How to align your teams to effectively break into international markets through localized product marketing.
The Importance of Product Marketing
Product marketing can be a great way to extend the reach of your SaaS B2B company and enter new markets. Ashley Herbert Popa, the Head of Product Marketing at Sendcloud, shared some useful insights on the best ways to drive the company's product marketing strategies, while taking into consideration factors such as cultural nuances, market variations, and logistical complexities that can affect B2B SaaS international expansion. Our conversation shed light on the complex process of entering new markets and adapting to cultural differences while guaranteeing a cohesive customer experience throughout.
Decoding Product Marketing and International Expansion
The Basics of Identifying Potential International Markets
When considering international expansion, Ashley draws on her own experience with Sendcloud. She appeals to the unifying power of product marketing to bridge the gap between customer needs and internal operations: it is the lever to ensure a deep understanding and effective fulfilment of those needs.
In order to draw an effective marketing strategy, marketing managers have to start by observing where a product is naturally gaining traction. Early product usage from specific regions can indicate a natural product-market fit, even before intentional efforts begin.
From there on, it is necessary to adopt a structured plan that can be summarized in the following steps:
Analyzing Direct and Potential Competitors
It is paramount to understand the target market and what the marketing efforts of potential competitors have been so far. This means understanding how they operate to assess if there is a market fit.
Understanding Local User Behaviors
From the marketing perspective, cultural differences might not appear significant among European countries in similar regions, but each market will still have its own particularities, which have to be taken into account. For example, Ashley points to the German market, which seems to be rather old school when it comes to communications and prefers a formal language and the printed format as opposed to digital channels. Payment methods also vary from one region to another, and are often overlooked when crafting a marketing plan.
Leveraging Partnerships to Gain In-depth Market Insights
Ashley also underscores the importance of having a partnership program to start exploring both markets and segments, as well as the competition. The good news is that usually this does not require a huge upfront investment.
B2B SaaS International Expansion: Adapting to Cultural Differences
Understanding and adapting to cultural nuances is crucial for successful internationalization. Ashley provided an intriguing example from her past experience in gym software marketing, where visual content needed customization to align with cultural norms in the Middle East, contrasting with European markets.
While there are no massive differences when targeting sportswear between Nordic countries, there might be localization issues to tackle when targeting female clothing for a Middle East niche, as in those territories it is considered inappropriate to display images of women wearing sports bras or shorts.
This highlights the importance of thorough research and cultural sensitivity when entering new markets. What works in one region may not translate well to another.
Tackling Market Entry: A Collaborative Approach
Entering a new market is a collaborative effort involving multiple teams across the organization. Ashley emphasized the importance of involving the following departments in order to guarantee a cohesive approach to market entry:
Product development: It is crucial to establish if B2B SaaS companies have a product market fit at an early stage, to ensure competitiveness before investing in a new market.
Marketing: It’s important to pay special attention to the channels used to enter in new markets.
Sales: Unless your company relies solely on PLG, you should be able to count on a sales representative who speaks the language of the intended market and can mediate between the source and target cultures. They can also help assess if the approach taken is working.
Customer Support: Providing customers with localized help articles and support documentation greatly reduces the problems experienced by users while using your product.
From the company’s perspective, Ashley highlights the importance of counting on local people who are aware of a market’s legal intricacies, such as compliance or work regulations in a specific country. This goes beyond speaking the language and entails a profound knowledge of the local context.
Each team contributes differently, from determining the product-market fit to adapting marketing communication and customer support to local needs. This comprehensive approach ensures a deep understanding of the market and a coherent strategy execution.
Practical Steps and Strategies for Market Penetration
Picking the Right Niche: The Bowling Pin Approach
Entering a new market is synonymous with uncertainty and, oftentimes, a vast landscape to cover. Ashley draws on the so-called “bowling-pin approach”, where you focus on a specific market segment and look to achieve dominance and success. From there, the product can build on this momentum to expand into related segments, much like hitting the first pin can cause a chain-reaction that eventually leads to a strike.
Ensuring a Cohesive Customer Experience
Ashley agrees that the 'Minimum Viable Experience' (MVE) approach we champion at Undertow, which consists in adapting only the essential parts of the customer journey to test markets before full-scale investment, is a great way to start small while setting up for success. MVEs can be curated for all parts of the product, from marketing to support. This approach ensures no customer faces a dead-end due to language barriers or lack of localized touchpoints. For example, rather than localizing the whole website, you can start with a microsite with the most important pages, the most relevant Help Center articles, and then expand the experience over time.
