Your first steps towards starting Business development in new territories are very crucial. Most of us will continue to contemplate on whether to venture out in foreign markets or not. But the most important thing is to take that first step. How we do it? What we do? Where we start? All will fall in place. You will find all your answers as you progress. In the past few months I have received requests from quite few people on how to start exploring new markets. So I am put together this small article as a beginners guide. It is very basic information on how to go about it ; a more detailed step-by-step guide on what to do and where to start. There are no right or wrong answers to this, but a structured approach always helps. Below I have responded to various queries recently received.

Step 1 – Know where to start

Find the right market for your products. Look at your offering and tailor your approach accordingly. My previous articles provide a more intrinsic look at this first point.

Use Google search as a basis to seek new clients. This approach may widely-used and possibly time consuming, but it’s a great start to find who you want as it’s constantly being updated.

Get a search engine friendly website to display your offering and provide somewhere to send prospecting clients; make yourself virtually presentable and deploy a great design / development team to carry out the work. A common question is ‘what platform should I build my website on?’ WordPress is easily the most readable platform and allows you to update your site whenever, wherever. Search engines love WordPress. There are various SEO API’s which you can integrate into your WordPress site free of charge to ensure the coding is readable by search engines. For example Google cannot read underscores in URL structure so you can change them to hyphens, which can be read. For instance, http://acmarketers.com/about-us/ is readable whereas http://acmarketers.com/about_us/ is not.
Always install Google analytics in your WordPress website so you can track where your prospects are coming from.

Use a front-facing headshot to allow prospects to put a face to your name.

Ensure your offering is clear, informative and well-written in relation to your target audience.

Get references / recommendations from your clients.

Build a good network of business people within your industry. Interact with your network. Don’t have them for sake of having them.

Step 3 – Get Good At Communication
Create a database of mobile numbers and email addresses but, importantly, do not abuse this by sending spam content. Provide them with value information which might help them with their challenges. Platforms such as toofr or mail chimp (I have no commercial relationships with these companies) will help you run smooth email campaigns free of charge.

Social media – You can use the basic Social Media website for more B2B customers try LinkedIn ppc and for B2C try Facebook. They really work. If your pocket is deeper, try Google AdWords.

Video marketing – More than 80% of social media content is now video marketing. It’s a must. People are lazy. My elder brother is a dentist he has started posting videos. It helps his patients understand procedures lot better and quicker as well as generating high quality leads.

Get a virtual phone number for the country you want to start your business. This gives easy to your potential customer to start communication with you. Trust me it helps. It doesn’t cost much.

Take every call , conversation, email correspondence as an learning block. All bad and good experiences in your stride to improve yourself. Feel free and make mistakes it is normal.

Long time back someone told me – “Imaginative risk is always higher than the actual risk” . This is very true so let go of all your fears and take the plunge.

These are some basic things that you can do to start your new venture.

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are two ways I can help you:
1) You want to have how your specific business can go about it ? get in touch
2) Work with me personally in a small group setting to focus on simplified growth. get in touch

Enjoy….
Chetan Dogra