How Your UK Business Can Appeal To An International Audience

International audiences could well be interested in what you’re selling – in some cases, even more so than a domestic audience – and so you’re missing out on lots of leads and sales.

Many small UK businesses consider international appeal, but they go about it the wrong way. The number one mistake is to carry on as normal and hope that the international customers come in. Maybe you buy some ads in other countries, but that won’t quite cut it. Instead, you must take a careful and tactical approach to things, and here’s the right line of attack.

Understand Your International Audiences Before Targeting Them

You need to work out if there’s any genuine demand for what your business offers in the regions you’re wanting to expand in. Without that demand, the business will flop before it even gets a chance to establish itself in newer markets. You need to identify which markets have this demand using tools like website analytics, sales data abroad, customer inquiries and general market research in these areas to find out whether interest overseas already exists or if it’s going to be a poor financial decision.

In order to succeed, the business must understand what the local expectations are. This means understanding what locals’ purchasing habits are, their preferred ways of communication, as well as more sensitive issues like public attitudes towards British brands – which vary greatly depending on the location. You also need to analyse the potential competition in each market. What are they doing well? How do they position their products? If there’s already too much competition, then it’s going to be harder to establish your business successfully.

To ensure moving into new markets is more likely to be successful, focus on a smaller number of target markets rather than appealing to everyone, globally. Concentrate on the countries that seem to already have some interest in your business and that offer the overall strongest commercial opportunities.

Create International Versions Of Your Website

Adapt your current site so it can be used by a foreign audience. What this means is that you will have to convert the content to whatever international markets you’re trying to dip into. Use translation services to convert all the text from English to French, Italian, Mandarin or whatever language you need. Don’t just rely on Google Translate for this; you need the content to actually make sense and include native terminology or phrases.

At the same time, make sure all the pricing adapts based on the version of your site. Perhaps you simply want to attract the European audience, in which case you need prices updated in Euros instead of GBP. Create landing pages that specifically target the international market you’re aiming for; perhaps market research shows that this new audience is more likely to care about certain products/services than your UK one, in which case you build landing pages around them.

And finally, update your blog content with market-specific ideas. Write it all in the correct language and come up with content that appeals to this new audience. Some of the UK-focused blogs may be irrelevant to them, so get rid of them.

Shift Marketing To Appeal To Different Cultures

Of course, your business already has its own brand identity which you don’t want to lose when trying to reach new markets. It’s what’s unique about your brand, and you want to preserve that. However, not everything will work in all markets across the world. A slogan, concept, or even joke that works well in the UK might not translate the same somewhere else; even worse, it could be outright offensive. Review any messaging to understand its meaning in other cultures to make sure you don’t make an unfortunate mistake.

Marketing preferences are also quite different in a lot of different locations. Not all the same colours, imagery and even fonts hit the same way as in the UK. Don’t assume that because it does work in the UK, it will work everywhere. Each region needs its own uniquely targeted ads, so not only adapt the colours and style of the campaigns but also how you film/create them. Change special media content, email campaigns, ads and all other promotional material to better fit with cultural preferences.

Expand Trust With Customers Unfamiliar With Your Business

Buyers overseas may be unfamiliar with your business, so you need to establish credibility and build up levels of trust with your potential new customer base. Help them get to know your brand, explain who you are, what you’re offering and why they should choose you over brands they already trust.

In order to build trust and get customers to buy from you, they need to be provided with social proof that you are indeed a trustworthy brand. Things like customer reviews, testimonials and case studies can help provide that proof that your brand is trustworthy and reliable. People want to see that other people have bought previously from your brand and had a good experience.

Buyers who want to make a purchase from a brand that’s abroad often need to establish a higher level of trust than local ones – there’s a lot more that needs to be considered before they make a purchase. Businesses need to be transparent about international transactions, like shipping times, taxes and any additional charges. Not having those in an accessible place can feel misleading and make it less likely a customer will trust your brand to provide them with the experience they’d expect.

Expanding your business’s appeal beyond UK markets involves a whole lot more than simply making your products and services available abroad. It starts with making your business more relevant, accessible and trustworthy to customers in each region. There needs to be a comprehensive understanding of each unique market and not just assume that what works in one will work everywhere. Culturally appropriate marketing, in-depth customer research and separate localised websites will all go a long way to improving how your business is perceived and trusted by international customers. Businesses that remain flexible, do their research and listen to their audience will be in a much better position to find success outside of the UK.