Cross-border trade has never been so extensive. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, global trade reached a record high of $28.5 trillion in 2021. If your business is seeking to launch itself into the international trade arena, here are three tips to help ensure your venture is a success.
Make market research your top priority
Carrying out market research is fundamental to the launch of any new product or service. Launching an international business venture is no exception. You need a thorough, strategic market research process in order to understand the appetite for your products abroad, along with any brands that are competing for the attention of your target consumers.
Market research results can impact everything from which countries you decide to launch in, to your marketing materials, to which of your products you decide to adapt and localize. It can make a massive different to the success (or otherwise) of your new international business, so make market research your top priority when it comes to launching abroad.
Of course, you’ll need to translate your market research materials into the languages of the countries you’re targeting, which brings us to the next success tip.
Use a translation service for more than just translation
Let’s say you want to launch your business in Italy and start delighting Italian customers with your new product line. Around 66 million people speak Italian and the vast majority of them live in Italy. Clearly, you’ll need a translation service on board to provide English to Italian translation to help you connect with Italian customers through your website and marketing activities. Not to mention product packaging, information leaflets, and all the documentation associated with shipping goods to Italy.
However, using an Italian translation service can deliver a range of other benefits. Many Italian translation services will also be able to help you understand the local business climate, for example, providing localization expertise for your website, marketing approach and products, in addition to Italian translation to English (and vice versa) for all of your documents.
Finally, your Italian translator may also be able to guide you when it comes to picking up a few handy phrases for use in business meetings with Italian suppliers, logistics firms, stockists, resellers and so on. This is about more than just understanding things like, what is the Italian word for OK? (It’s va bene, by the way.) Your translator can provide insights into Italian business culture and give you tips on how to impress with your fledgling language skills, even while making it clear that you don’t speak Italian fluently and will be conducting your business largely in English.
With so much at stake, it’s important to ensure you find a translation service that delivers all of the above. What is the best Italian translator? For the purposes of an international business launch, it’s an Italian translation provider with extensive experience of Italian business culture and consumer trends. For the best results, look out for specific English to Italian translation expertise in relation to websites and marketing, as well as general business documentation.
Of course, while we’ve used Italy and Italian translation as the example here, the same applies to any country where you want your business to succeed yet you don’t speak the local language(s). Contact CanTalk for Italian and other language translation services.
Take care of your aftercare
One other thing to look out for is the operational hours of your chosen translation service. Using a language company that follows the sun opens up the possibility of providing a 24/7 customer support service in Italian. Depending on the nature of your products, such an Italian-speaking aftersales care service could make a significant difference to your customer satisfaction levels.
Aftersales care can encompass a range of tasks. Some customers will simply need support with how to operate your product. Others may need help if their product has gone missing in transit. Then there is negative feedback to deal with. While there are many ways in which you can minimise negative feedback when you launch a business abroad, at some point a customer is will inevitably complain. How professionally you handle their complaint will impact how swiftly you can resolve it and how satisfied the customer will (or won’t) be afterwards.
From your customers’ perspective, it will be easiest if they can access aftercare support in their own language. Indeed, they will expect to be able to do so. As such, a key part of the overall success of your international venture will be providing a support team that speaks the languages of all the countries in which you plan to sell your products. Whether your recruit an in-house team or outsource your customer support is up to you; what’s essential is that you provide it.
By taking these tips on board, you’ve just increased the chances of success for your international business.
