Political instability, highly price-sensitive demand, and extreme vulnerability to shifting local trends are all problems that businesses face – the ones confined to a specific region.
These problems could be detrimental to a business’s growth and even threaten its survival in some cases. How does a business tackle the challenge? The simple answer – by going global!
The Perks of Expanding Beyond a Specific Region
A global or multinational business has a presence in more than one country that it leverages to generate revenue by selling its product or service.
As opposed to companies whose business is limited to a specific region, global and multinational businesses are less sensitive to regional issues – such as local trends, regional politics, local government policies that impact businesses, and diminishing local demand for their offering.
Moreover, businesses that have access to multiple regional and non-local suppliers are less likely to face the vulnerability of supply that arises due to reliance on a single supplier.
That sounds ideal for a business, but what does a business need to do to expand its reach and access the global market? And more importantly, how does it ensure lasting success? This blog explores these queries and attempts to equip the reader with the necessary information required to make crucial strategic decisions for expanding a business beyond its origin.
What Does a Business Need to Succeed Globally?
Setting your business up for success in multiple regions comes down to getting these three areas in the right order:
Global Business Mindset
First of all, the top business leadership must develop and practice a global business mindset. At the most basic level, this simply means being open to diversity, change, and novelty, and being able to adapt according to changing cultures, economic systems, and business practices.
The better integrated this mindset is in the company’s culture, the better it is able to navigate the multinational challenges.
In-Depth Market Research and Analysis
Market research and analysis enable a business to grasp the unique requirements, inclinations, and cultural subtleties of various regions, thereby enabling customization of their product lineup to align with these factors.
Strategic Partnerships and Distribution
Forming strategic partnerships with local distributors or retailers can significantly enhance a product-selling business's global reach. Local partners offer valuable insights into the market, consumer behavior, and distribution networks.
Though these areas are vital, they certainly do not cover all there is to ensure global success.
Setting Feet - Establishing a Digital Presence
If you do not plan to have a physical presence across the globe, then your digital presence is going to be your business’s real estate that must be strategically developed, carefully maintained and effectively utilized to keep your business on track toward growth. Your digital presence will primarily comprise of these three pillars.
A Mobile Application
Your mobile application will be your core digital asset when it comes to offering your products globally. Your application must feature a seamless flow, well-curated content, appealing and intuitive UI, and offer a smooth experience with fast load times and responsiveness.
On top of the basics discussed above, there are a few things that must be considered to ensure your app’s global success, which include:
Accessibility and Multilingual Assistance: The mobile application should be accessible across various app stores, accommodating different platforms like iOS and Android. Furthermore, it should offer support for multiple languages to cater to users from various countries and cultural backgrounds.
Tailored Content for Different Regions: To connect with customers belonging to diverse regions, the app should present content customized for specific locations. This includes product descriptions, pricing, and currency conversions. Users from different areas should find it easy to use the app in their own language and currency.
Options for International Payments: Include a variety of payment methods to suit the choices and payment systems of different countries. Offering secure and localized payment choices can increase customer trust and lower obstacles to making purchases.
Efficient Shipping and Order Tracking: Offer a smooth shipping procedure with various delivery choices and real-time tracking. Effective shipping methods are vital for delivering items promptly and ensuring customer contentment across borders.
Handling International Taxes and Duties: Provide accurate calculations for taxes and import duties for cross-border transactions within the app. Clearly breaking down the costs will prevent any unexpected letdowns when customers go to the checkout.
Customization and Suggestions: Utilize AI-based customization to present personalized product recommendations based on user actions and preferences. This creates an individualized shopping experience that resonates with customers globally.
A Strong Web Presence
The company's website functions as the central hub for digital marketing campaigns, attracting visitors from different sources such as social media, search engines, emails, and advertisements.
It visually embodies the brand's character through consistent logos, colors, and fonts, reinforcing familiarity.
Serving as a content hub, it displays diverse content like blog posts, videos, and infographics to establish the brand's expertise and engage visitors.
A Remarkable Social Media Presence
Maintaining a well-managed brand page on major social media platforms is pivotal. The choice of platforms, the type of content to share, posting frequency, content formats, and your communication style will be determined by your brand's personality and the preferences of your target audience.
