4 Critical Tips for Marketing Your Product Overseas

Pivot International  |   May 09, 2018

As the world becomes more and more interconnected every day, doing business internationally is growing to be more important for businesses of all types and sizes. But conducting transactions in different countries around the world is a more challenging prospect than working within one’s own borders.

At my company, Pivot International, we’re deeply familiar with how challenging this process can be – because we’re deeply involved in it. In Asia, for example, Pivot has various manufacturing facilities throughout the continent, each in regions with their own restrictions, customs, languages and policies. With that experience in mind, here are a few tips for marketing your product overseas.

Know your market

The ultimate goal is obviously to make your product as successful as possible in whatever part of the world you’re working in, and finding the right market within that part of the world is vital. Using research on demographics, a country’s level of economic growth (or recession), the average consumer’s income and the available methods for marketing is the best way to proceed.

What do you know about the sales of similar products in these markets? What do you know about campaigns that have worked in the past within your chosen demographic? Get the answers to these questions to create the foundations of your international marketing strategy.

Don’t let your message be lost in translation

One of the most famous (and probably apocryphal) stories about how important it is to deal with any potential language barrier is the story of Chevrolet marketing their Nova car in Latin American countries. The problem? In Spanish-speaking countries, “Nova” translated roughly to  “no va,” or “doesn’t go.”

Time has proven that this story might be a myth, but there’s still an important point to consider here: You have to make sure that not just the name of your product, but the specific wording of your advertising, the messages you send to those involved in your product overseas, in fact EVERY bit of communication you attempt has to be considered through the prism of your market’s language.

Invest in the right digital marketing platforms

It’s not just about the available channels for marketing your product in another country; it’s about using the popular channels. It doesn’t make sense to spend time or money on a Facebook campaign, for example, if the country you’re working in doesn’t have a strong base of people using that platform.

Knowing how people get their information is a big piece of the puzzle, because that’s where you want your product to get the most attention.

Embrace agility

If your initial plan for marketing turns out not to be a good fit, be willing to change it to an alternate plan as quickly and efficiently as possible. If digital marketing doesn’t fit the country or countries where you’re marketing your product, make sure you’re ready to go to the ground with surveys or focus groups.

The more willing you are to change your strategy, the more you’ll be able to adapt – and adaptability is an important skill no matter what – or where – your business is.