How to Build a Brand Internationally: Building International Brand Awareness
The way to build awareness of your brand in these new markets -- and increase sales because, let's face it, this is your goal -- follows the same formula you use to increase brand awareness at home. "Craft and communicate a message that is relevant to the needs and wants of your customers," Williams says. "Deliver this message in the places they are receptive to it, in terms they can relate to and understand, and through the channels that will truly reach your potential customer."
- Craft your message. Having done your homework and researched the new foreign markets, and perhaps engaged the help of a local firm or representative, you have hopeful honed your domestic branding for this new audience. Be sure to note what the competition and other businesses are doing. "What may have seemed witty or charming in the U.S. may be misunderstood in your new market," Williams says. "Be careful playing the 'old and established' angle. An 'old' company in the U.S. can sound impressive, but you may be doing business in a country that has bottles of wine and rounds cheese older than your company."
- Deliver this message through the right channels. Don't rely on radio advertisements if your new market is a city in which people commute by subway or bicycle. Make sure you are communicating your message where it will be seen. Think about advertising inside the subway. "What are the habits your customer base in that other country? Where are they found? What is their lifestyle? What are they doing?" Williams says. There is no secret answer. It's up to you to connect the dots and find the right approach.
- Communicate in the right manner. The manner and tone in which you engage your potential and new customers is as important as the words you choose, Williams says. "Manner and tone will come across through your packaging, advertising, online, through your sales people, and even the way you answer the phone," he says. What types of interaction you will have with customers? What will be the tone you choose? What types of sales process and policies will you use? Even though you are based thousands of miles away, this is still a reflection on you and your brand. Remember that.
While you focus on raising brand awareness, there is another component to building a brand internationally that needs your attention. You need to be vigilant in maintaining your brand reputation in every market in which you sell. That gets harder as your business gets bigger and expands into more locales. "Once you start having a couple of different offices or are in multiple states or countries or you've gone from 10 employees to 300 -- all of a sudden you're not a mom-and-pop operation anymore," Roth says. "Remember, your brand is a promise. You're starting to make a promise that people are buying into and you need to deliver whatever that product or service is."
You need to ensure that your customers' experiences with your product, your business, and your staff are positive. That extends to how you deliver your product, product quality control, how service is delivered or structured, and how your people act. "The larger you get, it's not just you being the representative for your widget," Roth says. "You now head up an organization."
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In branding, one bad customer experience often resonates longer than one good experience. "One bad experience magnifies 100-fold," Roth says. "You need to have constant vigilance." You might consider developing an employee manual, investing in online training for your staff, and/or keeping in check how fast you grow so that you can ensure that you deliver on your brand promise no matter what market you serve.
Dig Deeper: Start Selling Internationally
Related Links:
Inc.com Global Business Environment Section
Localizing the Brand (Import/Export Financing)
Six Ways to Open an Office Overseas
Managing a Multi-Cultural Workforce
Gone Global
Going Global: 6 Questions You Should Be Asking
Recommended Resources:
Community Trade Mark (CTM) The Office for Harmonization in the International Market (OAMI). File for your CTM online.
International Branding Organization Non-profit organization dedicated to establishing branding as a specialized area of expertise.'¨
MyBusiness.co.uk
Import and export article.
Buy USA.gov, US Commercial Services, US Department of Commerce
Helps U.S. companies find international business partners, plus resources.
Interbrand Surveys & Research 'Best Global Brands'
A guide to research great global brands.
Landor's 2010 Trends Forecast
Market trends in the coming year and their impact on branding.
