Navigating International Expansion and Multilingual Marketing: Charlotte Jaakola’s Strategic Guide for Global Growth

Expanding internationally is an exciting opportunity for SaaS and B2B companies, but it’s also a complex journey that requires careful preparation, cultural awareness, and strategic investment. Success comes not from copying what worked at home, but from understanding and adapting to new markets.

In this article, we will explore the essentials of international growth drawing from the extensive experience of Charlotte Jaakola, Chief Operating Officer at Advance B2B, Finland’s largest strategic B2B marketing agency.

We will touch on the importance of redefining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), conducting thorough market research, avoiding common pitfalls, localizing effectively, building trust, and leveraging AI.

Is Your Ideal Customer Profile the Same Everywhere?

One of the most common mistakes companies make is assuming their domestic ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) will work in new markets. In reality, customer behaviors, pain points, and decision-making processes differ widely across borders.

As Charlotte explains: “One of the biggest mistakes I see is that businesses assume the existing ICP will work in the new market. That usually comes with a huge cost.”

For example, in some markets relationship-building is more important than product features. In others, price sensitivity outweighs brand loyalty. Even seemingly similar countries, like Finland and Sweden, may require very different approaches.

Businesses that want to succeed in their global expansion efforts should treat every new market as unique and talk directly to local customers to understand their challenges and goals, how buying decisions are made, what are the budget expectations in that market, as well as understand local communication styles and trust factors that come into play when selecting a partner or a vendor.

These elements are all crucial not only to define the ICP for that specific market, but also to establish the existence of product-market fit, without which any expansion effort would have very slim chances of success. Furthermore, according to Ton Dobbe, another crucial factor for success is the element of differentiation.

How Important is Research Before Expansion?

Before setting foot in a new market, comprehensive research is non-negotiable. This analysis should encompass several critical areas that will shape your market entry strategy.

• Competitive Landscape Assessment: Who are the established players? How do they market and sell? Understanding your competition helps identify market gaps and opportunities for differentiation.

• Cultural Nuances Investigation: How do companies make decisions? Beyond language differences, cultural factors influence buying decisions, communication preferences, and business etiquette.

• Regulatory Environment Evaluation: What compliance hurdles might delay entry? Each market comes with its own set of rules, regulations, and compliance requirements. Understanding these beforehand prevents costly legal issues and operational delays.

• Market Maturity Analysis: Is the audience ready for your solution? Sometimes, being too early to a market can be as detrimental as being too late. Understanding where your market stands in terms of solution awareness and adoption is crucial.

  
  

"Do the research and do it well before jumping over to a new market, because you also need to understand the business culture in the new market. For example, how does relationship building affect if you can sell or not," Charlotte advises.

Skipping this step often leads to wasted investment or failed launches. As Ashley Herbert Popa pointed out in a previous blog post, thorough research and cultural sensitivity can make or break any expansion efforts, as what works in one region may not translate well to another.

Once you've gathered comprehensive market intelligence, the next step involves tailoring your approach. This means developing strategies that resonate with local business cultures while maintaining your core value proposition. It's a delicate balance between adaptation and authenticity, and localization can play a huge role in this respect. Check out our blog for a more detailed blueprint of the things you should consider when setting up a localization program.

What Are the Most Common Pitfalls to Avoid in International Expansion?

Understanding what can go wrong is just as important as knowing what to do right. Here are the most frequent mistakes companies make when expanding internationally:

1. Copying the Home-Market Playbook

Assuming what worked domestically will succeed abroad is risky. Even neighboring markets often require unique approaches. Charlotte brings the example of Finnish companies expanding to Sweden, which often underestimate the higher demand for brand awareness there.

Cultural differences can manifest in various ways:

• Communication styles (direct vs. indirect)

• Decision-making processes (individual vs. collective)

• Business relationship dynamics (formal vs. informal)

• Time orientation (punctuality expectations and project timelines)

• Risk tolerance levels and willingness to try new solutions

It’s important to be aware of all these elements to tailor communications in a way that maximizes the chances of conversion.

2. Underfunding Expansion

International expansion is not a place to cut corners financially. As Charlotte points out: "International expansion is massively underfunded. Companies think they can survive with the same budget in the new region or in the new market that they're having in the current one. And I think that this is a huge misstep. You usually need to have more budget and investment in order to really make it in the new market."

Consider these often-overlooked expenses:

Market Research Investments: Understanding your new market requires significant upfront investment in research and analysis. This includes hiring local consultants, conducting surveys, and analyzing competitive intelligence.

Localization Expenses: Beyond translation, adapting your entire customer experience requires substantial resources. This includes website localization, marketing material adaptation, and potentially product modifications.

Marketing and Promotion Budgets: Building brand awareness from scratch in a new market demands sustained investment. Unlike your home market where you might have organic recognition, new markets require aggressive promotion to gain visibility.

