Women-owned businesses make up 40 percent of all firms in the United States, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. They have implemented imaginative strategies to launch and expand their businesses, including going global.
According to the 2005 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report on Women and Entrepreneurship, published by Babson College, London Business School, and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, there are more than 30 million women entrepreneurs in the world.
These businesswomen are seeking new opportunities, taking risks, sharpening their business skills and crossing borders faster than you can say “worldwide.”
My observations, garnered from running a successful global business and serving as a consultant to countless women global-business owners, indicate that women — and, in fact, all — entrepreneurs must condition themselves to be risk-oriented, innovative and proactive in order to achieve success in the global e-marketplace.
They must also have several elements of education and experience in play before venturing out beyond their current borders, including mental and operational readiness, successful business ownership, the ability to utilize modern technology, and a business with global potential.
How, then, can local entrepreneurs grow global and find success in the worldwide e-marketplace? Some of the world’s best and brightest businesswomen share their top 10 tips with WEALTH magazine:
1. Develop trust on a global scale. Nobody knows this better than Dr. Marsha Firestone, founder and president of Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), an 11-year-old nonprofit organization of women presidents running multimillion-dollar businesses.
“Recently, we celebrated five very successful years in Canada, and in those five years, we have grown four chapters and are looking forward to launching a fifth,” she proudly states. “Our rapidly effective expansion could never have happened without a basis of leadership, trust and commitment.”
How did she do it? She connected with an influential leader in the Canadian women’s business community. After numerous conversations, they established trust because both parties conveyed a clear dedication to their causes.
“To further validate the WPO as an effective organization, we put our Canadian potential members in touch with our USA members. Our WPO-USA members were knowledgeable ambassadors for the organization and supported our claims with concrete examples from their experience. That’s how we launched our first chapter in Canada,” she adds.
2. Think globally. Before going global, you must develop the right mindset. That’s exactly what Giselle Rufer, founder and president of Delance SA, did before she launched her Swiss watch company. She thought globally.
Famous for successfully launching the children’s watch called Flik Flak during her tenure with The Swatch Group, Rufer says it is time for women everywhere to join forces and make the world a better place.
Once Rufer refined her design concept and target market, she identified the pros and cons of embarking on a global venture. The pros: She is an engineer and artist and speaks three languages fluently. The cons: She was a woman over 50 with limited capital in a country where men between the ages of 35 and 40 are responsible for most new business start-ups.
Identify the pros and cons of embarking on a global venture.
She overcame her perceived weaknesses and leveraged her strengths by turning her cons into pros.
“First, I had to bridge an internal psychological barrier by refraining from feeling that my femininity and my age were both impediments to making progress professionally. They are and continue to be advantages for me,” Rufer says.
“I began to flaunt my maturity, experience, and well-established name in the watch industry in new and powerful ways. To combat the financing problem, I became more creative, used synergy and captured opportunity whenever it came knocking at my door.”
Lessons Learned? “Use a universal language that everyone can understand. Create your own international network. Concentrate on common values for your product and your company. Find a unique selling proposition. And choose a brand you can live with forever,” advises Rufer.
3. Build a global brand that works locally. Great brands transcend geography. But to build a great global brand, you must understand the vital role that your company’s electronic face plays in your success, says Marilynn Mobley, senior vice president of Edelman, the world-renowned public relations firm.
“People all over the globe turn first to the Internet to learn more about brands and companies. Your website should be as helpful, insightful and appealing to someone in Asia as it is to someone in Arizona. Scrub your promotional material and web copy to ensure that it isn’t too locally focused.”
Mobley adds that a strong brand must be backed by more than an international website. She warns that a business can’t talk its way out of something that it behaved its way into. In other words, a strong, positive brand must be supported by matching positive behavior.
And don’t assume that throwing more money into PR and advertising will resolve challenging issues with your brand, she says. Fix the fundamental problems first. Then use PR and advertising to bring awareness to how – and why – things are better.
A business can’t talk its way out of something that it behaved its way into. In other words, a strong, positive brand must be supported by matching positive behavior.
“Your best brand ambassadors are right under your nose. Enlist your employees and other stakeholders, such as business partners and alliance relationships to take your messages global,” Mobley advises.
“Don’t release information or key messages externally until you are certain your own employees can tell your story as well as your PR firm. Increasingly, blogs are playing an important role in improving brand visibility and loyalty,” she adds.
“Encourage employees to share their enthusiasm about your brand in their own words through blogs and message boards. Research shows that ‘people like me’ are seen as more credible than even the CEO of a company.”
Lesson Learned? “Taking a brand global isn’t a matter of doing what you have always done on a larger scale. Public relations strategies that work in the United States won’t always work in other countries. Seek the advice and counsel of PR experts who have experience and relationships with the media in the marketplaces you are entering.
“Missteps early on can be hard to overcome. You aren’t just entering a new marketplace; you are integrating into a new community. And each community has its own personality and loyalties.”
Debra Guzov of Guzov Ofsink LLC, a New York-based international law firm, takes the personality of each new marketplace into account when building the company’s global brand.
“To establish our brand overseas, we selectively market by going to conferences domestically and overseas where we will be able to target particular audiences,” she says.
Guzov also knows that another important step in building a global brand that works on a local level is using experts who can connect different cultures.
“To develop the Chinese market, we use native Chinese-speaking attorneys who are licensed in the U.S. and China,” she explains. “This facilitates a natural bridge between our clients in China and the U.S. corporate and securities market.”
Lesson Learned? Effective branding is a big part of building a positive reputation, making it the most important asset a company can have, especially abroad. The brand must be at the center of everything you do to promote your products around the world.
Top Tips from Women Entrepreneurs: Growing Global, Part Two
Copyright ©2008 Laurel J. Delaney. All rights reserved.
Laurel Delaney runs GlobeTrade.com, a Chicago-based firm that specializes in international entrepreneurship. She is also the creator of The Global Small Business Blog (http://borderbuster.blogspot.com) and Women Entrepreneurs GROW Global (http://www.womenentrepreneursgrowglobal.org). Laurel can be reached at ldelaney@globetrade.com.
Tags: branding, entrepreneurs, global business, online marketing, women in business