Getting your brand seen by an international audience

Taking your brand global has never been easier thanks to the internet.

In fact, if your brand is already proving popular in your own country, it’s likely that some international consumers have stumbled across your brand as well. Word spreads fast via social media, and it’s even easier for an international audience to find you via search engines and other avenues.

But if you want to make a more conscious effort to promote your brand worldwide, you’re going to need to put a strategy in place.

Here are some ideas you can use to help get your brand seen by an international audience.

Establish a strategy

To help your business fulfil its international ambitions, you need to establish a strategy. Marketing your brand overseas isn’t something that will achieve success overnight, so you need to think about what you’re going to need to do to get to that point.

Will you need to hire people in different countries to help you? Is there a demand for your brand overseas? There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself before you embark on this next step. Some of the key things you’ll need to consider include:

• Is there a market for your brand/product internationally?
• Does your business have the right resources to cater to other markets?
• Do you need to think about your name, branding, etc. so that it translates to other markets?

You’ll need to carry out a lot of research to ensure that taking your business overseas is the right move for you at this time.

Research where your visitors are coming from

Thanks to the internet, people are finding it easier and easier to become exposed to brands from other countries. Seeing other people rave about different products increases the demand, and people will often turn to other avenues to get your products if they can’t purchase them directly in their own country.

Researching where your website and social media views are coming from can help you establish which countries you should be focusing on. If you have high traffic coming from individual counties, it would make sense to concentrate on those areas first. 

Research your audience carefully to make sure you’re familiar with this segment. The audience could be very different to your existing audience and there might be some cultural or language implications you’ll need to factor in.

Check out your competition

It’s one thing having competition in your own country, it’s an entirely different ball game when it comes to launching your business overseas. There could already be established, popular businesses that provide similar products and services to you – what makes you stand out from them?

Researching your competition can help ensure you know what you’re up against. Being an overseas brand could even work in your favour, with many food, fashion and beauty brands generating a buzz for being the next ‘must-have’ product from your country. See what sets you apart from existing local brands and use it to your advantage.

Make your website more appealing to different audiences

While your website might already be attracting overseas visitors, there is more you can do to provide them with a valuable user experience, and hopefully attract even more visitors to your website. 

Changing your website layout can help when it comes to appealing to multiple languages and locations. If you switch to a simpler, cleaner page, there’ll be less to translate and less chance of confusing your audience. Fashion retailers such as Zara and H&M, who operate in a number of territories, are great examples of how this can work. 

A fresh new look for your site is an excellent way to kickstart your global launch, and allows you to fix some of the things that could be off-putting to an international audience.  

Boost your SEO to make it more internationally friendly

Effective SEO is crucial for getting your brand recognised internationally. If you take a look at this international SEO case study from Freddie Chatt, you’ll see that a lot more thought goes into SEO once there are overseas visitors to consider. International SEO has a lot of different considerations, especially where language is concerned, but you can make it work with the right strategy.

Many brands choose to launch in other English-speaking countries first to make it easier to adapt the content, while also providing potential for some large markets to work with.

Using an experienced SEO company could help you with your international SEO strategy, allowing you to focus on the other elements needed to launch your brand overseas. 

Make the most of targeted ads to reach your desired audience

Digital marketing makes it easy and affordable to reach audiences all over the world. Provided you can create engaging ads in the correct language, you could achieve a huge impact with some online advertising.

Facebook is one of the most suitable platforms for targeting a global audience. With nearly 3 billion users, it’s the largest social media platform, and as Facebook owns Instagram, you can create ads that target placements across both platforms in one go. By targeting global audiences on Facebook, you could generate a lot of interest in your business. You’ll be able to get some fantastic insights into your reach and interactions, helping you work out what type of content lands well in different countries.

If you’ve got a small budget, or you’re simply testing the water, digital advertising is one of the best ways to see how people are responding to your brand. 

Work with influencers in different countries

Influencer marketing provides a lot of great opportunities to get your brand seen. If you’re already working with influencers with an international following, then it’s likely that your brand is on people’s radar. 

To get the most out of working with influencers, you’re going to need a strategy. There are different routes for you to consider depending on your budget. You could choose to work with several high-profile influencers to access a wide reach, or you could target micro-influencers and potentially reach a more engaged, trusting following. A cohesive campaign across different markets can help generate a big buzz, helping more people to find out about your product.

Even if you start off small with your influencer marketing, you can see how your initial campaigns perform before deciding whether to invest further in this strategy.

Engage with your international audiences

Growing your audience is something that takes time, and having a robust strategy for engaging with your international audiences is crucial. If you already have existing customers or followers from overseas, tease that you’re getting ready to launch in their country, and encourage them to sign up for the latest information. Design a fantastic welcome email ready to embrace your new audience and get them excited about your brand.

Pay attention to the comments and questions you receive on social media. Developing regular engagement can help you expand your reach in different locations, and gives your brand a reputation for being friendly and inclusive. You could even conduct surveys and polls to find out more about what they want from you to help you take advantage of the different demands that might exist outside of your existing customer base.

Promoting your brand overseas is a great way of taking advantage of existing interest in your brand, and growing your business on an international scale. Research the market and your audience carefully to develop a strong international strategy that will soon have everyone talking about your brand.