Taking Your Brand to a Global Level

While the world itself may not be getting any smaller, it often feels as though it is. As business owners, the leaps and bounds that technology have made in making the world our oyster are astounding. Now, we can easily reach people who live hundreds of thousands of miles away from us: customers, contacts, and partners alike. So, it’s not all too surprising that many of us are starting to consider taking our own brands to a global level. The trouble is knowing where to start! But not to worry. Here are a couple of small steps that you can take to take your brand beyond your own borders.

International Shipping

If you take a look at up and coming businesses, you may begin to notice a certain odd trend among them: they don’t offer international shipping. This is absolutely bizarre. However, when you search for a reason behind this, things tend to boil down to the fact that many new business owners simply think that shipping overseas is too much hassle. They think that there are all sorts of protocols and time-consuming aspects involved in the process. But they couldn’t be more wrong! After all, shipping overseas is really just as simple for the person posting the goods as sending items to any other location. Whether you are sending just one item through a courier or sending huge loads and large quantities of items on a convair 580, the time and effort involved in getting the items from A to B doesn’t fall into your lap. So, convenience is by no means a reason to avoid shipping overseas. Especially not when there are so many benefits that come hand in hand with reaching out to an international market! Think about it: the further your brand reaches out, the more customers it will draw in. This is especially poignant considering that we live in the internet age and chances are that people are sharing images of your stock all over the world. You can maximize your profits by making sure that what’s being shared is available to as many people as possible through international shipping options. This also doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to front the cost. Many buyers will happily cover the exact shipping costs in return for an item that they truly want. You never know where your largest consumer base could be and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the same country that your business is based in. So, expand and embrace overseas interest!

Networking

Once you’ve worked out how you’re going to get your goods overseas, it’s time to start networking. One-off sales may be all well and good, but to make serious money, you could do with finding someone to stock your wares overseas in tangible stores where customers can see the items for themselves. This is easier than ever. While you could still make long-haul business trips, most networking can be done via email, video chat, and phone calls.

These are just two ways to take your brand overseas, but they are good starting blocks to take off from!