Be sure to exert every effort in marketing even in overseas markets so that, in the eyes of overseas companies, your company will be;
a company worth doing business with even from all the way across the sea,
a reliable partner to create business with together,
and a collaborator that offers peace of mind as the source of breakthrough products and services not yet present on the local market.
Introduction
Marketing is…
the act of hoisting a flag that declares “We can help this kind of customer!” to get consumers to notice you, then feeling the excitement as they come closer and closer to you.
What kind of flag (strength) you hoist, how you get potential customers to notice you, how you get potential customers to choose you after passing various comparison tests, how you can receive exciting inquiries…
Once the customer approaches you, how can you exceed their expectations, how can you ultimately get them to think “I want this product/service!” and choose you; these are all the questions you need to address one by one with overseas customers in mind.
You will never be considered a candidate business partner if you exert no marketing efforts overseas.
Even if you meet a potential customer at a business meeting or trade association event, or if a potential customer finds you via an online search, you most likely won’t even be able to start doing business with them if;
- Your catalogs and PR tools are only available in Japanese
- Your product is not of suitable price or specifications for sale overseas
- You have no knowledge on barriers to local distribution, or about competitors, end-users, and the state of the industry in general
- You have no idea about how to do business with people in that country, the local business norms, and English language contracts
What should I do to achieve effective overseas marketing?
First, you must research the overseas market to ascertain the current conditions regarding local customers, competition, and distribution.
Next, you must consider how you can roll out your business so that you are at an advantage, and reflect this in your distribution, price, specifications, catalog, presentation materials, and company website.
Then, as methods to make yourself known to overseas customers, you must consider aspects such as operation of owned media and a company blog, SNS utilization, and participating in overseas exhibitions, business talks, and envoys to increase your exposure.
As you continue contemplating cost-effective strategies for making the target customer notice and reach out to you, you will further evolve your actions through verifying strategies that were effective, as well as those that were not.
After conducting research, I feel like I can get an idea of how to roll out my business overseas advantageously to me…but at the end of the day, I don’t know how.
When you can’t collect sufficient material to pass judgment, it is difficult to make decisions grounded in facts. It isn’t possible to collect 100% of materials to pass judgment, but you should at least collect 50% to 70%.
Such materials can be obtained to a certain extent through conducting online searches, purchasing industry survey reports, requesting a customized investigation, etc.
Industry group reports and survey reports involve performing an online questionnaire on a certain theme, or summarizing interviews with related local institutions, companies, or individuals. They cost anywhere from several hundred thousand yen to several million yen.
Alternatively, one extremely effective way of collecting materials is visiting the target region and investigating the market or conducting a local feasibility study yourself.
Did you conduct a feasibility study in the target region?
If it is difficult for you to travel to the target region, we recommend trial selling on e-commerce sites for each country or participating in matching business discussions online. It’s a good idea to pay attention to reviews by customers who have purchased your product/service and every move other companies make, then add these to your materials for passing judgment.
If you still find it hard to visualize how you can roll out your business, one option is frankly consulting several experts. You will no doubt acquire more hints for decision-making by getting these experts to tell you three reasons each why products sell overseas and why they don’t.
Knacks for obtaining good information from free sources when you are lost on how to proceed overseas expansion
What exactly should I do about operating owned media and company blogs for overseas?
Independently launching owned media or a company blog not only for your existing customers, but also for the sake of building relationships with potential customers, enticing traffic to your corporate website, and improving your brand value will no doubt also be extremely beneficial for overseas business and help to create potential customers, as well as maintain customer loyalty.
Particularly in the case of overseas customers, you will not be able to secure repeaters without ongoing efforts to remain visible. In order to be trusted and chosen by customers, you should mindfully prepare clever information dissemination and convenient touchpoints for customers.
However, when an SME first attempting online marketing launches owned media or a company blog for overseas audiences, it is not easy for the staff charged with this task.
In order to reduce the burden of staff members, there must be clear roles & responsibilities, an operation plan, and progress management. Also, when posting content for overseas, there will be an increase in the volume of translation required, so budget must be allocated accordingly (and you must consider how you will cover this cost.)
If you neglect such considerations, your sites will become outdated in no time, so be mindful to establish a system that is easy to manage.
For example, rather than having large volumes of content, try to gain ground by focusing on the depth and originality of each article. Thoroughly refine your target and be meticulous about conversion rate rather than the number of inquiries, etc.
Another possible approach is to add thirty minutes at the start or end of monthly sales meetings, etc. specifically for the purpose of discussing the planning, formulation, production, and operation of blog content. Also, when reporting figures to management executives, ask them for decisions regarding asset management (because media sites and company blogs are corporate assets.)
People are surprised to hear that operating owned media and company blogs is almost as important as operating the company itself however there’s no reason why a small Japanese company shouldn’t take the initiative in developing and utilizing a system to freely and directly disseminate information overseas.
I feel like I’m slowly becoming able to visualize what sort of flag (strengths) we should hoist!
Great!
You need to make sure you let overseas markets know all about such strengths.
A website is a tool to achieve this. Does your company have a global website?
Of course!
We have an English translation of our Japanese website!
Hmm…you’re close.
Close??
That may just be one of the common reasons why your overseas business doesn’t go smoothly.
Let’s learn about the knack behind making your global website a success!
