The arrivals hall at LAX is littered with Australian start-ups which assumed "what worked in Australia will work in the US of A".
Whilst there are many similarities between Australia and the US, it is the differences that matter. Specifically, the ethnographic differences. The devil is in the detail, don't stop researching when you find what seems like the same problem. Deep validation is required prior to committing time and resources.
Search maniacally for the differences you didn't expect, keep going until you find them. Examples of small variances which made a huge difference to Product Market Fit (PMF) and therefore traction:
A B2B SaaS offering for the solar sector was crushing it in the Australian market but struggling for traction in North America. Why? Well residential rooftop solar systems were 5x the price compared to Australia. That meant ROI and energy justification were a crucial piece of the purchasing decision. The SaaS offering didn't have required functionality, as the Australian market didn't require it!
The pandemic accelerated adoption of QR code ordering in restaurants and bars in many parts of the world ... but not America. Why? A service economy with an engrained tipping culture, combined with low adoption of mobile payments, meant a rethink of the entire value proposition for a venue was required.
Understand your target market (ICP) and the competitive landscape. Deep knowledge of your not only your ideal customers but also of the key Personas within each ICP. Purchasing decisions are increasingly via consensus [Ref: Gartner 2019 Research], not being relevant to even one Persona within the buying committee can spell the end of the potential sale.
There is no substitute for time in market. Whilst we live in a digital world, the USA especially retains a tradeshow centric culture. Many relationships are initiated or deepened at in-person events. Be prepared to be a 'road warrior' whilst you are establishing your international presence. Put another way, hang out where your ICP customers hang out, both physically and virtually.
Whatever you think it will cost and however long you think it will take to achieve scale in a new international market … it will take longer and cost more! But the benefits are worth it, again taking the US market as an example, it is simply huge. Think 13x population and 15x GDP. Even a niche segment may turn out to be larger than the entire Australian market. Start small, experiment, test, measure, iterate, learn.
Did I mention learn? Critical to success is a learning culture and keeping an open mindset. Training and enabling your team is a must. Ideally transfer at least one team member from Head Office, someone who will transfer your cultural DNA, and crucially, import knowledge to your new international in-market team.
Staying with the theme of a learning culture (because is it crucial to international expansion success!), accelerating rapid traction depends on empowering your in-market team. They are in an agile, learning mode. Forcing them to wait for an answer from another time zone will only slow down progress and ultimately time to hyper growth.
One last thought, invest in the power of a network. Open doors faster with people who are known and trusted. Whilst any industry expert's network is often quickly exhausted, any advantage you can gain which places you in the room with your ideal customers is worth the investment.
To schedule a discovery call specific to your expansion goals and explore our proven methodology (as evidenced by scaling a US business 10x and generating $1B increase in enterprise value), connect with us.
To listen to an in-depth interview by UK based Effective Marketing Company with Black Wallaby Founder Shane Preston, click here.
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