3 steps to creating a winning market entry strategy
Thanks to technology and the digitalization of the business world, today more than ever, companies have opportunities to broaden their target market across borders. If you think you are ready to grow your business by expanding it to foreign markets, the best way to ensure success is to develop a detailed market entry strategy. Without it, you may not be able to get the desired results and end up spending a lot of money and effort for nothing. Simply put, this means laying out a list of clear steps you should take, and a plan on how to execute them in order to introduce a product or a service to a new pool of consumers.
Many businesses, small, medium, and large, have done this before you, so there are many success stories you can learn from. Nevertheless, copying someone else’s market entry strategy won’t give you the best results, since there are many changeable factors you should consider, and every business is different. Furthermore, market entry may refer to different things in different cases. For instance, it may refer to the whole country or a segment of a local community.
1. Learn how to adapt to the target market
Once you’ve decided that you want to enter a new market, you must prepare a strategy to adapt to the particular consumers. For one, you should learn about internationalization vs globalization vs localization, the differences between the terms, how they are intertwined with each other, and how they will help your market entry strategy.
These three important concepts allow you to enter a market, find your place there, and be accepted. In short, first, you should learn everything about what you should do to be able to legally enter this new market. This includes learning both local and international laws, and any restrictions and regulations, finding potential international partners, and so on.
Next, give your product or service a chance to be accepted, you must learn everything about the culture. This way you will be able to make sure that what you are selling meets the consumers’ expectations. And finally, with all of that knowledge, you adapt the product or service you are trying to launch to this new market.
2. Research the market
Researching the target market is a crucial process for businesses. It allows you to understand the demand for the product or services you are offering, learn about the biggest domestic and international competitors, and identify your ideal customers. In other words, it will help you determine whether there is a place for you in a particular market. Conducting thorough research of the market will also help you learn about the risks and opportunities launching your products or services will bring you.
However, when your target market is in a foreign country, things will get a little more complicated. If you can, you should visit the country where you want to launch, talk to partners or potential partners, learn more things about the market and get your own impression of the culture. There are also many other ways to research the market, including finding official statistics and looking for your competitors online, contacting other businesses, and so on.
3. Choose a method of market entry
There are different methods businesses can choose to launch their goods in a foreign country, for instance, you can partner with a local business, you can open a business there, or acquire an existing local business. Or, if you simply want to sell your products there, you can sell online (through your eCommerce site, or a marketplace), you can sell through a local company, and so on.
The choice of method will depend primarily on what they want to accomplish in this new market. But it will also depend on things like their type of business, what they are selling, how familiar they are with the market, how well they understand the culture, how much value their products or services can bring to the market, or how good their connections are with partners from the country.
In a nutshell
Expanding to a new market internationally is one of the best ways to grow a company, but it’s also a difficult task. Keep in mind that not every market will be suitable for your business, and not every business can accomplish this.
In business, in every aspect of it, research is crucial, whether you are just starting a company, creating a marketing strategy, launching a new product or service, or, in this case, expanding to a new market. These three crucial steps will help you develop a winning market entry strategy. This way you will be prepared for the challenges and obstacles you will encounter along the way.