Running your own business is stressful. Planning and budgeting for a business is stressful, too. Marketing and developing your business? Stressful. No matter how small or large your business is, keeping it running profitably seems like more than enough for anyone to handle – and the mere thought of enlarging the scope of your business beyond your home market is bound to raise a whole new set of stress-making questions, like:
- Where should we go first?
- Where will the funds for this expansion come from?
- How will we manage global distribution?
- How will we recruit, hire, and train new employees on the ground?
- How can we localize our products and messaging for our new clients?
These questions and the concerns behind them are real, and they’ve got to be addressed. But the challenges of growing your business onto the global stage shouldn’t prevent you from taking the steps to make it happen. Broaden your scope to include international clients, and you can achieve greater stability and profitability than you’ll ever know if you never “leave home.” When those questions above rear their anxiety-making heads, take a moment to ask yourself another set of questions about taking your business to the global market: what will you be missing out on if you don’t take that leap?
1. Can you leave all that money on the table?
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the population of the United States only accounts for 4% of the world’s consumers. Flip the calculation and the numbers are even more jarring – an American business that only operates domestically is missing out on 96% of the world’s consumers.
Consider how much money there is in that 96%, how many people there are in that near-entirety of the global consumer population who could benefit from what your business offers them. Yes, it takes a lot of work, research and effort to reach them, understand them, and market to them effectively. But expanding into just one well-chosen foreign market can bring you a new base of reliable, satisfied customers, and infuse new energy and capital into your business. Can you afford to pass that up?
2. Can your team flourish without the global talent waiting to join them?
You take care to seek out and engage the best people available to make up your team, and that’s no small feat. Recruitment, interviews, due diligence, and the rest of the hiring process are complex enough at the domestic level, and staffing in a different culture and language can make that process seem flat-out opaque. But it’s not only necessary for expanded global operations. It’s essential to the growth of your business in other ways, too.
International team members are more than human capital. They bring knowledge, experience, expertise, and cultural and educational diversity to the team you already have. Top talent recruited in all of your markets, learning from each other and working together for the advancement of the company – that’s how innovation happens. That’s what fosters a fulfilling, enriching environment where team members are excited to come to work. That’s what builds the kind of corporate culture that will continue to draw the best from every talent pool it touches, which in turn attracts the clients you want. Shouldn’t you get out there ASAP and engage your global team before someone else snaps them up? This leads to the next question…
3. Can you afford not to challenge your competitors?
You may not be working to make an impression in the global market right now, but you can bet your competitors are. The earlier you enter a foreign market, the sooner you can get to work building awareness of your brand and cementing customer loyalty. The longer you wait, the greater the likelihood that a competitor or two will get there first.
Of course, it’s not the end of the game if a competitor already has a footprint in a market you’re interested in. Healthy competition is a good thing for the businesses on either side, and clients in every market appreciate having a range of choices. But no one plays to draw. You play to win. And how can you play to win if you don’t even get on the field?
4. Can you afford not to diversify your holdings?
It’s true that global expansion is a risk, and one that comes with a good deal of potential pain up front. All that growth and outreach can put a lot of strain on your bottom line… and with rising costs and the fluctuations of economic uncertainty, that bottom line is probably strained enough as it is. But think about the additional security that comes with successful expansion. A company that only operates domestically just has that one market for support; a recession or a bad sales cycle can cripple that support, or knock it out entirely. Each new global market adds a new leg to the table, so to speak. Markets that perform well can counteract the bad periods of others, and keep your company standing where others might fall.
And don’t forget: different markets also give you the opportunity to pilot new products or services, to see how they’re received abroad before you introduce them at home. Increased security, an expanded catalog, and a global testing lab for innovation? Isn’t all that worth the risk?
5. Can you pass up chances for foreign investment?
Lastly, remember that foreign markets don’t just hold new customers and new opportunities for developing your business. Once you’re on the global stage, you’re open to foreign investment opportunities. And those opportunities go in two directions, right? Foreign investors can take notice of you as a promising new enterprise on the scene, and approach you with offers to invest. And when your company has the financial footing to do so, you can make your own investments abroad, often with attractive incentives from the target regions. These financial infusions and new partnerships can accelerate your growth well beyond what your business could achieve on its own.
Think of Uber, the ride-sharing service we all know – after a start in 2009, Uber has expanded so broadly and fruitfully that their name is on the point of becoming a verb. In fact, their growth has been so rapid, consistent, and successful that in 2018 they received an investment from Japanese firm SoftBank to the tune of more than $7B.
Now, it should be clear that the benefits of expanding into global markets far outweigh the risks. The next questions that present themselves: where to start? and who can help? Only you can answer the first question, based on your own market research and business goals. The second question, though? Who can help? That’s where we come in.
At TrueLanguage, we can help you navigate the barriers to communication with your new foreign audience by localizing your website, your product packaging, your marketing materials, and anything else you need translated and localized for your global markets. Our team of expert translators and our experienced project management team can assist in reaching your target market no matter what language, and regardless of your industry.
Contact TrueLanguage today for a free consultation, or for a free, no-obligation quote for localization services. We’re ready to help you grow.
