Partner Article

How can your business go and grow?

This Last week saw the second instalment of our inspiring ‘Go and Grow’ talks held in conjunction with Enterprise Nation.

We’ve put together a fantastic programme of speakers over the course of the coming weeks with the aim of empowering individuals and businesses and equipping them with the skills they need to grow online.

Wednesday’s focus was on how to grow your online business outside of the UK.

There has never been a better time to start a business, with 1.2 billion customers online around the world. With an influx of international customers looking for British products due to the Olympic legacy, it’s never been easier to market your business overseas without leaving the home.

Top tips from the speakers

James Boardwell from Folksy.com

Folsky.com is an online platform showcasing the work of UK designers and makers. James gave us 5 tips on making you ecommerce business a success across the globe:

1. Start with why – make sure you remember why you set your business up, what it offers and why people will want to buy from you. If you lose this understanding, you’ll never be able to sell to an international audience.

2. You’re selling the SUBJECT of your business – don’t just concentrate of transactional nature of your business, see the bigger picture. For example, a man selling a book about the Internet is not just selling a book, he’s selling the premise of the internet. This thinking will allow you to really get under the skin of what your company offers.

3. Niche is good – in order to stand out in an international market, find a niche. Your business won’t be able to expand overseas if there are a million other guys doing what you do.

4. Deliver to your 1000 true fans – work hard to gain personal, emotional connections with international customers. These people will be your best advocates around the world.

5. Look after yourself - In the world of Internet we forget how buying and selling is a personal thing. You need to look after yourself. It’s important!

Linda Koritkoski, Director of Marketing at Dotco

Dotco is a domain marketplace transforming the way people think about web addresses.

When entering into new markets, it’s important to make the business feel as localised as possible. A great way of doing this is buying domain names in each of your markets e.g. ‘.fr’ if you are selling to France. A customer is 40% more likely to buy from your website if it’s translated into their local language. Check out Lingo24 for help.

You can also buy a country-specific company address to further make your business feel local to that market.

Dan Wilson, Editor at Tamebay

Online resource covering all aspects of ecommerce selling from ebay to Amazon and everything inbetween

Dan was our last speaker of the evening and believes ecommerce businesses should just go for it! If you are worried about international postage, stick with Royal Mail. And be transparent about your postage costs. Your customer understands that you are posting overseas so will cover the postage costs accordingly.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Christoph Rieche .