Study Traditional Paths To International Business Development For More Online Success

14 May, 2008

International Business Development Strategy

In the past when businesses wanted to expand internationally, there were only 7 ways to take action:

  • Sell Directly To Your Foreign Clients From Your Home Offices
  • Open A Local Office To Represent Your Business
  • Create An Overseas Subsidiary
  • Hire A Sales Agent To Sell To Foreign Markets
  • Find A Foreign Distributor
  • Develop A Franchise Overseas
  • Enter Into A Joint-Venture

If you would like to read about the advantages and disadvantages of each of these options, you will find more on Get International Clients.

Today, of course, Internet Marketing opens a new doorway.

Many online businesses have international clients. Some online businesses actively market to international audiences, but most do not. It is easier to stay with one domestic website and kid yourself you are marketing globally because “the internet is global”.

Even fewer international online businesses use a mixture of marketing channels both online and offline. And yet is obvious that a good mixture of multi-channel marketing gets more international sales. Good multi-channel marketing requires serious foreign market research for best results. And it often requires a budget few small businesses want to get into.

Online businesses actively marketing to their international audiences need to stop, and take a few steps away from their online business, to look at the other paths to successful international expansion.

There are a few traditional business development strategies that might be interesting to look into. Hiring a sales agent in your target foreign market, who gets paid on commission, is an option most online businesses could look into.

Online businesses can tumble into international sales without any preparation. This is a wonderful opportunity to look closer at all of the options for international expansion.

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