Operational Setup Costs: From legal compliance to establishing local partnerships, the operational aspects require careful budgeting. This might include setting up local entities, hiring staff, or establishing distribution channels.

Buffer for Unexpected Expenses: International expansion always brings surprises. Having financial cushion prevents these from derailing your efforts.

3. Expecting Quick Wins

Perhaps the most psychologically challenging pitfall is the expectation of quick wins in new markets. Charlotte warns: "Companies tend to be impatient. They expect like really fast results.” But new markets take time. International expansion is fundamentally a long-term investment that requires patience and persistence. Sales cycles are often longer, awareness builds slowly, and strategies need iteration. 

Extended Sales Cycles: Building trust and establishing relationships takes time, especially in markets where you're unknown. What might be a three-month sales cycle in your home market could extend to six months or more in a new territory.

Gradual Market Penetration: Unlike your home market where you might have established presence, new markets require patience as awareness builds slowly through word-of-mouth and demonstrated success.

Learning Curve Adjustments: Initial strategies rarely work perfectly. Time is needed to gather feedback, adjust approaches, and optimize for local conditions.

Investment Before Returns: Significant upfront investment typically precedes profitability in new markets. Companies must be prepared for this investment period without expecting immediate returns.

Given these challenges, having robust contingency plans is essential. Charlotte emphasizes the importance of regularly assessing market response, adjusting messaging and positioning when required, being flexible in target audience definition, being open to different go-to-market strategies, and, most importantly, continuously learning from market feedback.

Localization: Beyond Translation

Translation alone rarely delivers results. True localization adapts your entire customer experience—messaging, visuals, tone, and examples—so it resonates with the local audience.

Effective localization considers multiple dimensions:

Cultural References and Idioms: What makes perfect sense in one culture might be meaningless or even offensive in another. Localization ensures your messaging uses appropriate cultural touchpoints that resonate with your audience.

Visual Elements: Colors, images, and design elements carry different meanings across cultures. What's appealing in one market might be off-putting in another. For instance, while white symbolizes purity in Western cultures, it's associated with mourning in some Asian cultures.

Tone and Formality: The level of formality expected in business communications varies significantly across cultures. Some markets prefer direct, casual communication while others expect formal, hierarchical approaches.

Local Examples and Case Studies: Using local success stories and examples makes your value proposition more relatable and credible. As discussed earlier, local testimonials carry significantly more weight than foreign ones.

Information Architecture: Beyond language, how information is presented varies significantly across cultures. For some markets, big numbers and bold claims might be the best way to get your prospects’ attention. For others, it’s more important to present a case study in a detailed way, without sensationalism.

In a previous blog article, we had already discussed the difference between simple translation and true localization with Graziella Moschella, who remarked that localization brings your message to the next level by making sure it resonates with the specific market. 

Localization is also a continuous process. As markets evolve, so should your content, case studies, and cultural references. Regular reviews and updates ensure your messaging remains relevant and resonant.

How Can You Build Trust in New Markets?

Trust is the cornerstone of international growth. Without it, even the best product struggles to gain traction. Here are a few strategies Charlotte recommends companies to employ in order to build up their credibility in new markets:

• Local testimonials: Customer stories from the target market are far more persuasive than foreign ones. Even better if those testimonials cover a wide array of industries and sectors. The format of these testimonials can also make a huge difference: Videos often feel more authentic than written quotes, and detailed case studies allow prospects to gain insight on how you work, including timelines, metrics and challenges you were able to overcome. 

• Pilot programs: Charlotte recommends using trials and pilot projects not only as acquisition strategy, but also as a lever to generate case studies and success stories to build early proof for other clients in the same market.

• Partnerships: Teaming up with trusted local players accelerates credibility by association. Local partners usually have a much deeper understanding of the market, as stressed by Nicoletta Dorizzi in a previous blog article, and their insight are invaluable for successful international expansion.

• Community engagement: Participating in local forums, associations, and professional groups shows commitment and helps you understand customer needs firsthand. It’s also a great context to build relationships with community leaders and meet potential customers in a context that is not centered around sales.

How Does the Customer Journey for B2B SaaS Look Like? 

The B2B customer journey has evolved significantly, becoming increasingly complex and non-linear. Understanding and mapping this journey in each market is crucial for successful international expansion.

Instead of thinking in terms of awareness–consideration–decision, Charlotte recommends reframing the journey from the buyer’s perspective:

1. Problem Identification: Understanding how buyers recognize and articulate their challenges in each market

2. Solution Exploration: Mapping how they research and evaluate potential solutions

3. Vendor Evaluation: Identifying criteria and processes for vendor selection

4. Consensus Building: Understanding internal dynamics and stakeholder alignment

5. Implementation Planning: Considering post-purchase success factors

   
   

Each of these stages requires tailored content and messaging. Mapping these journeys with tools like Miro helps align marketing, sales, and customer success teams, while revealing gaps in resources. Charlotte also highlights how decision-making dynamics vary from market to market: in some countries a very small group of people might be solely responsible for formalizing a contract, while in other countries the same contract might require internal approval from procurement or legal. Charlotte recommends identifying professional figures that can be champions, influencers, and gatekeepers in each market, as this is critical for the success of the expansion effort.

