How to Build an International Brand

• Updated on: 2023-01-18
• Read original article here

When starting off a business, one of your main intentions will always be to expand it and make sure it reaches a global audience by building an international brand.  But you will need to get over some hurdles to get there. 

Not only do you have to face the internal challenges of growing your international brand, but you will also be faced with several challenges with the macro economy globally. Countries all over the world are currently going through harsh economic times and customers are faced with cost-of-living challenges globally. 

So, how do you overcome this and become an international force? How do you grow and expand your business to reach a global audience and take a place in foreign territories? We took a look at what some of the more successful brands are doing globally and how they managed to penetrate their markets successfully. Let’s take a look. 

Let’s start off with your website. When targeting other countries, it is important that your website reflects your international brand. Your foreign customers will want to see content and pages that reflect their language, currency, and time. Still, if you truly want it to succeed, you will want to take it a bit further than that and implement alocalization strategy. 

Localization goes beyond merely changing currency and time zones. It actually adapts your website and content to the culture and language of people in a target market. Speaking their language is one thing, but appealing to them will mean that you actually know something about their culture. 

It is also important to know the difference in price points across various countries across the world. Direct currency conversions may not be totally effective, and you may need to consider adjusting your pricing depending on the territory you are targeting. You might be pricing yourself out of the market in some countries, while not making enough of a profit in others. 

Let’s delve into content, SEO, and paid ads. You will want your content to show up in the organic searches of your new territory and will need to create the right content on your site as well as in your marketing to do so. 

Keyword research is your way in. The right keywords will need to be on each landing and product page, across your site, appear in your blogs, and of course, show up in your marketing. But, it will also need to have some money put behind it for Google to really push you up the search page, and this is where paid ads come in. 

Think about searching for products or services online, and the first few suggestions that come up. These are paid for and are strategically designed to push organic traffic to the site. If you need assistance with getting them started, especially if you are starting off, look at hiring a Google advertising agencywho can get the strategy perfectly kicked off for you. 

When going into different territories, you will need to know something about them before you start advertising to them. As we mentioned, basic demographics like region, age, price points, etc. are important. But, so is knowing what they are interested in and how they behave online so that you can effectively engage with them.

Take time before you go into new territory to work out a customer profile. You will want to have a comprehensive insight into the ins and outs of a customer in order to create amarketing campaignaround them. By knowing what they are interested in and what they engage with online, you can mold a strategy to get the same responses. 

There is tons of data and information online that provide you with these insights and you can work closely with various local agencies who have insight into the audiences. With this, you will be able to create content that will appeal directly to them. 

Going into a new territory can be daunting. But, it can also mean that you will have to do a whole lot of experimenting, from your content to change up your marketing strategy to actually evolving your products and services. You will need to keep going back to see how successful everything is. 

When it comes to your digital marketing and monitoring of your online activities, there are a few ways of gathering metrics to see whether you are on the right path. Firstly, you can gather data fromGoogle Analytics, which will provide you an insight into what is happening on your site and how your customers are behaving on your site. 

From there, you can integrate that with metrics from your social channels, paid ads, and email platforms. You will be able to see what converts customers and what you can focus on when creating your marketing strategy. 

To build your international brand, get to know your customer. Know what their cultures are, what they are interested in, and what they engage with online. Without the proper research and development first, you are most likely going to fall absolutely flat when you enter the market. So, spend that time getting accustomed to your new region.