Long-Term Strategies and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Once you see potential in a new market, it’s important to set clear, measurable goals to maintain momentum and avoid obstacles. This means defining key performance indicators (KPIs) and regularly reviewing them. These KPIs should be tailored to the specific needs and expectations of each market. Ashley recommends being realistic when setting targets—treating a new, growing market the same as an established one can lead to mistakes in your strategy.
Establishing Brand Trust
When expanding into new markets, building brand awareness is crucial. In the B2B SaaS world, potential clients are unlikely to take the risk of adopting a product from a brand they don’t know, especially if it involves changing how they do things. There may already be established competitors in the market, and many businesses are comfortable with the status quo—like relying on spreadsheets—and may not be eager to switch to something new. A strong brand presence can help overcome these challenges and create trust.
B2B vs. B2C Prospects
When creating a localization strategy for a B2B SaaS product, it’s important to remember that the people who use the software are not always the same as the ones making the purchase decision. This means your approach might need to be different compared to selling directly to consumers. While the software itself may be available in multiple languages (e.g., 10 languages), your marketing efforts can be more focused. You might only need to localize your marketing materials in 3 or 4 key languages that target the main buyer markets. This allows you to concentrate your efforts on the decision-makers in the most important regions while still offering a global product to users.
Adjusting Strategies Based on Performance
When expanding into new markets or trying new strategies, things don't always go as planned. If your initial results aren’t meeting expectations, it’s crucial to adapt quickly. Here's a breakdown of how to adjust your approach when things aren’t working as expected.
1. Evaluate the Problem: Is it Product-Related or a Market Challenge?
The first step in adjusting your strategy is understanding whether the issue is related to your product or the market. If your product isn’t competitive enough, you may need to invest more in product development. However, there’s a limit to how much you can stretch your resources to be competitive everywhere.
Ashley told us that at a previous company she worked at they realized that while they had a great product and happy customers in the U.S., they struggled to gain traction in the U.S. market. The software industry there was already very mature, and even though they had product-market fit, it was difficult to compete with businesses that had been established for years.
2. Focus on the Right Markets
Another possible challenge you can face when going international is spreading yourselves too thin. For example, Ashley told us that back in that same previous company the investment required to compete in the U.S. was significant, and they realized they didn’t have the resources to focus on both the U.S. and their European markets. The U.S. market is massive, and while it’s easy to think of it as one entity, there are regional differences that make it tough to apply a single strategy across the entire country.
3. Embrace a Regional Approach
Rather than trying to tackle the whole U.S. market, a more regional approach might work better. It’s expensive and challenging to acquire customers in a huge country like the U.S., so narrowing your focus to specific areas or cities is often a smarter move.
You could adopt a more bottom-up approach, focusing on building communities and leveraging word-of-mouth to grow, which might be more effective than trying to compete with larger, more established players in the market.
4. Understand Your Capacity and Focus
It’s important to assess whether your company has the capacity to support multiple regions or if it's better to concentrate on a few. Expanding too quickly can stretch your resources thin and lead to inefficiencies.
In the case of the story told by Ashley about her previous company, trying to compete in the U.S. while also maintaining their presence in Europe wasn’t sustainable. They made the decision to focus on strengthening their position in Europe first before revisiting the U.S. market later.
The Continuous Journey of Market Expansion
B2B SaaS international expansion is a continuous journey of learning and adaptation. Embracing a comprehensive localization strategy that transcends mere translation is critical for long-term success in new markets.
For businesses considering international expansion, Ashley's experiences emphasize the importance of thorough research, collaboration and cultural adaptation. Mastering these elements can transform the challenges of international expansion into sustainable growth opportunities.
Are you a B2B SaaS aiming at international expansion through localized content? As we have discovered above, localization is a joint effort. And what better partner for this journey than Undertow? Together, we will analyse your product and see if there’s market fit, as well as guide you on your localization path, one step at a time. Thanks to our bespoke solutions, you will be able to confidently navigate the challenges presented by global markets and capitalize on the immense opportunities they offer.
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