Developing an Export Strategy for Sales into Export Markets.
When the pandemic struck, businesses everywhere had to adapt to a new world overnight.
If you are looking into export markets or are currently struggling to grow your exports because buyers lack access to your products overseas, you are not alone.
As the old saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
There are several resources available to help you develop an export strategy with ease so that you can focus on selling your products abroad.
Utilizing the combined services of companies like BGI and IBT provides wrap-around services in exportation and marketing that support your exporting business.
Read on to learn how one company overcame the current market challenges to sell its services virtually overseas by using a little creative thinking and some help from export marketing support services to build an export strategy.
Exporting Virtual Judo Training
When the pandemic struck, businesses everywhere had to adapt to a new world overnight.
Janna Van Wittbeck is a world-renowned judo expert who quickly found that her passion for teaching judo could not survive in its current face-to-face structure.
Janna knew that Judo was well-established and popular in countries like France and the United Kingdom.
Wasting no time, she decided to convert her Judo classes into an online product that she could sell internationally.
A TRUE PARTNERSHIP WAS BORN
Janna Van Wittbeck reached out to her local Idaho Chamber of Commerce to make this new international expansion a reality.
They introduced her to International Business and Technology (IBT), a global online marketing firm with years of experience in France and the United Kingdom.
With the help of IBT, Janna Van Wittbeck now has a fully serviced online marketing program that is completely localized into the French and British markets.
She appreciates that IBT is proactive in helping her succeed, so she is now looking to expand into more of IBT’s services.
Check out Janna’s Judo classes and product line for more information.
Q&A Interview with Adrian Viller at IBT
Intrigued by this story, I reached out to IBT’s reputable Online Business Development Director, Adrian Viller to learn more about what makes IBT so successful.
BGI: What is IBT and what does it do?
AV: IBT is a business technology company that leverages online technologies to grow sales and exports of small businesses around the world. They utilize an inbound method that builds on the sales discovery process so that they can be an effective solutions provider for their clients.
They believe in building effective partnerships and relationships. By providing affordable and effective solutions for export and international business development, IBT has been awarded the President’s “E” Award, the highest honor a company can receive, for its contribution to the expansion of U.S. exports worldwide.
BGI: What makes IBT’s localization strategy so successful?
AV: “Our team is really spread out…and remote. We do have offices in Massachusetts, and here in Florida, we will be opening an office in Missouri. We also have offices in Europe and the UK.
Our team is really diverse and pretty global. We also have a lot of friends who work for us in Malta and Egypt. Our team extends to Belgium, Hong Kong, and Morocco. We also have local Italian Swiss coverage. We even provide services for the Japanese market.
We do that on purpose you know, [if] we were going to be localization experts and be helpful to companies that are looking to go abroad and establish a digital presence in their top export markets, a diverse team is beyond helpful. So, we try to make it as diverse as we can. We love the diversity in the team.”
BGI: IBT helps American companies enter new markets, but do you help foreign companies directly export to the North American market?
AV: “WDM is a large UK company that was looking to expand to the US. It’s one of those companies that we helped set up a digital presence in the United States and Canada. They are engineers that focus on highway safety and directly export to Canada and the U.S.”
IBT is still their trusted partner in providing online marketing coverage in the North American market.
“IBT started 20 years ago…in France. The founders of the company’s goals were to support British companies wanting to do business in continental Europe and assist French businesses wanting to do business in Germany. In time, that had changed and pivoted in a lot of different ways.
We still do a lot of work with British companies wanting to do business in continental Europe and we now have a partnership with Enterprise Ireland, so we are helping Irish companies do business in continental Europe.”
IBT provides first-rate digital marketing and localization strategies for many countries around the world from the U.K., France, and Spain to Brazil and Japan, and much more. They enable companies to realize their global exporting needs. If you are a small business looking to export or are an experienced global company looking to grow their sales or pivot their market online, then check out IBT’s website with the link below.
Resources:
International Trade Administration
State International Development Organizations, Inc. (SIDO)
National Association of District Export Councils (NADEC)
Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
Global Trade and Export Resources
Shipping regulations are constantly changing and navigating the various rules and regulations for exporting goods overseas can be tricky, new shippers and even experienced shippers would be well advised to call BGI at 800-987-4244 to find out how we can help.
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