Social media can be used for a variety of purposes, but for a business looking to strengthen its digital footprint, it proves useful in the following ways:
Awareness and Expansion
The primary purpose of social media is to reach those who would be interested in what you offer, and what you stand for. For this, you are required to post content regularly that resonates with your brand, use relevant hashtags to increase your reach, and ensure your content is visually appealing and engaging – as shareable content has the potential to go viral and get people to know about your business.
Brand Building
Brand-building at its core is about what you promise and how consistently you deliver on that promise. Social media can be used to remind your audience on a regular basis, what you stand for. By sharing stories of achievements, initiatives, and related content, you strengthen the message that you are genuinely dedicated to fulfilling your brand's pledge.
Coherence Across Digital Platforms
Your digital presence as a whole should be greater than the sum of its parts. Managing each platform individually is basic, but to truly make your mark digitally, all the platforms must contribute to a single cause and your strategy for managing each must align with your larger business goals.
Uniformity Across Channels: Guarantee consistent visual elements, tone, and messaging on various digital platforms to establish a unified and easily recognizable brand identity across all digital avenues.
Interlinking: Foster inter-platform interaction by interconnecting the platforms, adapting content for different formats (such as transforming a blog post into a series of social media updates or a video), and ensuring a smooth user experience that heightens brand visibility and engagement.
Holistic Marketing Strategy: Harmonize messaging and campaigns throughout all digital channels, employ a multi-faceted approach, leverage data-driven insights, and chart customer journeys to craft a coherent and impactful digital brand presence.
Ensuring Lasting Success
Succeeding in multiple regions is a challenging task. Creating a digital presence that serves your brand’s vision, is just the start. To ensure lasting success, your business must incorporate the following practices and make them a central part of your company’s culture;
Continuous Innovation
Research and Development: Invest in research and development to stay ahead of market trends and create new products/services that meet evolving customer needs. Adaptation: Embrace change and be open to adapting your business strategies based on emerging technologies and market shifts.
Creativity: Foster a culture of innovation within your organization, encouraging employees to contribute fresh ideas and solutions.
Product Enhancement: Continuously improve existing offerings based on customer feedback and technological advancements.
Constant Improvement
To consistently improve, a business must monitor its performance against preset standards and value feedback from both internal and external sources.
Customer Feedback: Regularly gather feedback from customers through surveys, reviews, and direct interactions to understand their preferences and pain points.
Data Analytics: Utilize data analytics tools to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and gain insights into customer behavior, market trends, and operational efficiency.
Competitor Analysis: Keep an eye on competitors to identify areas for improvement and to ensure your business remains competitive.
Social Listening: Monitor social media and online discussions to gauge public sentiment about your brand and industry and adjust your business strategies accordingly.
Streamlined Global Collaboration
Leverage Technology: Utilize collaboration tools and platforms that enable seamless communication and teamwork across borders and time zones.
Diverse Teams: A team comprised of members from various cultural backgrounds can provide diverse perspectives, fostering innovation and addressing potential cultural blind spots.
Training and Development: Regularly train your teams on global business practices, collaboration tools, and intercultural communication to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Maintaining the Brand-Position
The way your target audience perceives your brand is referred to as brand positioning. To ensure your positioning strategy is on point, focus on the following:
Quality Assurance: Maintain high standards for your products or services to uphold your brand's reputation and consistently deliver exceptional quality to customers on every occasion.
Customer-Centric Strategy: Provide customers with exceptional service to consistently cultivate satisfaction in every interaction, fostering strong affinity towards your brand.
Sustain Relevance: Continuously assess the brand's resonance with the target audience and adapt strategies to align with evolving preferences and demands.
Consider Cultural Diversity: Acquire knowledge about diverse cultural preferences and perspectives in various locations, enabling seamless integration of your brand into different markets.
Get started
Expanding your business beyond the confines of a particular region makes it less sensitive to regional problems. To succeed globally, you must develop a global mindset, form alliances and partnerships in regions you intend to operate in, and comply with international and regional laws.
The practical steps to ensure global success involve establishing a digital existence with a mobile application, a website, and a remarkable social media presence. Mobile application’s role in your digital global expansion goals is pivotal.
To develop a full-fledged mobile application that is going to support your global business operations, partner with Cubix – a mobile app development company that has consistently leveraged cutting-edge technologies to create purpose-driven apps. Discuss your app’s idea with us, and let us develop one that would support your global expansion goals.
