How does an entrepreneur scale his company’s success? The first answer that may pop into your head is to find ways to boost sales volume. This makes sense, considering that a higher sales volume is often used as a benchmark of success. But some entrepreneurs refuse to think about sales alone, choosing to focus on their company’s ability to make a mark in international territories.
Many platforms offer you a free pass to develop an online store that will work on an international level. But developing an online store and coming to terms with the international market are two different things altogether. Plus, you need to be sure about two things before approaching the international market: whether your product is relevant and how you will promote your brand internationally.
Frankie Quiroz, a young entrepreneur who has successfully developed his brand, “Tuned in Tokyo,” has a few things to share about international e-commerce strategies. His online companies makes more than $10,000,000 annually. According to projections, the turnover will cross $20 million by 2021. You may think that he spends thousands on advertising his brand, but that’s far from the case. Frankie promotes his business via social media.
Testing the international market
According to Frankie, you need to study the international market instead of getting into it blindly. For him, it was about convincing his prospective customers to choose his brand despite the stiff competition. Similarly, you need to find out if your target audience will have any interest in your products or not.
Instead of marketing your brand directly in another country, you should test whether the foreign customers would show interest in your company. If you want to follow Frankie’s model of promoting a brand, you can start with an online social media poll. For example, you want to sell CBD coffee in another country. What do the local people have to say about CBD coffee? Do they know about it or is it an entirely new product for them? If given an opportunity, will they want to try it?
You can create social medial polls to find answers to these questions. Depending on the answers, you can move to the next stage of promoting your products in that country.
Marketing your products
The marketing formula that works successfully locally may not provide fruitful results in the international market. Tuned in Tokyo did not become an overnight sensation. It took Frankie almost 7 years to find the right combination to promote his business. He started selling shirts out of a trunk back in 2009. A decade later, his brand has more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram.
Frankie’s advice for entrepreneurs is a simple one: first, figure which promotional medium suits your brand internationally. Once you find the answer, stick to that idea until you see a noticeable change in your customer base.
Frankie suggests social media marketing because it hardly costs you anything. Yet, you can reach thousands of foreign customers and see your business grow. Locking on a specific marketing technique will give you time to experiment with other promotional ideas. But you should be patient enough to trace the results. No new brand becomes successful within a week. You need to stick to your plans for years and work on promoting your products through multiple channels. That’s the best way to see your company flourish internationally.
