How to create your global marketing plan 2022 as a solopreneur
If you’re a small biz owner looking to scale, then expanding into different countries will be on your radar sooner or later.
Germany is usually a great target country to start with if you’re a non-German business because it’s one of the most lucrative markets in the EU. And it makes entering international business territory fairly easy.
If you’re a business with multiple target markets, it’s important to consider that you’ll need different seasonal marketing tactics for each of them. Because an important time of year in one region might mean very little in another
So, if you’re already planning your marketing strategy for next year and want to add Germany as a new target market, here’s a handy step by step list of how to create a global marketing plan to impress both your domestic and German audience throughout the year.
Start your planning early
I know it can be tempting to keep postponing next year’s marketing, because “next year” always sounds so far away.
But keep in mind that the end of the year can quickly become a very busy time. Especially if you’re running your own small business or are working as a solopreneur.
Between your own Christmas shopping and launching that Christmas offer you’ve got planned, it can become tricky to find the time to sit down and think about your marketing strategy for next year.
So, start early, ideally before things get busy in business and in your personal life at the end of the year.
That way you’ll be sure you won’t start the new year without a proper global marketing plan and miss important sales opportunities.
November is the ideal moment to take some time to write down your thoughts, ideas, and strategies for the coming year.
Map out an individual marketing plan for each country
Many businesses make the costly mistake of simply using the exact same marketing plan for their new target markets as they do for their domestic market.
However, different regions sometimes have different calendars.
Days you would typically use to launch your seasonal offer on your domestic market might not be a good time at all for your new audience.
So, plan your seasonal offers individually for both target regions. Pull out a calendar for both countries and find out when is a good time of year to launch your different offers.
What holidays are a good time to promote your offers? What times of the year aren’t great for launching new products?
Create a budget
Now you know when you want to promote what in which country, it’s time to take a look at your finances. Because nothing’s worse than having all your global marketing perfectly planned, only to find out in the middle of the year that you can’t afford it anymore.
You can avoid all that hassle and missed opportunities by not only planning your marketing for next year, but also creating a budget for it.
I know, I know, creating a budget doesn’t sound very exciting. But it will guarantee your marketing strategy can go ahead as planned. And the feeling of being financially prepared is priceless (pun intended).
So, do your homework: find out what your ads will cost, how much translations cost, and so on. Create a budget and put that amount aside. Then don’t touch it until you need it.
Hire language support
The next important step to follow is to get some language support onboard. In order to attract your new German audience to your website and online store and convert them into customers, you need to speak their language.
Of course, you don’t need to learn the language yourself to successfully sell to another country. All you need is to hire professionals to help you get your marketing message across.
So, do some online research and find a translator who specializes in marketing (also sometimes called transcreator) for the language combination you need, for example English – German.
Make sure to hire a native speaker of your target language. Good marketing is all about finding the right words, and native speakers are simply much better at finding those words. Translators are no exception to that.
Be thorough here. Take your time to research potential freelancers. Maybe even do some remote interviews to get to know them better.
This initial effort will pay off hugely in the long run, because having the right fit on a personal as well as professional level can make your business relationship so much more fruitful.
Someone who really cares about the success of your business will do their absolute best to make your marketing messages shine in German.
Publish and track
Now, all that’s left to do is to actually get your marketing messages and campaigns out there in 2022. Publish your content and campaigns on the days you mapped out in step 2.
Don’t forget to track your success. Keep an eye on your analytics, be it on Google, Instagram, your newsletter, or any other platform.
Where do your visitors come from? Is your marketing reaching the right target audience and the regions you hoped for? Are you noticing that you’re reaching more people from Germany, for example, compared to last year?
Gather this data and learn from it. Look at what worked well and what didn’t – and optimize your strategy accordingly next year.
Follow these 5 steps to create your global marketing plan for 2022 and get ready to finally scale your solopreneur business!
