How to Effectively Market your Business in Europe

Expanding your business in Europe requires you to clearly understand how you can effectively market your business. In our experience, we recommend our clients budget some marketing dollars for us to help them speed up their sales in Europe. Whatever investment our clients make in Europe must have a direct impact on sales. We specialise in marketing activities and tools that help us get into the market, generate leads, display credentials, and boost our clients’ profiles to secure sales.

Four key factors as a potential export business will increase your chance of success in the European market:

Creating your Promotional Materials
Translating your Material
Join Trade Shows
Video Marketing’s Power

Creating your Promotional Materials

To launch a new product or technology in the European market, we need to grab the interest of your target audience quickly. We need to provide information that helps them understand the product easily. They must understand who the company is, what they offer, and how their solution benefits them. We must assure European prospects that the business is legitimate and trustworthy.

Here are a few things you must prepare for promoting your business:

Provide your company profile

The main reason you need to provide a company profile is for your prospect to see that you can deliver the benefit you are promising. It allows you to show you are a credible company in your home market. For a well-established business, this would be easy. Most likely, they already have a short company profile prepared to be sent to their prospects anytime.

For a startup business, be extra careful of the information you will include in your company profile. Focus on your strengths and the benefits your key clients can get from your product or service.

Keep in mind not to go overboard in providing information. Keep it short and easy to digest, and include information like the established date, the number of employees, certifications, and your primary customer segments.

Share your product brochure

Part of your marketing effort is to provide your target audience with a professionally designed product brochure. Nowadays, it doesn’t cost that much to create a professional design. Your marketing materials will make an impression on your European audience. Hence, it is important to make your company appear as a multinational company. Remember that you might need to translate your brochure into different languages. Try to make your brochure more visual, like using icons and product images.

You may include the following in your product brochure:

Outline your product in the simplest terms possible. Avoid using particularly technical language or jargon. Explain what your product is. How would you describe your product if someone were searching for it on the internet?
Describe the key features of your product using the general rule: short and simple terms.
Make your list of benefits as short as possible; otherwise, readers will lose interest. Try to provide only the major benefits. It will boost your chances of your customers remembering them. Use specific words; avoid general terms.

Show your case studies

In the previous blog, Identify your Ideal Customers in the European Market, we shared how powerful case studies are. And when you market your business, people look for proof of what you do and how you do it. In case studies, photos and videos make them more engaging and more real.

Translating your Material

The more words in your copy, the more expensive it is to translate. And the most common question we get is, “Should we translate our brochures into European languages?” The answer is it depends on which phase you are in right now.

Market Validation phase

At the beginning of your European journey, when you are unsure of which country you are going to sell to, you do not have to translate all your marketing materials into European languages. Our Market Validation Project helps us identify which two European countries our client should focus on once we have assessed that a company is ready to export to Europe. Since we don’t know where we will sell, we don’t require them to translate their marketing material.

Lead Generation phase

During this phase, we already know which country to focus on marketing your business to. Then, we need to translate your marketing materials. It conveys the message more quickly. In addition, it enhances credibility in the eyes of a potential customer or partner. It also shows a commitment to the market.

Scale phase

As soon as you sell in Europe, translate your material into the languages of the European country you are selling in. To sell your product to their customers, the distributors’ sales team will need your material. Using an English brochure would embarrass them. It also applies to local sales teams.

Join Trade Shows / Digital congresses

Joining expos and trade shows enable you to boost your leads and nurture your relationship with your distributors, partners, and customers. That is why this is the ultimate European lead generation.

There are two most relevant types of show that you must join:

European shows that cater for international markets too. Most of the international shows take place in Germany as they are the powerhouse of trade shows. Germany hosts the largest European events, and you don’t want to miss this opportunity.
Join specialised conferences like national shows. It helps you to boost your exposure to the local market. This is perfect for businesses that have a specific target market.

Both types of events work well and can help your business get high-quality leads.

To consider a good return for a face to face show, you should have at least 100 qualified leads by the end of the show.

In pandemic times, it is always good to make sure that the show or congress has a digital ‘back-up’ plan in case the health situation changes in the country. There are also a number of congresses, which have moved online. I would recommend to select digital ones too. On the digital congresses it will be harder to generate 100+ leads, we have seen lower yields. You also need to make sure the online platform enables good interaction with potential customers. You also need to double check what list of contacts you will get at the end of the digital congress. My recommendation in order to increase traction and virtual traffic is to be featured as a speaker. Only having a virtual booth is a waste of money.

Video Marketing’s Power

Including a video in your marketing strategy plays an important role in spreading your message easily to your customers. For non-native English speakers, a visual demonstration of your product is much easier to digest than reading a bunch of text. You can also shoot your videos during expos and trade shows. You can get creative as much as you want.

You can interview a previous customer who is an advocate of your product.
Behind-the-scene shoot with your distributors.
Create a product demo.
Or you can do a corporate video where you interview the CEO.

These are just some ways on how you can market your business in Europe. Always remember to do a thorough research of your target customers and which European country are you focusing on. Doing this allows you to have more chance of success in the European market.

Want to know more about how to effectively market your business in the European market? Get your FREE copy of “The 4 Steps to Generate Your First Million Euros in Sales” book here: https://www.exportia.com.au/export-business-europe/