By Yorkshire has some great manufacturing talent, so it can be difficult to prove your business has the edge. Look at the gin industry, for example. Distilleries were once a fresh rival to breweries with a growing customer base as gin had risen in its popularity. However, a lot of people jumped on board with this trend and the level of competition has gotten tougher. Starting an export business can be a solution to this problem. You could enter a market where your product is seen as innovative and has Yorkshire branding as it’s unique selling point, so don’t be intimated by the thought of red tape and international regulations. If you plan correctly then you’ll get the best benefits of exporting.
The most important question to first ask yourself is – does a market overseas exist for your product? It would be a waste of time to export to somewhere that has a low demand for your offer. If you want the benefits of exporting, you need to make sure there’s a viable market available for your products. Using your current target audience can help you to shape your decision – look at markets with similar customers.
Once you’ve found an ideal customer overseas, you may need to make some changes to your product and branding to suit their needs. For example, colour often has different connotations in different cultures and you don’t want to accidentally offend your target audience. The appearance of your product will influence how your customer’s view it, so make sure you make the right first impression. Your brand name may also already exist in this new market. Even big companies such as Burger King have faced this issue and have been unable to use their normal branding – in Australia, they’re known as Hungry Jacks. So, be prepared to alter your brand to suit an international market.
Check to see if your trade mark already exists before you enter your new market – this will save you any legal troubles and potential fines in the future. Depending on which market you want to access, there are different databases to look into: For America, see the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, For Europe, see European Union Intellectual Property office website, For alternative markets see the Marcaria website.
It’s not just about getting your products prepared for exporting, your employees will also have a lot more work to take on and they need to be ready for this. Hopefully you’ll see a higher demand for your products when you start exporting, so make sure you have enough people in your team to handle this. If not, there is funding support available to support this.
You should check whether your current staff have any skills that could contribute towards your exporting objectives. For example, if anyone on your team speaks another language, this could also come in handy to help overcome barriers with importers and to understand how your marketing messages will be interpreted in a different language. You’ll be surprised by some of the embarrassing situations that can occur if you’re not conscientious of the differences in translation. The large brand American Airlines had an awkward case when they tried to advertise their leather seats with the slogan ‘Fly in Leather’ - in Spanish this translates to ‘Fly naked.’
Do you have enough funding to expand to a new market? You’re going to need to do market research and potentially redevelop your products. This could take a lot of work and lead to some added costs. There is some funding support available, but this won’t cover the full extent of your exporting ambitions and you will have to invest in it as well. For more information on funding opportunities, get in touch via support@howsbusiness.org
If you want support on assessing the readiness of your business, The British Chambers of Commerce have an Export Readiness Assessment, where your local Chamber will evaluate your products and services for exporting. For more information on this, see the Chamber directory, here.
There’s some simple tests that you can also do in-house to analyse your export potential
SWOT Test
SWOT analysis test simply stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a straight-forward exercise that consists of labelling out factors into each section on a grid, like the one below provided by the Open to Export website, you’ll also find some examples of how exporting ambitions can be spread across the SWOT test.
Here's there example of a SWOT test for first time exporters:
SWOT analyses are beneficial for planning ahead. You can use them in other areas of your business, such as your research on alternative markets. With this you’ll be able to establish any areas that might need to be developed and you will become better prepared to export.
Summary
Although it can increase your workload, the benefits of exporting make it worthwhile. Just make sure that you’re fully prepared to enter a new market first. You will need to consider your product itself, internal factors such as your employees and the financial impact.