Think back to past centuries and exporting goods must have been a massive endeavour. It was labour intensive, time consuming and often perilous with ships transporting cargo across tempestuous seas to awaiting consumers. How would the folk of bygone eras react if they were to fast-forward to our hi-tech, hi-speed transactions of today?
Aeroplanes (or airplanes if you are from the US), telephones and the internet; inventions which have altered the way exporting has evolved. However, does having all this advantageous technology guarantee that a business will be successful? If it is available to everyone, including competitors, each one has a chance to make it. Therefore how does a business get their product noticed above that of the competition who are also trying to break into the same foreign market? The old ‘buss-words’ Unique Selling Point springs to mind and is what sets businesses apart; but how to get noticed in the first place?
If it ain’t broke….
Generally people don’t like change and tend to stick to what they are familiar with. Many of us now shop regularly at one or another of the two German, low-cost supermarkets, mainly due to competitive pricing. A few years back this was not the case and had we ventured into either store ‘for a look’ we might have turned our noses up at the unknown brand names contained therein and fled back to our comforting branded items. Economic conditions have dictated circumstances and so the once unfamiliar brands are now ‘normal’. So how does a business make their unknown brands known? Marketing of course!
As part of their marketing strategies, companies must propose how to introduce their product/service into a foreign market and contemplate how potential customers will:
a) understand what the product/service is
b) be drawn to it
c) ultimately purchase it
English comes third
If your offering was marketed in the local language of your targeted country it would bridge a gap and set you apart from competition. Utilising a live action or explainer video in a local language will relate just exactly what your product offering is and offer a distinct advantage in promoting brand awareness. It is cost effective, efficient and via analytics can really boost product placement. English is currently the third most common language worldwide and is preceded by mandarin (first) and spanish (second). After that comes Urdu/ Hindu in fourth and Arabic in fifth and so the list goes on. The population growth in each country determines how common the language is and so english, which used to be in second place, has now been bumped by spanish. These markets offer huge potential due to growing demand.
Click on the link above to see our export market offering.