The U.S. is the largest consumer market in the world and, despite our deep recession, most countries want to be successful promoting and selling their exports here. The problem is they often make assumptions about the U.S. that lead them down the wrong path. The good news is there are some easy ways to make things right.
MISTAKE #1: IF IT WORKS HERE, IT WILL WORK THERE
It seems obvious and there are some famous stories about Americans making foolish assumptions. Perhaps the most famous is Chevrolet trying to sell the Nova years ago in Latin America and being mystified as to why there were no customers. Nobody bothered to notice that “no va” in Spanish means “it doesn’t go.” Where Spanish is now so commonly spoken in the U.S., that’s unlikely to occur again – we hope – but countries often make false assumptions about our market, particularly that if it works at their home it will work here.
Years ago, we had a client in the alcoholic cider business. They had a great product that owned the market in their home country. It was a refreshing drink for their arid, hot climate. So where, they asked would you go to find alcoholic cider drinkers in the U.S. They figured it was logical to find them in a similar climate – Arizona. Only one problem: the market for alcoholic cider was very small in Arizona. It just never took off there and had never had much of a marketing push. That’s where we came in. We analyzed the market and found the top two states for cider consumption – Massachusetts and Washington – and advised them to enter the Massachusetts market. There they wouldn’t have to convince people to drink cider but to drink their cider, a much more achievable result. In no time, they found a distributor and entered the market.
It sounds simple but mistakes like this happen all the time. Another common mistake is to assume that marketing techniques and language are similar. Some countries sell based more on product features than on benefits. Their companies come here and try the same only to find nobody pays attention. In some countries, trade shows are places where people place orders without being coaxed and having relationships nurtured. Here it’s different. We want to window shop, assess our options, push, poke and probe, mull it over, decide if we like you and then buy. We also want to know there’s a good story behind a lot of products because market clutter is so common and product differentiation is so difficult in the U.S. Stories set products and brands apart. Yet, foreign suppliers will often take the position of showing a product, explaining its features and asserting that it’s flawlessly designed. Asked what the story is behind the product, they’re mystified as to why that’s important or why anyone would be interested.
The solutions are not difficult and most come when marketing plans are constructed based on research conducted in the U.S. among prospective customers and not based on internal assumptions. Americans love to be asked for their opinions, observations and ideas. Every foreign supplier eyeing the U.S. market would do well to come here first on a research and observation tour. The right assumption to make is that all your assumptions may be wrong. They need to be tested and people in the target market need to be asked. It can be done formally through market research or as Peter Drucker labeled it, “managing by walking around” but it should be done to avoid nasty surprises after a lot of money has been spent.
Tags: Assumptions, Marketing, Mistakes
