Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Market Entry Strategy (86-slide PowerPoint presentation). This deck outlines a market entry strategy and business development model for a technology company which was expanding its business in Asia. It analyzes the market dynamics of an emerging market in Asia and its development potential. To capture the opportunities and create market demand, the [read more]
5 Tips for Businesses Expanding into New Territories
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The bigger your business becomes, the more you need to think about expanding your customer base, and once you’re a mid-sized enterprise, you’ll almost certainly want to move into new geographical territories. However, this sort of expansion brings a new set of challenges, so here are some things you’ll need to consider.
- Finding new markets
Before you decide to move into any new territory, you need to ensure you have the market to justify the expansion. Using tools such as Google’s Market Finder, you can see where the major markets are for your product or service, as well as useful information such as the annual spend in your category.
- Get people engaged online
Your social media team should start building excitement and anticipation of your expansion well in advance of your launch date. At the same time, you should also work on your overall digital strategy, thinking of some questions to ask your SEO agency and starting to think about paid search, e-mail marketing and more.
- Tailor your marketing to this different territory
It’s worth remembering that different areas will have people of different demographics, backgrounds, and cultures, so what works in one area might not work in another. Therefore, you may need to think about how you approach marketing, sales, social media, and other strategies, and although they still need to be on-brand, they should be appropriate for your new territory. Never rely on assumptions or outdated stereotypes about people overseas; make sure you have the analytics to back up your decisions.
- Consider using eCommerce first
There are a number of differences between brick and mortar and eCommerce stores, but when it comes to launching in a new territory, it’s worth considering trying eCommerce before you commit to launching brick and mortar outlets. This will give you an idea of whether it’s worth trying this territory, as well as allowing you to see which products and services are most popular in this new area. The costs of expanding online to a new territory are usually much lower than seeking retail properties, so it may make sense to try this approach.
- Get the right team together
One of the best ways to tackle expanding into a new territory is to hire a team who already knows the location well. By finding local talent, you can get a better insight into how your industry works in this new location and have a better chance of success.
Moving to a new territory is an excellent way to open up a new customer base and grow your brand, but it does come with a number of challenges. It’s important to find the right markets in which to expand, plus have the right team and business strategy to give you the best possible chance of success. By getting people engaged online via social media and eCommerce, it’s easier than ever to do a soft launch and see whether there is demand for your products, without having to spend large amounts on expansion plans.
6-slide PowerPoint presentation
This deck will guide you through the process of building a business case for entering new markets. It was used within the strategy & new business development group within a top tier, multi-billion dollar company for all new market entries.
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About Shane Avron
Shane Avron is a freelance writer, specializing in business, general management, enterprise software, and digital technologies. In addition to Flevy, Shane's articles have appeared in Huffington Post, Forbes Magazine, among other business journals.
