Five Global Branding Strategies for Small Businesses
Going global creates incredible opportunities for a business. And that’s regardless of size, so smaller businesses don’t need to feel left out of the possibilities. By effectively planning, you can minimize the risks of global expansion and focus on reaping the most rewards instead. Don’t let your size or budget hold you back. Instead, take the most innovative measures. Read on for some tips on developing a global marketing strategy for your small business.
1. Focus on Research
Research is one of the most essential parts of any type of marketing strategy. And taking a business global is no exception. Effective research gives you the best idea of the local market as well as potential local competitors that you could encounter. It’s particularly helpful for identifying and effectively reaching a target audience.
When you’re expanding to a new region, you’ll need to know as much about it and the area’s population as possible before making any major plans. Do your research on the consumers who fall within your target audience. What are their habits, needs, behaviors, and preferences? How could your business’ products or services improve their day-to-day lives? Figuring that out and marketing according to it will put your small business on a great path to big-time global success.
After all, it shows that you prioritize your customers, which is a great strategy for reaching any goal with your business. Building strong relationships with consumers and prioritizing customer satisfaction is also a strategy that yields return customers. And it helps your business receive a boost from positive word of mouth. That’s especially great anytime you expand into a new area.
Once you’ve started to implement a global marketing strategy, keep up the research. You’ll want to see if what you’re doing is giving you the results you want. That’s also how you can stay on top of the latest trends and ahead of your competition.
2. Develop and Maintain a Strong Visual Brand Identity
A strong identity makes your brand stand out, no matter where you are. One major strategy for building up your brand identity is to focus on the visual attributes. This includes your logo, typeface, slogans, the colors used, and so on. This visual brand that you create should be used in everything from your company’s website to ads and social media pages.
Ideally, these visual attributes become so synonymous with your brand that it is recognizable no matter where they appear or what language is used for the marketing. To keep things consistent, build a brand style guide for future campaigns and global marketing strategies.
Of course, you may have to adjust certain aspects for different cultures. A slogan may not effectively translate into another language, for instance, and certain colors, symbols, or gestures can have offensive connotations in other areas of the world. That’s why it pays off to do your research and remain aware of cultural sensitivities. Partnering with a professional marketing company such as InnoVision to develop your branding and extend it to a global audience can help you easily navigate potential issues as well.
3. Brand Messaging Should Be Consistent but Flexible
Your global marketing strategy can, and should, be consistent yet adaptable. Consistency makes your company recognizable and reliable worldwide. However, in order to grow, it is imperative that your strategy also makes room to be flexible. Again, there are cultural sensitivities and differences in lifestyle that you should be aware of ahead of time. Stubbornly ignoring these will only hurt your global marketing strategy. Rather, allowing for some localization of your brand messaging to meet the values of local residents in new regions can help you better connect with new audiences.
4. Build Local Partnerships
Local market research is a global marketing strategy that will pay off, but you can take things a step further. Another way of reaching your local target audience is by partnering with others whom the population already knows and trusts.
For instance, influencer marketing is a huge part of many branding strategies these days. Especially if you’re trying to reach a younger, more online audience. Look into a partnership with local influencers who are also natural fits for the products and/or services of your brand.
Other local marketing partnerships might mean connecting with complementary companies and brands from the area. You can also consider reaching out to local marketing agencies. Alternatively, when you work with a marketing agency that has experience taking brands global, they may already have these connections and partnerships to set you up with, giving you a head start.
5. Make Low-Cost Global Marketing Strategies Your Priority
Smaller businesses typically have lower budgets. But that doesn’t mean you can’t plan to expand your brand globally. That’s because there are very effective strategies that won’t blow your budget.
One of these lower-cost marketing strategies is search engine optimization, or SEO. This is another area where research is important. In this case, the research should be focused on finding the most effective keywords. A successful SEO strategy will put your brand on the first page of search engine results.
Another related global marketing strategy to develop is using social media, which has proven to be very effective for many small businesses. Social media’s popularity is ever-growing, and the most used platforms have users from all over the world. So, it’s an obvious tool for reaching potential consumers around the globe.
Continuing with the global marketing strategies that center on your online presence, there’s also your company website. Make sure your website is easy to use and navigate. Ensure the information is up to date and that there are no frustrating issues such as broken links or slow loading times. For expanding into a global market, you should also offer multiple language options.
InnoVision Marketing Group is an expert in developing and implementing global marketing strategies, with years of experience and success to back that up. Our team understands that, regardless of size, no two brands are alike. That’s why our globalization strategies are customized for your particular goals and needs.
Learn more about global marketing by exploring the InnoVision website. You can also view our portfolio of clients that we successfully helped to go global. We look forward to doing the same for your small business!