When you first have ideas of starting up a small business of your own, you probably won’t have considered operating overseas. After all, we are taught to focus on what we are going to do, what our business is going to sell, and how we are going to market these products to consumers, rather than where you’re going to operate from. However, it is extremely important that you give overseas operation some serious thought. You never know where your biggest market might be, and foreign countries could offer you a whole lot better potential than the country or marketplace that you happen to have been born into. So, let’s take a moment to consider operating your business abroad. If you have already set a business up, this is still worth consideration, as you can always move or expand into overseas territories too!
Potential Benefits
Now, setting up a business overseas is by no means a simple feat. You are going to have to conduct a whole lot of planning and research in order to bring the venture to life, and when time is money, this can prove very costly. If your plans don’t pull through, you will have wasted hours of your time, which could have been better spent setting up a business on home turf or expanding a business that is already in operation on home turf. So logically, you’re going to need some pretty good incentives to consider the move in the first place. Here are just a few common reasons for people considering starting up a business abroad, moving a business abroad, or expanding a current business into overseas territories in the first place.
Reaching Out to a Bigger Market
Every business relies on its target market. A target market is a specific part of the consumer market, or a specific demographic of consumers, who your business’ products and services could potentially appeal to. Some brands have huge demographics – take a look at McDonald’s, Coca Cola, or Amazon. These companies all offer goods and services that could potentially appeal to anyone. However, some companies have more niche demographics and rely on catering the the tastes and preferences of a loyal base with more specific interests and preferences. These companies can prove hugely successful too, but they will generally require a little more work to establish and expand. Reaching out to overseas markets can greatly expand the potential size of the demographic you are catering to. Something that few people take interest in in your home country may appeal to a mass audience elsewhere. You may also find that something that is widely available in your home country is practically unheard of elsewhere, and introducing it to an audience that is unfamiliar with your product concept can reintroduce a sense of novelty around your brand and boost sales.
Taking Advantage of Government Incentives
You may find that certain countries offer incentives for you to trade in their country. In a bid to attract foreign investors or business people, they may offer perks that you wouldn’t have access to in your homeland, such as reduced taxes, or business grants. So, take a look around at the different government incentives being offered around the world, and determine whether they could prove profitable for you.
Taking Care of Personal Circumstances
If you do decide to take the leap and start operating overseas, you’re going to have to make a major decision in regards to whether you are going to move overseas or not.
Moving Overseas
If your business is going to operate entirely in a foreign country, this decision should be pretty logical. You will have to move to the country of its operation in order to take care of proceedings properly. It’s nigh on impossible to run an entire company entirely alone from hundreds of miles away. You will likely have way too much on your plate. You will need to be in your business’ country of residence to oversea production, supervise marketing campaigns, conduct recruitment, and take care of any legal work, to name just a few tasks that you will come up against. However, moving overseas is a huge task in and of itself. First, you will need to determine that you can definitely see yourself living in your chosen company of operation. You will need to establish that it can meet your quality of life and that you will be happy and content there. Next, you need to take your loved ones into account. If you have people who are dependent on you (either financially or emotionally), you will need to determine whether the move will be best for them, whether they are staying with you or staying at home. If you have children, you will have to determine that there are good local educational opportunities and that they will be able to enrol at high-quality educational institutions. You will also have to find somewhere to live. When searching for home, use recommended sites like https://www.rumah.com/tanah/dijual. This will ensure that when you arrive, you will definitely have high quality accommodation. Once all of this has been sorted out, you can start taking a look at the legal requirements that you will have to meet in order to permanently reside in your country of choice.
Operating Remotely
If you already have a flourishing business at home and you are simply expanding to foreign territories, you may find that operating remotely is a better option for you. This will ensure that you can still oversee proceedings at the base of your main business. However, that’s not to say that you will never visit your business overseas. You’re probably about to start clocking up some serious business air miles, as you will inevitably have to travel back and forth for meetings and to check up on how your overseas branches are being operated and managed.
Establishing Your Brand Overseas
So, if you have decided that moving overseas is definitely an option for you and your business’ success, it’s time to start focusing on how you are going to establish your brand overseas. This is perhaps the toughest part of the entire move. After all, you’re going to have to get to know unfamiliar markets, and how to cater to them well enough that they will be willing to hand over their cash in exchange for the products and services that you have to offer. This is going to take a whole lot of research. But to help you get started on the right foot, here are a few areas in particular that you should focus your efforts on.
Market Research
The first step that you should take when it comes to establishing your brand overseas, and the area where you should invest the most time and money, is market research. This is invaluable. After all, you may know what consumers in your home country desire, and how they want products to be marketed to them, but you will find yourself coming up against an entirely new market with completely different wants, needs, and preferences. Conducting comprehensive market research will allow you to familiarise yourself with these individuals and tick all of their boxes!
Collaboration with Established Brands
Collaborating with a native brand is almost always a good idea when you startup in unknown territories. Why? Well these brands already have a name for themselves. The consumer market is already familiar with them and, as long as you choose a reputable brand, they will already have faith in the brand’s products and services. Collaboration gives your brand a great opportunity to become associated with something desirable in your new audience’s minds. It will help to give sales an initial boost, and will consequently give you the opportunity to actively engage with an audience whose heads may have otherwise been turned the other way.
Collaboration with Social Media Influencers
Another group of people you should seriously consider collaborating with are social media influencers. You are probably aware of the benefit of social media influencers already. These are individuals who have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers on social media platforms. They appeal to these followers, selling them particular identities or lifestyles by inspiring them through the content that they post. This doesn’t necessarily have to be direct. Simply existing in a certain aesthetic can influence people to copy. So, if a social media influencer is seen using a certain product, or associating themselves with a particular brand, you can almost guarantee that you are going to get the attention of the people that follow them. Collaborating with a social media influencer also has the simple benefit of sheer exposure. If you can get a social media influencer to post a picture with your product or branding attached, it is going to be made visible to a whole lot of people who may never have otherwise heard of you. When you move to a new country, it’s a good idea to reach out to local social media influencers and see what they can do for you.
The material we have covered merely brushes the surface of starting up a business in a new country. The process is bound to be long and complex. However, it can all prove to be more than worth it in the end if you make a significant profit from your venture. So, do your research, put the work in, and everything should go well!
