All three have developed a strong global presence. That’s why you hear about the Whopper in Spain or spot Nike Jordans on the streets of Indonesia.

Fortunately, global marketing isn’t just for big business anymore – nowadays, technology has dramatically reduced the “cost per entry” when it comes to developing an international brand.

With social media and search engines bridging the information gap between countries, I’m willing to bet some international consumers have already stumbled across your company’s website.

But the question remains: How do you properly market and sell to an international audience? How can you ensure product-market fit with communities outside of your own?

To explore how startups and small businesses can scale their marketing efforts to audiences around the world, I sat down with Andre Barneshead at Google for startups Latam.

Keep reading for Barrence’s tips on how to sell startups effectively to an international audience.

4 tips to globalize your marketing strategy

1. Start by understanding the global user.

When developing a global brand, you want to start by identifying the most important factor: to From Do you do marketing

Your user(s) may differ in preferences or lifestyle from country to country, but their challenges—and how your product can address those challenges—will remain consistent across the world.

In other words, how your product can help a user in the US likely reflects how your product can help a user in Europe or Asia.

As Barnes points out, “A good first solution is always to start understanding who the user is and who they are Everywhere you know?”

Adds Barrence, “I think startups start building a product with a specific user in mind — and startups work on the idea of ​​serving according to matching needs, or offering some specific challenge that hasn’t sold yet. And I think the beauty of technology is that you can serve The entire world at this point.”

At this point, using highly effective analytics tools is key to ensuring that you understand your target global persona.

Additionally, you’ll want to use the data to determine which area(s) seem most interested in your products or services. This information will help you to select a few countries for which you want to create a targeted local marketing strategy.

2. Discover stories that appeal to different audiences globally.

While your product may serve the same needs around the world, the stories you tell to highlight the key benefits of your product will vary widely.

As Barnes said, “Once you’ve formed a hypothesis about who the user is and why they’re looking for your product, you’ll want to build a locally relevant marketing strategy, because the worst experience is when you’re trying to meet your local needs, and for something, you’re experiencing in your country — but the product you’re looking for is designed for a different experience.” Completely. ”

This is where it is essential to build credibility in local areas.

Credibility is a critical component that’s often forgotten in the hustle and bustle of scaling a startup, Barnes adds. Startups are often performance-driven — like traffic or user acquisition — and building a brand is usually an afterthought.

This is wrong, especially when your business is globalized.

“Starts are great with a performance mindset, but every time you try to reach new markets, you want to make sure you’re also building a brand,” says Barnes.

Barnes adds, “Once you’ve tested a few ways to position your brand in the local market, you’ll want to start developing a more aggressive strategy for acquiring these users or creating stronger relationships with them.”

3. Pay attention to local flavors when bringing your product to market.

There are a few key factors that Barnes encourages every startup to consider before expanding into new international markets.

First, your marketing team must understand how to position your product in a new territorial space.

As Barrence told me, “It’s very difficult for a startup to easily take a position at [Latin American] The market, for example, because startups in Latin America already understand the user, they know how to communicate with them and position themselves in the market … So ignoring local flavors in how to bring your product to market is a big mistake.”

Although he acknowledges this doesn’t have to be perfect, Barrence tells me that the minimum requirements when marketing to new international audiences include:

• Design a localized version of your product – including language, user interface, and experience.
• Translate your materials into the local language, and use more relevant local examples or references in your marketing messages.
• Provide support in the local language so that users can easily access help when they have questions.

If you don’t have the time or resources to follow the tips above, you may want to reconsider whether globalization is a good idea – because without these basics, your users will have a poor user experience, and your brand value will suffer.

Which brings me to the next point…

4. Know when globalization is No Good idea for your business.

There are plenty of startups and small businesses that potentially have untapped potential in markets outside of their home countries…but there are still others who should focus their efforts domestically, at least for the time being.

So – how do you know which category your business falls into?

In the end, Barnes says it comes down to whether or not you have a strong foundation. As he puts it, “One big mistake startups make is scaling prematurely; the second big mistake is ignoring signs that you haven’t found a product-market fit.”

If you try to scale prematurely, he warns, you risk jeopardizing your existing user’s experience and the health of your entire company. So it is better to be careful here.

He continues: “I think testing the waters and making sure you know how to navigate not only the market but also how to navigate your product and processes within This market is the key.”

Barnes advises, “Not having strong enough evidence of product-market fit is a potential dark side of the globalization of your marketing efforts… [If that’s the case]You should focus on building a successful business within your country first.”

As the world becomes increasingly connected, you’ll want to dig deeper into your analytics to determine if there’s already a demand for your product or service outside the US – and if there is, how you can address that demand with new, localized content or even revamp your marketing messages to make sure it’s global. First.

In the end, the decision to globalize your marketing efforts is not an easy one, but it can have big payoffs in the long run. Among other benefits, the globalization of marketing materials broadens your consumer base and provides you with more opportunities to reach – and sell to – more customers.