What’s the Role of AI in International Expansion and Multilingual Marketing?

There’s no doubt about the fact that AI is reshaping how companies approach international marketing in multiple languages. Charlotte is enthusiastic about the great potential of the latest technologies, and highlights a few areas in which AI can bring great value:

• Market research: analyzing competitors and testing hypotheses quickly

• Content localization: generating translations in line with your brand’s tone of voice

• Customer insights: using AI bots to test ICP messaging and give feedback

• Personalization at scale: adapting campaigns to different buyer segments

  
  

However powerful AI tools can be, Charlotte is very clear on the fact that AI should complement rather than replace human expertise. She stresses the importance of keeping a healthy balance between the increased capabilities brought about by AI and the depth of judgement that only experienced linguists and content creators can bring to the table, especially in areas such as cultural sensitivity and appropriateness, brand voice consistency, strategic alignment, contextual understanding and emotional intelligence. In Charlotte’s opinion, AI should be intended as a way to make human’s work more efficient, allowing them to quickly process more data, analyze competitor strategies more thoroughly and test more messaging variations, thus allowing companies to scale up content personalization across more customer segments, to create campaigns that are better optimized.

In a recent blog post, Gilles Bertaux, also highlighted how AI can help remove language barriers in contexts, such as webinars, where users need to interact in real time. While raw AI content will never achieve the same level of refinement as a carefully redacted translation, it’s undeniable that the continuous improvement in AI translation quality allows companies to provide a better service to their international customers with lower investment. An example of this is how companies can use tailored AI translation agents to adapt low visibility assets that serve a practical purpose (such as support articles), reserving a bigger portion of their localization budget for higher value assets (such as marketing campaigns or web pages) where the expertise of local translators and content writers can truly make a difference in how effective the messaging is.

How Should B2B SaaS Companies Approach Expansion?

Rather than rushing in, Charlotte recommends following a more strategic, phased approach. The first step is to assess the company’s readiness for international expansion and their motivation behind the expansion effort. Charlotte confides that very often companies embark in a global expansion without a clear understanding of why they intend to enter a new market in the first place, let alone the amount of effort and resources this requires. Without a clear plan, realistic timelines and appropriate resource allocation, most expansion efforts will simply end up as a huge cost that yields little or no results. To avoid that, Charlotte recommends following this basic blueprint.

Phase 1: Research & Planning (3–6 months)

• Conduct in-depth market research

• Develop a localized ICP

• Assess resource requirements

• Build initial partnerships

  
  

Phase 2: Pilot & Test (6–12 months)

• Launch pilots or limited campaigns

• Gather customer feedback

• Refine messaging and positioning

• Build initial case studies

  
  

Phase 3: Scale & Optimize (ongoing)

• Expand successful initiatives

• Invest in long-term brand building

• Continuously adapt strategies based on feedback

  
  

Throughout this journey, tapping into the global SaaS community can provide invaluable advice, partnerships, and moral support. In Charlotte’s words: "The SaaS community is really helpful. You can ask for help from founders or seek help and guidance from elsewhere in the SaaS community, because I think this is a really strong and really great community. People want you to succeed."

In a previous article of our blog we had the pleasure of talking with SaaSiest’s founders Daniel Nackovski and Thomas Sjöberg about how the challenges European B2B SaaS companies face are different from those faced by their US counterparts. Communities such as SaaSiest are devoted to bringing European SaaS businesses together to share learning  and help each other overcome common challenges, and they are an incredible source of knowledge and inspiration for B2B SaaS companies embarking on their international journey.

Final Thoughts

International expansion and multilingual marketing represent both tremendous opportunities and significant challenges. Success requires more than just translating your existing approach: it demands deep cultural understanding, strategic adaptation, and sustained commitment.

As Charlotte’s insights demonstrate, the companies that thrive globally are those that respect and embrace local differences while maintaining their core value proposition. They invest adequately in understanding new markets, avoid common pitfalls through careful planning, and leverage both human expertise and technological innovation.

The journey to international success begins with thorough research and realistic expectations. It continues through careful localization, strategic partnerships, and patient relationship building. And it's sustained through continuous learning, adaptation, and commitment to local market needs.

Whether you're taking your first steps into international markets or looking to optimize existing global operations, the principles outlined here provide a foundation for success. The global marketplace awaits those bold enough to venture beyond their borders, but rewards those wise enough to do so thoughtfully and strategically.

At Undertow, we understand the complexities of global expansion, and we are committed to helping B2B SaaS businesses along their international journey by designing and managing tailored localization programs that allow companies to address their customers in the most effective way in each single market. Get in touch if you want to know more about how we can help you achieve your expansion goals.