Know your demographic and adapt to it.
International expansion of a business is a dream that many entrepreneurs have, but it is not without its own set of challenges. A vastly different location can require drastic marketing changes to adapt to a new target demographic in order to achieve success. Despite these challenges, the importance of international growth cannot be stressed enough. With the emerging global middle class, the potential for growth is exponential. There is great demand for high-tech exports and financial planning on the international market. Innocent Drinks, the top-selling smoothie drink in France experienced some growing pains when they placed a stake hold on the smoothie market in Austria. Until they learned how their Austrian customers differed from their French customers, they had trouble showing any growth.
Competition can be healthy and essential to business growth
Encouraging competition among business fuels the fire of innovation and growth. Competition helps businesses set higher goals and more of them. If a company has no competition, it is easy for them to not see any reason to extend their goals any further. Those looking for a business to strive and thrive would do well to find a market that not only has demand, but also has room for competitors to have a good shot at success as well. In fact, government leaders are often looking for ways to help companies increase their level of expertise and foster some healthy competition in their respective industries.
Tesco and the Clubcard
The now popular UK supermarket chain Tesco found itself worrying about the financial future of its chain of stores in the early 90s. Clearly the company’s marketing was not doing a good enough job of bringing in customers. As a solution, Tesco decided to sign shoppers up for a savings card, or “Clubcard.” The Clubcard gave the customer the benefit of taking advantage of sale prices and allowed Tesco to review purchase patterns so that they could better meet the needs of their customers and design marketing materials that did a better job of reaching target demographics. The clear lesson from this example is that it is essential to know your customers in order to serve them the best. While collecting this data may at first seem daunting, new technologies have made data gathering much easier.
Formula One and Max Mosley
Max Mosley is one of the founders of the Formula One racing circuit. He started out as a driver and advisor to the organisation that would become FĂ©dĂ©ration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). He eventually became president of the organisation, and during his time as president, he was instrumental in promoting new technology and industry growth in the Formula One racing world. You can learn a lot more about Max Mosley by visiting his profile on the FIA website at http://www.fia.com/profile/presidency/max-mosley.
The benefits of learning from business leaders
The advice of successful business leaders can help you avoid the mistakes that they made during their careers, or at the very least, how to deal with them if you do. Improving your business knowledge can save you a lot of time and money over the years and help ensure that your business grows faster than you ever thought possible.
