Analyse your product or service
When customers compare products or services, they choose those that are important to them. The importance of benefits will differ from market to market. What is vitally important in one market may be irrelevant in another. You will need to identify and exceed the important benefits offered by existing competitors.
Benefits may include:
- quality
- price
- range of choice
- back-up service
- brand credibility or prestige
- convenience
- most technologically advanced.
Customer profiling
Take time to research and understand your customers as the more you know your customer, the easier it is to sell to them.
Access a public customer database (examples) to identify spending habits and sales leads. There may be existing research that has been published on your potential customer. Carry out surveys if possible to find out what customers think about your company and products or services. A phone call or direct visit to 10 potential customers can be more effective than research that is aggregated.
Other uses of customer profiling include:
- identifying potential new customers
- improving customer service
- targeting marketing activity
- managing stock levels
- identifying demand for new products and services.
Complete a market SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) helps you gain an overview of your business and visualise where you and your competitors fit in your selected market.
It will help you identify knowledge gaps or weaknesses in your company, and areas where you may benefit from professional advice. It should also help you identify advantages you can explore and promote.
A SWOT analysis should cover your:
- product or service
- supply chain
- resource base
- available time and funding
- target market knowledge
- local market knowledge.
A thorough SWOT analysis will enable you to respond clearly to questions from prospective clients, partners, investors, customers or others you need to influence.
Lower the risk
Overseas customers may see it as easier and safer to stay with familiar local suppliers. To overcome this, you need to lower their perception of risk by ensuring you have an excellent product or service and proven local market credibility. Risk in the eyes of a customer depends on lots of factors and can vary considerably. For example, if you were looking to export a new product overseas, then:
| The perceived risks might include: |
Steps you can take are: |
| Your company is unknown |
Get testimonials from internationally known clients
Enter and win awards |
| You are unknown |
Spend time visiting them in their market |
| You might not be able to supply enough product |
Secure reserve suppliers |
Lowering the risk a new customer perceives increases your chance of success.
Analyse your brand
A brand can convey a range of images and thoughts, but brand development requires careful planning. Take care that your existing brand will transfer across to your export market and does not have alternate meaning.
When developing a brand for an export market, consider the following:
- What do you want your business brand to convey to export customers? Have you checked that your brand will translate effectively to your potential new market?
- Are there any gaps in your branding statements? Could the brand be wrong? Are the core values the right ones?
- Are there cultural connotations associated with your brand that may be unacceptable in your target market?
- How you will promote your brand and create a budget to do it?
Analyse your marketing
Study your website, brochures, flyers, advertisements and business cards. Will they need to be adapted for your export clients? Do they promote your main benefits? Are your company name and logo prominent?
Marketing is not so much about describing your product as providing compelling reasons for buying it. Always mention your unique selling points in promotional material.
Understand how your new customers absorb marketing messages; it may be very different from your existing customer base.
