Relatively speaking, marketing your business at the local level is somewhat easy. If all you're trying to do is sell your product to people in your immediate area who are familiar with your brand and the goods you sell, most of the work is already done for you. The seed for a customer relationship has already been planted in people's minds; you just have to nurse it along.

There's an entire world of potential customers, and you'll never know what your business is capable of until you take a shot at them.

Marketing to international markets is an entirely different challenge. In many situations, you'll be targeting consumers who have never heard of your brand – and worse yet, they might already be comfortable with a rival business of yours in their own local area. It's difficult to pry them away, asking them to take a chance on a foreign newcomer to the market instead.

However, if you're passionate about growing your business, this is a challenge worth happening. There's an entire world of potential customers out there, and you'll never know what your business is capable of until you at least take a shot at landing them.

Raising awareness, motivating buyers

If you want to take your marketing activation efforts to the next level and reach international buyers as well as local ones, that can be done, but it won't necessarily be easy. According to the South Australian Tourism Commission, you'll need to follow a two-step process. The first is raising awareness among consumers, and the second is motivating actual buying activity.

The awareness part might be more difficult than you think. At the local level, people are aware of your brand via simple osmosis. They stumble into your location and your advertisements in their daily lives, and any online ads you use are optimised to find their way to local customers. When you look abroad, however, it's different. You have no presence in foreign countries, and you need to create it from scratch.

Of course, simply letting people know you exist is only the first step. Beyond that, you also need to sell consumers on your value proposition and show them why they can't live without your product. Only then will they seriously consider buying. To reach this point, you'll need a compelling sales pitch and a lot of engaging marketing materials.

Building a compelling case for your brand

Developing a new marketing pitch from scratch won't be easy. Perhaps, though, you don't have to start over entirely. Marketing Donut advises looking at past marketing strategies that have been effective domestically and adapting them. For example, if you're about to attend your first trade show in Japan, consider taking old trade show booth designs that have worked and making them fit the Japanese market.

Deliver a sales pitch that any customer will find compelling.

Whenever you're selling to an entirely new audience, you might need help fine-tuning your message. For this reason, it makes sense to partner with people who have connections on the ground and can help you develop an understanding of the local customs.

We can help figure out the details

Taking the international stage is truly the next level in developing a successful business. If you've already done a great deal of brand activation at home, going abroad is the logical next step. There are lots of details to plan within that process, though. How will you design to appeal to international audiences? What about the language?

At Exposure Group we have a whole team of experts who can help answer questions just like those. Our people have significant experience designing trade show booths not just in Australia, but all over the world. Talk to us today about how we can guide your company to global marketing success.