A company that finds success in its domestic market is soon faced with the decision of whether it wants to expand internationally. The international market offers incredible opportunities for growth, particularly when it comes to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Once the decision to expand has been made, it is necessary to develop appropriate strategies that ensure that the international expansion process goes off without a hitch. In this post, we provide you with food for thought and guidance on what to keep in mind when expanding internationally. In this way you can ensure that your first steps towards international expansion are met with success. Setting your sights on new countries and new markets: while there is great potential for growth, certain pitfalls can also be spied in the distance. There are many different reasons why SMEs decide to expand their businesses internationally. One of the key reasons is the additional potential for profit, of course, but there are others: But no matter what reasons you have for expanding your business internationally, there are many different aspects to keep in mind when preparing for your next big step. No matter what reasons you have for wanting to expand, there is a great deal of opportunity you can take advantage of if you think of everything. Nearly every second (41%) SME sales market has been in Northern and Western Europe in recent years. It’s not easy to expand into international territory, so the strategy you use to expand should be carefully worked out in advance. It is best to proceed in a step-by-step fashion in order to avoid overlooking any important areas that need attention. Deal with questions about the market, law, invoicing, customer service and language in your target country step by step. Get useful tips and tricks on how to efficiently localize product information and online shops here. Expanding your business into international markets will go a lot more smoothly if you have partners at your side who already know what the local conditions are. Seek out advice from experts regarding financing, legal regulations, consumer behavior, and any other relevant issues. One possibility is having internationally experienced colleagues within the company who also speak the language of the target market. During the transitional period, you can also hire external consultants – preferably from the target country. You should also work out the issues above with your local partners, who can provide you with valuable insights into the conditions and preferences of the country. 60% of online customers do not buy if the website is not available in their native language (study conducted by Common Sense Advisory). The obvious option for you might seem to be machine translation, as DeepL, Google Translate, and Systran have made good progress in recent years. However, it may not be as simple as it first appears. We described in detail what pitfalls there are and how you can avoid them in our “Machine Translation for Companies” post. Machine translation has not yet reached the quality of translations prepared by human translators. Particularly with regard to terminology, that is, consistent usage of certain designations, machine translation does not yet meet all requirements. That means you need to rely on a translation supply chain that includes human translators and reviewers at the end. It is also the case here that you by no means need to do without the support of technology, with one of the key technologies at your disposal being a translation management system (TMS), a type of software that allows you to automate and significantly accelerate your translation processes. Stay up to date in regard to international expansion and multilingual communication: Subscribe to the newsletter