{"id":41656,"date":"2023-10-20T15:15:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/heres-what-happens-in-the-first-six-months-of-taking-your-startup-global-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:15:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:15:33","slug":"heres-what-happens-in-the-first-six-months-of-taking-your-startup-global-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/heres-what-happens-in-the-first-six-months-of-taking-your-startup-global-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what happens in the first six months of taking your startup global – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019ve launched a business, you know that there\u2019s no real methodology that fits every company. Half the work of going live is working out which processes should be abandoned in favour of more specialised ventures.<\/p>\n

Going global with a business idea is exactly the same \u2013 what worked for one company will put another one snugly into an early grave.<\/p>\n

There are, however, a few key patterns that happen during the culture shift that occurs with a global launch \u2013 and they\u2019re patterns that exist no matter the business.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we at finder.com learned off the back of going global.<\/p>\n

First you realise that importance, no matter the industry, isn\u2019t universal<\/h3>\n

This was a big one for our team and something that nobody saw coming. In Australia the financial comparison space is often making headlines for all the wrong reasons \u2013 especially in terms of some players being dishonest.<\/p>\n

While this can make it hard for those local teams that fight the good fight, it ultimately just means the public want to know, first and fore-mostly, how your company makes money. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve always led our branding efforts with a very clear outline on our business model.<\/p>\n

When we did some field tests in America, we noticed people\u2019s eyes started glossing over pretty quickly when we lead with this line.<\/p>\n

The truth is, nobody really cared how we made money \u2013 they just wanted to know if our services were free to the public. In fact, a lot of the time the assumption was that they weren\u2019t (which they are), so we were losing out by way of assumption.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so important to know what your audience cares about in the new marketplace, because I can guarantee your packaging will need at least a little modification yet.<\/p>\n

Then, you need to get your existing fan base fired up<\/h3>\n

Think about your day-to-day life: If a new brand were to pop up out of nowhere offering a service you hadn\u2019t thought of before, what would you do?<\/p>\n

The truth is it\u2019s highly likely you\u2019d filter it out as noise but let\u2019s say you actually entertained their ideas. One of the first things many of us would do is a quick sweep of online reviews and recommendations. We\u2019re flawed beings in that we implicitly work off recommendations and mirroring others, but this can be a strength for brands if you play your marketing right.<\/p>\n

Instead of focusing all your efforts on the new audience in an unknown country, fire up the local groups that already know and love your product. If you do it right, you\u2019ll have a fresh buzz in online communities and your new audience will actually have a reliable gauge of your brand once they first make contact.<\/p>\n

Remember, there\u2019s no single point of contact with a brand anymore. At the very least, you want to have relevant material out there (from people that love you) when a customer\u2019s genuine need for your service arises. That, my friend, could be in a few minutes or a few years.<\/p>\n

You need familiar boots on the ground<\/h3>\n

You\u2019ve built up a hard-working and skilled local team, so it\u2019s fitting that you begin hiring in the new territory, right? If our launch is anything to go off, probably not.<\/p>\n

In fact, I would recommend you get some of your most keen members and take them over to the new space to assist the launch. No one is going to know the product better than them and in the end it\u2019s the product that needs to hit home with your audience.<\/p>\n

Even if it takes some time to get used to the culture and social changes, even if you\u2019ve actually got a product worth taking global, you\u2019re going to need all the experienced help you can get.<\/p>\n

Then, you iterate in the motherland<\/h3>\n

Finally, bring some of the newfound learnings back to the core team in the motherland. Take the experiences and user feedback that you\u2019ve gained in the new space and iterate your successes in a sandbox that you actually know.<\/p>\n

If you find a groove in the new space that starts working, do not test there. Replicate the model in a local sandbox with a few variations but always keep the core moneymaking feedback loop in each test.<\/p>\n

Then, begin some small-scale user tests on those variations. Once the core international model (which you haven\u2019t yet disrupted) hits a plateau or begins to dwindle, deploy the most promising tests, cross your fingers, and wait for the results.<\/p>\n

If you can manage all this in the first six months and you\u2019re still kicking, well done \u2013 and good luck, you\u2019re certainly going to need it from here on out.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter,<\/em> LinkedIn<\/em> and<\/em> SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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