11 Things to Make Your Business Expansion a Success

Expanding your business can be a daunting time as a business owner or entrepreneur but at the same time, it can also be very exciting. The fact that you’re even considering some form of business expansion must mean business is going well, and that you’re doing something right. However, there are many things to consider when taking your small business to the next level, especially if you don’t have any prior experience with business expansion. Luckily, it’s far from impossible and today we’ve put together a guide on things that every business owner needs to consider before expanding.

Affordability

One of the first things you have to consider is how much expanding nationally and internationally will cost your company. It comes with a variety of costs to conduct your operations overseas, from commercial space to travel, customs, shipping, and production. These expenses range considerably across countries and international regions, as well as unique expenditures that apply only to international expansion. 

You don't want to face unforeseen cash flow problems, so it's a good idea to build a list of all the expenses to ensure that they balance with the future income and profits you will earn. If expanding your business financially seems like a good idea, then with the right planning it might prove quite successful.

But if it appears that costs, including start-up costs, would take years to recover, it makes more sense to concentrate your resources on local expansion or diversify your products/services instead of entering the international market. Sometimes starting smaller and gradually working your way up proves to be a smarter financial option with business expansion.

Keep your website looking sharp

First impressions are everything, and this includes the impression your website is giving first time visitors. You want your expansion to bring in lots of new customers as well as retaining current ones, so this step is crucial. 

Take some time to really use your website and the features it has to ensure that everything is working as it should, and give off the right first impression (or second for returning customers). You may want to consider a website redesign, but make sure there isn’t too much downtime on your website!

Be mobile friendly!

In this day and age, most households use devices such as their phones or tablets to browse the internet and social media, so making your website mobile friendly is essential! Be sure to add scalable images to your website, and social media sharing buttons to encourage users to share your content! 

This is a great way of organically driving traffic to your website! If you’re running your website on a platform like WordPress, a mobile friendly version may already be integrated, but be sure to check just in case!

Brand consistency

If you’re expanding your business overseas, there’s a large chance that your brand is brand new and will have little or no recognition. Your brand consistency is important, but you also need to think about how your brand will appear in foreign languages. What might mean something great in your native language might not in another and therefore could directly affect sales of your product. Take the time to conduct thorough research on how your brand is going to appear internationally to those that might not have heard of your brand before.

This doesn’t, however, mean that you need to change your branding. It simply means that you may have to tweak the wording or names of your products to suit the new audience. You should continue to try and keep your branding as consistent as you would normally, as changing it could directly affect sales in other areas. Keeping your brand as recognisable as possible is imperative.

Marketing efforts

Clearly, your marketing efforts have been pretty good so far, especially if you’re planning on expanding your business. Much like with your brand consistency, you need to adapt the marketing strategies and messaging to match standards (and laws) in different countries while expanding internationally. 

Language is an obvious factor, but success can be greatly affected by the deeper sense of messaging across some cultures. There's a rule in marketing: think internationally, behave locally, which translates into a single brand that adapts advertising to suit distinctive aspects of the culture. Also, hiring a local marketing company allows locals to put the brand in the best light.

If you’re entering new markets with your expansion, it’s important to match local standards and consumer behaviours. A great way of doing that is by using an integrating conversational platform on your website so new and potential customers can get the information they need.

Create high-quality content

High quality content is essential for any online business. This includes product descriptions, your about us page, your blog, and even your landing page. Content should be easy to follow, factual, and conversational to keep the reader interested. Avoid using large blocks of text and divide your content into small, easy to digest sections with headings, subheadings, bold text to emphasise your point, and a font that’s easy to read. 

High quality content will keep people on your website for longer and increase the chances of leading to a sale, not to mention improve your bounce rate, which increases your DA (domain authority). Having an impressive DA means search engines will rank your website higher, therefore increasing your visibility. All of which will help when talking about your business expansion.

Know who your target audience is

A mistake that many businesses make is believing that they can reach everyone with their marketing. The truth is, you’re never going to impress everyone or win them over. The same will ring true with your business expansion. While you might think it’s the bee’s knees, not everyone will. And that’s okay! This is why this step is also important to establish before your relaunch.

It’s important to know who your target audience is so that you can tailor the content on your website and social media posts to what they’re looking for on social media. For example, if you sell technology, your target audience is likely to be drawn to images and videos of impressive technology, and news stories or reviews around the latest console.

Don’t leave existing customers behind

It’s important not to forget the customers that have helped your business this far, and this is often forgotten by expanding businesses. If they now turn away from you, expanding might end up being an expensive catastrophe. While an expansion is a great time to make a fresh start with your business, don’t do so at the expense of the people that helped you get to where you are today. 

It will always go down badly with some people if you implement some kind of change into your company. There is no such thing as the perfect plan, but to make your expansion a success, you can't let this fear stop you from introducing the improvements you need. Strike a balance between your new market being pursued and your current one being preserved.

A great way of keeping your existing customers involved in your business expansion is by rewarding them for their loyalty. You could send a mass email out to your customers providing them with a small discount on their next purchase. Not only will it show that you’re thankful for their custom, but it will help drive more sales to your business. No one can resist a discount!

What are your competitors doing?

No matter what kind of industry you’re in, you’ll always have competitors. Even if you’re not physically at war with them, the simple fact is that it’s your business against theirs. What are they doing right? Who are they targeting? What are their marketing efforts like? Have they expanded overseas? Is there anything you could use as inspiration for your expansion? There’s nothing wrong with keeping a close eye on your competitors to better your own business.

Business collaborations

Businesses collaborate to help expand their market and of course, make more profit. Therefore,  if you’re trying to transition out of the small business category, collaborating with another business could really help boost your visibility, especially if you’re teaming up with an already-established international business. Approach businesses that you could see yourself working with, and make sure you have an idea or two in mind! For example, if you’re a smart home technology distributor, you could approach event organisers with the intent of letting them use your technology at their events. Be creative!

Preparation is key

Nothing bad has ever come from preparation for something, and the same goes for your business. This is especially true if your expansion involves moving into unfamiliar territory. Never underestimate how helpful preparation can be. Detailed research into the marketplace you are planning to enter should be involved in your preparation, along with product testing (if applicable) and marketing research.

Ultimately, the last thing you should be doing when it comes to expanding your business is rushing into things. Take the time to make sure it’s the right decision financially and you’ll find that things begin to fall into place. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your business expansion.