Brand

5 Benefits of Global Branding and How to Create Your International Brand

If you’ve been thinking about going global, now is the time to do it.

You have a case of e-commerce sales expected to hit $4.5 trillion in 2021 and social media becoming the modern rendition of a town square on a global scale. This makes the traditional barriers to entering new markers barely five inches above the ground.

As an ambitious business owner, you can start by winning your local market. Then, it’s only natural to start looking outwards into the rest of the world. The way to do so is by creating a global branding strategy that’s ready for market fluctuations on the global level, nevermind the language barriers. Yet, it’s more than worth it.

Keep on reading to learn all about the top five benefits of global branding and how to start going global.

What Is Global Branding?

Alright, we know it’s rather exciting, so we understand why you’d like us to jump right into it. However, let’s explore what global branding entails before catapulting into the unknown.

In the simplest of terms, global branding is a method of designing standardizes global advertising and marketing strategies. These strategies are used to develop —and market— a product or service to be recognized on the global level. 

By using the same marketing strategy to promote the brand everywhere it’s on offer, the business can confirm that the brand’s values are consistent across all markets.

Now that we have the definition pat-down, let’s talk about the top five benefits of global branding.

1. Increases the Effectiveness of Products or Services

When you’re competing globally, you’ll be forced to do —at least— double the effort you put in product development or services on the local level.

You’ll grow and learn from your mistakes, as well as become more effective at rolling out better products and services. This happens due to the wider exposure of your business to a worldwide audience.

You’ll be getting feedback in a variety of languages and across different cultures. Make sure you have a language service provider because you’ll need it. 

2. Creates a Strong Competitive Advantage

Leveraging a global market can open a variety of business doors, from investment opportunities to a stronger reputation at home.

When you’re competing with local businesses, you’ll be able to use the knowledge you have from marketing to a global audience to your local environment.

For instance, say you’re noticing an emerging business trend on a global scale. You can use you’re already existing infrastructure and connection to catch the wave right before it reaches its highest point. 

3. Boosts Customer Awareness

In this day and age, reaching out to a company across the world would take the average person less than five minutes and a couple of clicks, and vice versa. 

Therefore, having a global branding strategy you can easily open communication lines between your company and your customers wherever they are. You can inform them about any recent brand updates, and they can share that with their friends and family. This can immensely grow your customer base with barely any effort on your part.

4. Grants Greater Access to Talent

We’ve been talking all about the customer side of the equation. How about your own employees? 

One of the great benefits of going global is the ability to tap into global employee markets, especially the ones rich with unique skills and mindsets. Naturally, this gives you a substantial edge over other competing companies in your industry that haven’t gone global. 

5. Diversifies Your Company’s Markets

Nothing helps with managing risk better than diversifying your markets. What better way to do so than expanding globally? 

With a limited local market, you may experience anything from a traditional downswing of your industry’s business cycle or a natural disaster that wipes the demand for your services. However, once you diversify your markets by adding multiple global ones to your portfolio, that will stabilize your revenue sources. 

How to Expand Your Brand Globally

It’s awfully clear that you’ll need more than a couple of social media accounts to create a solid global branding strategy. There are a couple of main steps you’ll need to take in order to avoid misunderstandings across borders from occurring. 

Here’s what you need to do.

Choose the Right Market

It might seem intuitive at first to aim for the biggest markets out there. By biggest, we mean markets with the highest number of potential customers. 

However, that may lead to stretching your budget too thin trying to cover every customer segment available in big markets. In addition, you might start running into relevancy problems. 

The way to go would be focusing on an expansion market that isn’t necessarily the biggest, but the one most relevant to your brand and the services that you have to offer. Make sure to aim for markets where you’ll be able to address your customer’s pain points via your products and services. 

Research Until You Drop

If you look at the leading global brands today, you’ll find that they sink enormous amounts of money into market research.

It’s not that they have money to burn, it’s all about doing their homework. When McDonald’s did their homework on Indian markets, it resulted in a breakthrough into vegetarian options for McDonald’s on a global scale. In addition, it converted —literally— millions of people to try McDonald’s in a majority-vegetarian country.

Through the use of focus groups, surveys, and questionnaires, you can learn a huge deal about what makes your audience tick. Furthermore, it gives you great insight into how your brand translates across cultures and other environments. 

You don’t want to find out that your new line of perfume uses a flower that symbolizes mourning in a specific culture after it’s been launched. 

Ready to Go Global?

It can be nervewracking to contemplate brand expansion on a global scale. Yet, with a solid global branding strategy in place, the potential returns are more than worth the minuscule risks.

Now that you know all about the top five benefits to global branding as well as the foundational steps to take before creating your strategy, you’re in a great place to start taking some action.

