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What are some best practices for companies looking to evolve and grow their employment brands into international markets?
To help companies expand their brand into global markets, we asked brand experts and business owners for their best piece of advice. From hiring a local consultant to showcasing employee advocacy on social media, there are several initiatives that may help you grow in international markets for years to come.
Here are seven insights for growing your company:
- Use SEO to connect with a target audience
- Hire a local consultant
- Recognize and address language and cultural barriers
- Establish a go-to-market strategy
- Showcase employee advocacy on social media
- Conduct International market research
- Know your customer base
1. Use SEO to connect with a target audience
Many companies expand into international markets using search engine optimization (SEO). The process of using SEO to grow an employment brand into an international market is pretty simple. First, identify the keywords that your target audience is using to discover employment opportunities and employers in the target market. Then, create content on a website that satisfies the search intent of the key phrase. And finally, promote the content so that it connects with your target audience. The more this process repeats, the greater the employment brand can grow into target markets.
Brett Farmiloe, Markitors
2. Hire a local consultant
A common pitfall when entering international markets is using the same strategy and messaging you would use at home, translated into the local language. As you expand your employment brand abroad, you will deal with cultural and legal hurdles that can be hard to foresee and overcome.
You should partner with a local recruiting firm, even though this means paying a consulting fee upfront, to save yourself time, money, and heartache in the long term. You should also commit upfront to being flexible and open minded in how you achieve your goals.
Wesley Jacobs, Apollo Medical Travel
3. Recognize and address language and cultural barriers
Cultural differences are one of the most challenging barriers to overcome when entering international markets. Not only will you need to change your marketing and branding to appeal to customers in a different region, but you’ll also need to consider workplace culture if you’re launching in new locations. Employee expectations and workplace etiquette can vary greatly depending on where you are in the world.
Edward Mellett, WikiJob
4. Establish a go-to-market strategy
Selling and marketing your products or services effectively is key to growing your company. This requires a comprehensive, cohesive approach that addresses sales strategy, sales delivery, branding and value proposition, marketing strategy, marketing programs, and pricing — all of which work together to create clear market differentiators that propel market acceptance and revenue growth. But how do you establish such an approach?
1) Determine the best sales model for you: direct, indirect, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), distributor, or hybrid.
2) Decide on your sales strategy: solution, feature, consultative, or price.
3) Determine whether you will create a new brand or if you’ll use the parent brand.
4) Create a comprehensive marketing strategy based around key performance indicators (KPIs).
5) Examine your pricing model — consumers in less developed countries are significantly price-conscious, and your product may not be appropriate for the local economic environment.
Axel Hernborg, Tripplo.com
5. Showcase employee advocacy on social media
With nearly 1 billion active users worldwide, Instagram is an excellent platform to grow your employment brand globally. Include a photo and a quote from a top employee advocate in your Instagram team’s profile to show future hires that your company is a “best company to work for.”
Showcasing employee satisfaction with messages about the benefits of working for your company attracts top talent. You can also highlight how that satisfaction spreads company-wide by featuring a new team member from a different department each week. Doing so will appeal to job applicants .
Alix Greenberg, ArtSugar
6. Conduct international market research
Conducting international market research before entering a market to determine which is most suitable is one of the best
practices for companies looking to evolve and grow. For this, an organization can seek help from the Department of
Commerce, an excellent source of information on international markets.
Daniela Sawyer, FindPeopleFast
7. Know your customer base
Different markets have different cultures and values. If you do not understand and adjust your message to meet customer needs and expectations, then you are throwing good money after bad. Who do you have in the market you are expanding into to use as a subject matter expert? Gain insight into what is important and create your brand around it. Branding, much like culture, is a fluid concept, not a static one. Adjust to meet the situation or fail to understand your candidates.
Steven Brown, DP Electric Inc
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