You may have conquered the domestic market, but are you truly ready to captivate consumer audiences and win business partners overseas? Foreign outreach demands that you adopt a different perspective than what you might be used to from your forays into Australian telemarketing. If you want to make a mark on the world at large, you need to prepare for your adventures in global communication by localising your strategy.
What does high-impact telemarketing localisation entail? Here’s what to know and why your enterprise might benefit from shifting its outreach stance to an outsourced approach.
What You’re up Against: The Hurdles to Establishing Your Name
One of the biggest challenges that business marketers face when they focus on foreign locales is getting over the misconception that they can rely on existing brand recognition. People in Australia may be quite familiar with your brand, and thanks to the nation’s cosmopolitan population, some of them may have even gotten their relatives in different countries to fall in love with you. Unfortunately, having a few fans here and there won’t guarantee your success.
Even if you create a viral campaign targeted towards digital consumers in a foreign nation, those you engage won’t have established the trusting relationship they need to feel comfortable about patronising your brand. Depending on the brand recognition that you’ve already earned in Australia won’t cut it.
You’ll need to lay the foundations of an entirely new empire if you want to capitalise on success determiners such as word of mouth and consumer trust. Engaging in a geographically targeted telemarketing campaign is one of the smartest ways to get the ball rolling.
Why Bother With Telemarketing?
Contacting people in person can establish greater trust. Studies have shown that even in the wake of widespread business digitisation, reaching out to individuals on a one-to-one basis is a critical step for enterprises that want to succeed at international marketing.
Personalised networking demonstrates that you’re on the level, which is vital when you’re trying to overcome the inherent distrust that many individuals hold for unknown outsiders. This may be partially due to the way people form social networks by conducting independent research.
If you cold-call a potential client or partner in Australia, they can quickly look you up online and consult with their peers to see if anyone they know has heard of you. When someone in another country tries to do the same, they have to trust the fact that you’re not a scammer. If they don’t speak English, then they’ll have to work even harder to verify that you’re trustworthy.
How can you make contact in a way that lowers these barriers to entry? Short of sending your sales reps on whirlwind tours across distant continents, telemarketing is one of the most effective methods of forging new ties. Working with a trusted outreach partner is the easiest way to expand your presence beyond national borders.
Making Contact in Australia vs. Foreign Markets
Good marketing always caters to the individual or group audience it’s targeting. When you’re making the leap from Australian telemarketing to a more globalised outreach strategy, this means you have to address a few critical pain points:
Overcome the Language Barrier
Forcing someone to converse in your language instead of the tongue they find the most familiar is a sure-fire way to start your relationship off on the wrong foot. In addition to putting them on the spot, you make their first impression of your brand feel more like an academic test — stressful and decidedly unproductive.
Talking to someone in their language can make them more forthcoming. Because responding to questions doesn’t take as much effort, they’ll naturally divulge information that they might not otherwise. As the person initiating contact, this increases the amount of useful data you get from each call, so it’s far easier to run responsive, cost-effective publicity campaigns.
One of the other hidden advantages of language-specific outreach is that it inherently signifies your willingness to accommodate others. Whether you’re looking for potential partners or new clientele, putting in the extra effort is a smart way to give off the impression that you’re a worthy partner.
Outsourcing your telemarketing makes it far simpler to master the local dialect. In addition to not having to study up on your languages, you can sound more natural and raise the chances that you’ll find common grounds.
Understand the Culture
Professional etiquette varies widely by culture. Even if you share a common tongue with someone, it’s no guarantee that you won’t inadvertently step into a misunderstanding that imperils your chances of winning future business. For instance, casual language that seems all but natural to Aussies can easily shock Brits and Americans.
Localised telemarketing campaigns make it easier to avoid faux pas. By working with services that demonstrate a healthy respect for diverse cultural values and nuanced attitudes, you minimise the likelihood that an inadvertent remark might sink an otherwise promising professional relationship. Once again, outsourcing helps you create the best possible impression — People who make it their business to talk to others respectfully and attentively imbue your contact efforts with enhanced legitimacy and professionalism.
Respect the Time Difference
This idea is relatively straightforward. Calling someone outside of their regular business or waking hours does little more than annoy them. Such mistakes are tough to recover from, and they can place a permanent strain on your future interactions.
Third-party globalised telemarketing makes your business a lot more versatile. What’s more, it works even if you’re unable to reconfigure your entire schedule to accommodate foreign contacts and their time zones.
Start Small and Build Gradually
Business-to-business and direct-to-consumer outreach efforts are more productive when they’re adaptable. It’s not always easy to predict how people might respond to your efforts, so it’s usually wisest to test the waters before plunging in full-bore.
This concept is par for the course in digital outreach, and globalised telemarketing should be no different. If you want to communicate more effectively, then you need to gather accurate feedback as you go — The success of your campaign depends on your ability to understand the data behind your engagement efforts and use it to power your decision-making process.
Outsourced telemarketing empowers you to leverage better-informed outreach. On top of benefiting from enhanced campaign organisation, you gain access to a broader pool of background data that serves as a control for your advertising experiments. In other words, it’s easier to recognise when you should adjust your technique and how to do better.
Make the Most of Your International Outreach
Personalised outreach demands planning, and establishing yourself as a globally recognised company takes consistent hard work. It’s up to you whether your efforts broaden your brand footprint for increased revenue or just drain your coffers.
Want to translate your Australian telemarketing successes into broadly applicable global strategies? Start by working with a reputable partner that has the proven experience to help you forge stronger connections. Get in touch with a Think Telemarketing specialist today to discover how Australia’s most effective entrepreneurs, digital marketers and sales reps give their brands more impact in an increasingly globalised business arena.