Furthermore, in the spirit of research, make sure you’re up to date with the latest happenings in the industry. Learn all about the importance of text messaging for small businesses, in addition to the best practices to protect your business from hackers. All of this and more is available on our blog. 

Expectations Have Changed: Top 10 Things Millennials Expect From Your Brand

Experts are expecting millennials to pass the Baby Boomers population by 2019. According to the Bureau of Statistics, this generation is spending almost 80 percent of what Baby Boomers spend. Between the population and spending growth projections, the millennial generation has become essential to the success of all brands.

Building your brand always requires that you market to your audience. Marketing to millennials demands more than a one-size fits all approach. Maybe it isn’t the first time you have tried marketing to this generation.

Don’t think that a prior successful marketing campaign can work for millennials. What does this generation expect from your brand? What is the best millennial marketing strategy for your product or service?

Not sure how to develop the right marketing strategy for this generation? We’ve got you covered. Here are the 10 top millennial expectations from today’s brands.

1. Brands That Are Built on Values

Today, brands need to do more than offering a great product or service. Millennials expect brands to help the community. This audience will spend more on a brand that relates to their personal values.

Some of the most important values for this generation are honesty, compassion, and commitment to making the world a better place. They expect brands to showcase these values in public and online.

2. Ease and Convenience

The millennial generation is all in for instant gratification. They want everything fast, easy and convenient.

An example is how retailers such as Walmart, Amazon, and Whole Foods have added same delivery services. Also, the success of services such as Shipt and UberEats are signs that convenience reigns supreme with millennials.

3. Budget-Friendly Products and Services

The student loan debt crisis and low salaries have put millennials in a tough spot when it comes to their finances. They don’t have a lot of money to spend like other generations.

This generation is always looking for products and services that fit their budget. You should consider offering pay as you go or other budget-friendly options for the millennial market.

4. Brands That Offer Experiences

Generations like Baby Boomers focused on buying the product. In contrast, millennials focus on the experience they are buying. They dream about traveling the world not in having the most expensive house or car.

The best millennial marketing strategy for this expectation is telling them your story. How will your product improve their lives?

Will their purchase help build schools or feed families? Remember this generation needs to know what change or experience their purchase will bring.

5. The Power to Choose from Many Options

Millennials want to be in control of their purchase at all times. If they are in the market for a product or service, they will compare their options online or ask their relatives and friends. When you are building your brand, it’s important to consider what options you can offer millennials.

Some examples are on-demand packages, pay as you go, premium services, among other options. Look for options that give the customer control over their decision and purchase.

6. Connection to the Brand

This generation wants to feel connected to the brand. When building your brand consider developing programs to make a social impact.

Helping organizations can help you connect with the community and develop customer loyalty. An example would be a food brand joining Feed America to stop human hunger. Besides helping make the world a better place, it will show your customer that your company cares about everyone.

7. Social Media Engagement

Millennials are one of the biggest users of technology. They use social media all the time to engage with family, friends, and brands. Having social media pages for your products and services isn’t enough.

This generation expects constant engagement on social media. Make sure to post and update your content on your social media pages. Don’t forget to reply to their comments, your engagement will help develop customer loyalty.

Your content should relate to your audience and showcase what makes your product different. An agency such as MAD Group can help you develop the best social media millennial marketing campaign.

8. Brands to Use Technology Online and In-Store

Millennial’s love for technology doesn’t end in social media. They want to use technology to better understand products and brands. This generation wants to learn how the products work and how it fits their lifestyle.

In contrast with other generations, millennials prefer using personalized chat and in-store customer service. These expectations push brands every day to find ways to tailor their customer experience.

9. Engagement in the Product Development Process

Forty-two percent of millennials say they want to get involved in the development of new products and services for their brands. The typical product development process involves a company creating a product or service and praying it hits the mark with the market. Brands should try to engage with their millennial audience to get insight into what can be their next product or service.

Learning more about what millennials want can help create products that are already in demand when they hit the market. A great strategy is harnessing the power of social media for your market research.

10. Recognition of the Brand’s Community

Besides a tailored approach, millennials expect to be recognized. Loyalty rewards and memberships are a great way to recognize this audience while building your brand awareness.

Consider using social media influencers and offering giveaways to get on the millennial radar. Recognition by the generation will promote brand loyalty.

Can Your Brand Meet Millennials Expectations?

Yes, your brand can meet the expectations of the millennial generation. The key to bringing in this audience is implementing the right millennial marketing strategies. How will your services or products improve their lives?

What is your company doing to make the world better? What is the story behind your services or products?

These are some of the questions that can guide your millennial marketing strategy. Don’t forget to include ways to engage with the audience online.

Want to learn more ways to market your products to millennials? Check out our Marketing section for more insightful articles.