We also found that partnering with industry specialists such as Melcrum - which is an internal communications learning organisation - helped us build a profile. Another of the great benefits of partnering with them is they aren't a competitor, so there were no issues getting them onboard.
What strategies do you think have worked well for you in terms of getting a foothold in your offshore markets?
Initially we targeted large companies that had a dedicated internal communications function. Our tools give internal communications teams the ability to push out messages, screensaver, surveys, emergency alerts and the like with varying degrees of urgency depending on the message.
This strategy worked well for us because we were one of the first companies to market a dedicated internal communications messaging platform. The flow-on effect from targeting internal communications is that other parts of the businesses have seen the value in our solution, so functions such as IT, HR and marketing have also become keen to implement it.
We also established physical offices in the US and UK to get a local perspective and manage time zones in Europe. This was quite a big upfront cost, but I think it's certainly paid itself off over time.
What are some of the difficulties you've encountered in internationalising your business, and what have you learnt through trying to tackle those?
Getting your voice heard on the international stage is hard because there are so many competing companies all offering compelling products. The best thing to do is research your competitors, find your points of difference and focus on what makes you better than the rest. This may mean targeting a niche market initially, but once you've got a foothold in the market, you can expand your offering from there.
From a digital marketing perspective, even products that don't compete with you functionally are competing for the similar search terms meaning it can be difficult for you to get found.
A good example of this is when Yammer was doing a lot of investment into marketing and competing for terms such as 'internal communication software'. They have a completely different product set to us, and they cater to a different need. Yammer are a large company so it can invest a lot of money competing in online search, but we still managed to beat them by focusing on tactical execution of smart online content search optimised solutions that didn't cost much.
What's a lesson you've learnt about internationalising your business that you'd like to share with other business owners?
Build your credibility in the market. In our case, we had to take our software solution to the US market in order to gain market credibility. I think companies are far more likely to buy your product if a US company has endorsed it, as opposed to a New Zealand-based company endorsing it. If you appear to be a US-based company and/or have offices in the US then I think this also helps.
Coming up in Your Business: What are some of the challenges of developing new products when you're running a small business? How have some business owners managed to do this - and fund it - while still keeping their day to day operations going? If you've got a story to tell drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com
