Money's just the start for a start-up

For startups, expanding into new markets can be a pivotal step towards growth and success. However, the process of entering unfamiliar territories poses unique challenges, particularly when resources, including human capital, are limited.

With skills, resources and market knowledge initially in short supply, getting acquainted with available options to help with understanding potential challenges hey may face, can startups develop effective strategies to maximise their chances of success. 

1.  Define a target market

Pretty obvious this one!  If a product is already strong in another region, it still may not be the case of a straight replication. Consideration needs to be given to competitive landscape, maturity, framework agreements in certain markets and so on. Conducting thorough market research and segmentation analysis helps identify the most promising customer segments with the highest potential for success.

Many don’t invest enough time in understanding market demographics, behaviours and pain points, so they can tailor their offerings and allocate resources more efficiently.

Challenges: Limited resources may pose a challenge in conducting comprehensive market research, as it often requires specialised expertise and time-intensive data analysis.

If you don’t have the bandwidth, it pays to work with specialists with feet on the ground.

2.  Develop a Point of Difference (PoD)

As previously mentioned, even if you’ve already made it in one market, it doesn’t mean a straight “cut and paste” into a new market. Maturity of the market, culture, language, competitor landscape are just some of the things that play a part in how you position your product or service to attract customers.

By developing a compelling PoD by market region and segment, startups can articulate the distinct advantages they offer. This PoD should clearly communicate how their products or services solve customer pain points better than existing alternatives.

Challenges: Creating a strong PoD can be challenging without sufficient resources for market analysis and product development. Startups must focus on leveraging their core strengths and not be afraid to work with 3rd party specialists when defining strategy and conducting targeted customer research.

3.  Build strategic partnerships

Collaborating with strategic partners can provide startups with valuable resources, expertise, and access to existing customer networks in the new market. Strategic partnerships can help overcome resource limitations by leveraging the partner's infrastructure, market knowledge and distribution channels. These partnerships may include local distributors, retailers, or complementary service providers.

Challenges: Identifying suitable strategic partners can be time-consuming and require extensive networking efforts. Startups should carefully evaluate potential partners, ensuring they share the same vision and values and have complementary strengths that can mutually benefit the market entry process.

4.  Leverage buyer communities and digital marketing

Established buyer communities create a great opportunity to get in front of an already engaged audience to position products and services.  Using digital marketing offers cost-effective avenues for startups to reach their target audience. By utilising SEO, content marketing, social media advertising and email marketing, startups can generate brand awareness, engage potential customers and drive traffic creating both brand awareness and sales opportunities.

These strategies are scalable, allowing startups to achieve broad reach even with limited resources.
 

Challenges: Effectively implementing digital marketing strategies requires specialised skills and continuous optimisation. Startups may face challenges in hiring or training individuals with the necessary expertise required in today's sophisticated buyer engagement process.

Outsourcing to digital marketing agencies or hiring freelancers can be viable options to overcome these resource constraints. And beware - without the necessary Martech in place to measure performance, these activities are done in isolation and often result in poor outcomes.

5.  Invest in customer success

For startups entering new markets, delivering exceptional customer experiences is vital. By prioritising customer success and investing in strong customer support, startups can build trust, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth. Ensuring that customers have a seamless onboarding process, prompt issue resolution, and continuous support helps establish a strong reputation in the new market.

Challenges: Providing exceptional customer support requires dedicated resources. Startups should optimise their support processes, leverage technology solutions like chatbots and self-service portals, and prioritise efficient issue resolution to effectively manage limited resources while delivering a positive customer experience.

6.  Iterate and adapt

Entering a new market is an iterative process that requires continuous learning and adaptation. Startups must gather feedback from early customers, analyse market response, and make necessary adjustments to their strategies, products, or services. By being agile and responsive to market dynamics, startups can optimise their approach and increase their chances of success.

Challenges: Limited resources may restrict startups' ability to gather real-time market feedback or invest in extensive product iterations. However, startups can overcome this challenge by leveraging lean methodologies, conducting small-scale experiments, and leveraging technology to gather customer insights efficiently.

Summary

Through the implementation of critical go-to-market strategies tailored to their specific situation, startups can navigate these challenges effectively.

Whilst the temptation may be there to fully resource a market either from an established HQ in another region and supplement with key sales staff, there is definite advantage to be gained from using local knowledge, hired or outsourced, in the local market.

Resource constraints should be seen as opportunities to innovate and find creative solutions, ultimately propelling startups towards achieving their goals.  Outsourcing is usually a more cost-effective way of achieving growth objectives, but choosing the right partner who will work alongside your team and commit to your targets is essential.

How the Amigos Network can help

Market Activation™ offers a fully managed and resourced ‘plug-and-play’ go-to-market until you’re established and beyond.

We can help directly with strategy, brand development, brand loyalty and lead generation. Through our alliance partners we also offer channel recruitment and enablement, sales and technical support, and telemarketing.

All of this is tailored for a fixed monthly fee depending on services taken and is a truly cost-effective option compared with building and managing a local team on the ground.
Our services are backed by performance guarantees and ROI at the start of our engagement

Get in touch to see how we can help set light to your journey!

Author: Max Sherwood, The Amigos Network

Email: max.sherwood@theamigosnetwork.com