather than fly when meeting your German counterparts, then there are several ferry services linking the UK to France, Belgium and the Netherlands – plus the German autobahns are toll-free (that makes a refreshing change).

The Rhine Ruhr region (population 12 million), is a foremost industrial region of Germany which encompasses the cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne, Essen and Dortmund and the majority of iron and steel industries are concentrated within this region.

Germany is a world leader in the bio-technology, IT, aerospace, aviation, electrical engineering and logistics industries, to name but a handful.

When doing business with your German business partners it is considered good etiquette to provide marketing materials: letter, business card, brochure, which have been translated into German and high quality presentation is most important.

Almost 24 years may have passed since the reunification of Germany, however, the UKTI states that the “modernisation and integration of the eastern German economy continues to be a long-term process and is scheduled to last until 2019”.

The UK Trade & Investment organisation has teams in Dusseldorf, Munich and Berlin – see the UKTI website for more details and there is a free download of their PDF “Doing Business in Germany” available also.

If you need to send a parcel to Germany anytime soon, or indeed, if you are exporting goods to Germany on a regular basis, then it’s worth checking out the latest available deals from your preferred online courier broker – your ally in the business exports market.