Startups are often in a rush to go global. But scaling a business isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon. You need to earn your stripes, build credibility locally, then take your learnings and move into the bigger markets. Read on for some guidance on how to go slower and do it well…
Be right the first time
There are countless examples of brands that have been very strong in the UK, then tried to move into overseas markets, got it wrong and had to come out again (sometimes two or three times). But consumers and retailers don’t have the patience for this, so it’s far better to wait until you have enough research, insights and scalable investment behind you to get it right the first time.
You need to feel the audience out, spot the gaps in the market and find out how to differentiate. It’s also important to have the right teams in place to move into new markets. Can you afford to take your senior staff away from what they’re doing now to focus their attention elsewhere?
Be prepared to pivot
Even if you have a brilliant marketing strategy, you never really know how well your brand will be received until you test it and start receiving feedback. In the light of customers’ responses, you may realise you need to make big changes to your product or service to succeed in new markets. If so, it’s important for you and your team to have a growth mindset so you can embrace change. One of the great things about being a small startup is it’s so easy to be nimble, compared to big companies. But you need to have the mental agility to ride those bumpy waves.
Be sure of who you are
Being clear about your brand vision, purpose and mission from the outset is also fundamental. Having a strong brand toolkit will anchor you during turbulent times and help you accelerate faster when you’re ready to scale. If you skip over this vital step of creating a strong business framework, things can get messy down the line and you may have to come back and do it properly later.
To create a compelling brand identity, ask your team or peers to support you in fleshing out the big questions like: What values are at the heart of your brand? What do you want customers to feel about your brand as they interact with it? What do you want people to remember about it?
Be the same but different
If you rush to go global before your business is ready, there’s a danger you’ll overextend and make hasty adaptations to suit different markets, which could dilute and weaken your brand.
For example, if you were taking your British product to the Middle East, you’d be entering a new culture with a different outlook on everything from beliefs and values to behaviour and dress codes. To appeal to that local market, you’d need to make a lot of changes to your messaging. So how do you maintain brand consistency amidst such diversity?
The answer is to continually return to your brand toolkit as your guide and reference. Even if you’re serving wildly different audiences and need to make adjustments to fit cultural nuances, you must still retain your brand’s core components to give a consistent brand experience the world over.
Be an investor’s dream come true
When factoring scaling into your future planning, you need to be sure you have a compelling enough proposition to be able to acquire capital. Even in today’s climate, there’s a lot of cash around and people want to invest. The one thing an investor will want to know is, do you have a proven product or service? If they look at your business pitch and think, “Okay, I can see where this can go, I can see where the opportunity is, I can see how this could scale…” you will attract capital.
Be selective with new recruits
If you’re building up quickly, you need to hold onto your people and keep your team committed to your shared journey. Meanwhile, it’s equally important to ensure that any new recruits embrace the values at the essence of your brand. For example, if your brand is irreverent, laid back and fun, don’t hire someone who’s too straightlaced, anxious and serious.
If ‘excellence’ is part of your ethos, you should only hire ‘A-team’ people, even if that means stalling progress while you wait for a top-notch candidate. This is important because hiring the wrong people can adversely affect your business very quickly. So be sure to choose recruits who are not only experts in their field but really ‘get’ your business and passionately want to be part of it.
Be prepared to fail
Having said, ‘Be right first time’ and ‘Be sure of who you are’, the following paragraphs may seem like a contradiction. But they’re intended to help you find a balance between trying to grow too soon – and not daring to grow at all (which can be equally hazardous if it leads to a lifetime of regret for not having tried).
Fact: many highly successful entrepreneurs fail at least once before they go on to launch or scale a business. So, if doubts are holding you back, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” If things don’t work out, you can go back and get a regular job working for someone else. Or try again.
Be impactful – on a beginner’s budget
To launch or scale a business successfully, you don’t have to pay an expensive design agency thousands. These days there are lots of DIY tools to help you create a strong presence using the colours, style and language that convey the essence of your brand. So get out there, start from where you are – and your brand will evolve.
Or why not team up with a startup creative agency and make each other famous? If you’re launching a service or a product and you know (and admire and respect) someone who’s launching a design agency – go on the journey together and be part of each other’s success story. Vita Coco and NET-A-PORTER are examples of startup brands that worked with fledgling PR companies in such successful pairings that both parties enjoyed fame and fortune as a result.
Be bold safely (in mini-steps)
If you feel ready to scale but you don’t know where to start, here’s how to create a step-by-step roadmap:
- Decide where you want to be, say, three years from now.
- Think about the stages that will get you from where you are today to where you want to be.
- Note down all the small steps and each big milestone on your three-year timeline.
- Now you can no longer say, “I don’t know where to start,” because you start with the first step.
Obviously, the more thorough your research and planning, the smoother your journey is likely to be. But if the going gets tricky, remember: everything along the way is either avoidable or fixable.
This how-to guide was inspired by one of our Zoom Dives with Pip Brook, International Commercial Business Strategy & Marketing Consultant.
Our Zoom Dive events are deep-delving discussions between our founder, Carolyn Dailey and a handpicked creative business expert. You can listen to Carolyn and Pip’s full discussion here.
Fancy catching our next Zoom Dive, live? See our Events calendar and sign up for free.
Meanwhile, feel free to plunder our Knowledge bank for more inspiration on growing and scaling your business.