Complete guide to adapt products to a foreign market and sell internationally

To expand across different markets and start selling products and services abroad, duplicating your clients and sales. That’s the dream of every business that aims to become global. But before getting there, I’m afraid that there’s some work that needs to be done. And one of the main tasks is to adapt products to a foreign market (and services).

You may think that this is something that only big multinationals are doing. It must be a difficult and expensive task that only the main players in your market can afford to do…

Well, let me tell you something. It’s not that difficult. I’ve been doing it for six years now, and I have helped different businesses to do it too. And, believe me, you can do it too following the steps included below.

The main reason why some business don’t start selling internationally is because they don’t know how to do it, not because they’re not capable of doing so. They’re scared of the consequences, because they think they’d need a big investment to start selling in different countries. And that may be the truth for some companies, but it’s normally easier than you think.

We tend to come up with excuses not to face this fear: “I don’t know if my products will be sold in a different market”, “I don’t even speak the language of that country”, “I wish I could do it, but I don’t have the necessary resources”.

Well, let’s see some actions you can take right now to start selling your products and services internationally.

Why is it so difficult to adapt products to a foreign market?

As I said before, we are scared of the unknown. Why would you like to risk and start selling abroad if your products and services are already working in your market?

And this also applies to customers. Why would they buy from you when they can buy from someone that they already know who is based in their countries and speaks the same language? This feeling is mutual.

I don’t know about you, but every time I visit a foreign country where I can’t speak the local language, I’m always a bit scared of going into a shop:

• How would I be able to communicate with people in the shop?
• What could I do if they don’t understand me?
• Will I be able to communicate what I need to buy?

Normally, I try to avoid these situations unless I really need to buy something. That’s why people normally end up going to the most touristy places where they know they can communicate in their language. Or probably somewhere that they are already familiar with, like getting a coffee in the nearest Starbucks, am I wrong?

Well, something similar happens when you do business abroad. You don’t want to risk and try something that may be better, just because it’s different to what you’ve been buying (or selling) previously.

GLOCALISATION.

Have you ever heard this term? You probably know people from all over the world. You probably have colleagues from different countries, speak with friends living in different countries, and travel a lot when work allows it. You probably know more languages that your grandparents and travel more often than your parents. That’s globalisation.

However, although we love this feeling of been international (because being international is cool, isn’t it?), we also love our comfort zone. That is why we hesitate to try haggis or Irn-Bru in Scotland, or grasshoppers in Thailand – I don’t think I’m doing this any time soon.

In a nutshell, we like to be international, but we also like our comfort zone. We are “glocal”.

What does that mean if I want to adapt products to a foreign market?

Everything. Imagine for a moment that clients living in this new market that you want to target can enjoy your products/services without leaving their comfort zones.

That’s the key to success in a foreign market.

And that’s how Coca-Cola started selling carbonated fruit drinks in Shenzhen, or how KFC started offering porridge and Peking Duck burgers in Shanghai.

They learnt how to adapt products to a foreign market.

The secret key to adapt products to a foreign market is to make your potential clients feel like home.

How can I adapt products to a foreign market?

Ok, now that you know that you should make your foreign audience feel like home when they buy from you, you have to analyse every single step that they have to make, from the very beginning when they get to know you and your business for the first time, until the very last step when they buy something from you for the first time.

This doesn’t mean that you should copy your competence in that specific market. The values of your business must remain the same. What needs to be adapted is the way you do business and how you approach potential clients in that specific market.

Every business is unique and has its own specific values, so there’s no magic formula to implement here. It will always depend.

Another important aspect is to analyse the competitive advantage of your products. I’m sure that you can tell how your products are different from your competitors’ in the market that you want to target. Let me explain this with an example:

In my case, one of my fields of expertise is marketing translation. I help businesses in the UK to connect and engage with their Spanish speaking audience. How many translators working with Spanish do you think there are in Scotland and the UK? Quite a few, right?

However, how many of them are originally from Spain, specialise in Spanish markets and have a background in marketing? Probably not as many.

In other words, it should be clear why your clients in that foreign market should buy from you instead of your competitors who are already well established in that particular market. That’s what it’s called a competitive advantage.

4 tips to adapt products to a foreign market

1. Analyse the steps that your audience needs to take to buy your product

• How are you going to reach them? Are you going to invest in online ads? Are you attending any events or trade fairs in that particular market?
• Are you using a website to promote your products/services? Is it an e-commerce site? Do your clients need to submit a form to contact you?
• How do you communicate with your clients? Are you going to have an office in that particular country? Do you use email, phone?
• How are you accepting payments?

Your clients need to take certain steps until they finally buy your product. The key is that all these steps should be optimised and adapted to your new audience so they “feel like home” when doing business with you.

Make a list with all these steps and check how your competence is addressing each of them. Remember, it’s not about copying them, but adapting what you already have so your clients feel comfortable doing business with you.

2. Translate the necessary content so your client can buy your products

The language barrier is one of the biggest issues. Believe me, I’ve been living abroad for the last six years. If your audience thinks that they won’t be able to communicate or express themselves when buying, they’re just not going to do it.

If your Spanish-speaking clients can’t read your terms and conditions in Spanish, they won’t feel safe when buying from you. They need to understand what they’re buying and under what conditions. If something’s not working during the sale process, they’ll end up buying from your competitors.

And this applies to any of the steps that I’ve mentioned before. Marketing materials that you use to target your new audience, the main sections of your website, the price of your products (are you using the correct currency?), etc. Make sure you translate all the necessary content to guide your client through the sale process to make him “feel like home” when he is considering buying from you.

3. Use the correct tone to communicate with your audience

I’ve been living in three different countries during the last three years, and I’ve noticed that people use different tones to communicate when doing businesses.

Words are the most important aspect of a business. They are powerful. They can make people cry or laugh.

It’s important that you use the same language than your audience, but it’s also important to address this audience in the correct tone.

How many times have you heard that Chinese people are overly polite? Well, the root of all these prejudices can be found in a bad adaptation of their tone of the language that is used.

4. Translate a culture, not just the language

When you are adapting a product to a foreign market, there is normally a linguistic barrier. We tend to focus on this obstacle as it is the most obvious one.

However, cultural differences aren’t that obvious and most of the times only clients can notice them while they are buying, while we just keep looking at our websites wondering why we are losing sales.

Make sure you hire a specialist in the target culture who can assess you about adapting the content and the selling process.

Small things like the colour of a “Buy” button can have a significant importance from one culture to another.

Now that you know these tips to adapt products to a foreign market, have you ever thought about the impact that this can have in your business? Let me know what you think in the comments!