Aerospace and Defense Outlook

The Aerospace and defense industry has long been under heavy weather due to Economic Downturn and souring Government spending. Finally the outlook has become much better. Government defense spending is on the rise and the number of travelers keeps breaking records. This gives opportunities al across the board

Aerospace

PWC has qualified the US as the most attractive place for aerospace manufacturing. followed by Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. New entrants to the top ten include Australia, Taiwan, and Denmark. Singapore, the Netherlands, and France dropped out of the top ten. This gives US companies a significant advantage in the International trade.

 

Defense

Europe being the main purchaser of US defense equipment has also given defense manufacturers a great boost as a large share of the European Governments has announced to increase defense budgets of the upcoming periods. The last ten years there has been a significant drop in spend which resulted in a problematic defense systems to the point that international missions are becoming a burden on the ministries of defense. To solve the problems a number of governments have said to increase defense budgets over the next 10 years to solve this problem and making the armed forces operational again.

Opportunities

All these developments create great opportunities for both businesses big and small. XBMS has been exploring these opportunities for years and sees great opportunities for Aerospace- MRO, manufacturing and service companies. Also Defense subcontractors, part manufacturers and OEM's can find great opportunities. Please let us know to let us know if you would like to explore new territories.

 

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International Expansion/Global Expansions

International Expansion is daring and demanding endeavor which demands a clear strategy and goal. Not all companies are capable or a good fit to start expanding internationally therefor a good strategy and good research is required. When starting to expand there are a number factors that can make your expansion a success or a failure. Here we sum up a number to do and pitfalls I’ve learned over the years. Of course we can help you to prevent pitfalls and start your Global Expansion even faster.

Keep in mind that whatever your selling you will need some serious budget to start in a new country. Prepare for spending more then you anticipated in many cases breaking in a new market is a case perseverance. People might not be waiting for your product and not always see the benefits right away also it takes a lot of time to earn trust from consumers and companies but don't let this let you down the benefits will far over exceed the risks.

4 Things what you really not want to do when starting your International Expansion/Global Expansion

1. Don’t rely on one international business partner

Don’t start with one Distributor/Agent and expect him to cover a whole Geographic region. Distributors and Agents usually sell a number of different products the products they currently sell actively are very profitable for them and in a lot cases the reason of there existence. To gain time for your product ranges they will have to be committed to invest in your product or it has to be added value to their existing product range. One way or another selling through distribution or agents demands an investment from both make sure clarify this for yourself and your distributor to see if you have a good fit.

2. Your brand (-name) is not a USP.

It looks self explanatory that you should take good considerations about what your unique selling points are but more often I still see companies listing there brand name as a USP. The fact that your are International Expanding should mean that nobody in other countries from your home market knows your brand. The fact that you still list it as a USP should raise the question “what are my USP?” as clearly you can not list enough USP’s to set your company/product apart from competitors.

3. Don’t set Targets.

I know your company works with sales targets and you expect a monthly or even weekly report on forecast and actual sales but with and International Expansion these targets mean nothing. If you have report to the board about you progress use more rudimental targets like amount leads generated, meetings set or phases of your strategy.

4. Keep in touch.

Find out what your customer expects from you to many times we see people making contact having one meeting and expect PO in return. The reality is unfortunately very different customers expect multiple contacts before the start trusting you. Even though you might be the best pick and most innovating company they still expect some confirmation. This depends on the type product you are selling. Products which are very capital intensive need more contacts for a sale then low cost commodities.

4 Thing you need to do when starting your International Expansion/Global Expansion

1. Research

I know it is said and will has been said again but research as much as you can. Research competitors, country specific regulations and expected level of support. Talk to potential customers do interviews with market experts get quotes on export costs, VAT and Duties. Don’t make assumptions on your products range, prices may verify across countries for instance Eastern Europe will have lower budget thus lower prices in comparable with western Europe while the middle east is willing to pay more in general.

2. Determine you Market Entry Strategy

Depend on your research what is your strategy going to be. This is the first and most important step. For example do you want start a Greenfield strategy setting up your facilities by yourself and generating direct sales. Or do decide the purchase a competitor or a closely related company that already has the right facility and contacts? The strategy can also change over time. I have seen numerous companies that change their strategy as they go.

3. Goals

Set clear goals not sales goals but goals in terms of deliverables. For instance a goal could be to have a least one distributor and one warehouse in Germany setup or another goal could be going through the sales process in one specific country with a least one potential customer. These first steps are very educational and a lot harder then you think. Goals can also be Marketing related: Setup a multi-lingual website for at least 3 countries or exhibit on 2 International Trade Shows.

4. Set limits

Set limits on what you want to spend. Some companies spend large amounts of money because the board determine the strategy and management is just blindly fulfilling the strategy. If the market is not a good fit for your products you have to be willing to admit it and either change your strategy through acquisition or by going back to drawing board and redesign your product so it does fit the market. Admitting your product is not a good fit for the market is not a defeat as many would consider but just new information to on which you can learn to make a better product. The most successful companies understand this and know when to stop pushing and start redesigning and in the process create even better products in their already existing markets.

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So what is so different about international lead generation in comparison with normal lead generation? Well an number factors contribute. Of course a primary reason is language which not only influences your message but also may withhold some potential customers in reaching out to you. A lot companies think that a partial translated website they have done there fair share but that is not the case.

International Lead Generation is about language, culture and tone of voice. Some countries don't respect the direct approach what in other countries is very much appreciated other countries will expect you to have fully translated manual and documentation of your products while other might allow partial english documentation to be enough.

 

Of course to match the perfect message with your campaign is something we add XBMS is are good at. Feel free to contact us and find out more.

 

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What is Market Entry Research?

So what is Market Entry Research. Market Entry Research is the research and analysis of new markets. In many cases this can be companies that are trying to expand in new countries or expanding their product offering in to new product ranges. Market Entry Research is closely related in Market Entry Strategies and should be considered vital to forming a market entry strategy.

A market entry strategy is the planned method of delivering goods or services to a new target market and distributing them there. When importing or exporting services, it refers to establishing and managing contracts in a foreign country (source wikipedia).

Market Entry Research should always start with good introduction containing and number of different parts like:

1. Geographic Area
2. Unique selling points of the products
3. Potential or expected customer description
4. Objective, for example are you looking for a general indication which market would fit your product or are you looking for a very specific product.

 

What The Actual Market Entry Research should contain

After determining these aspects we start with the actual research the actual research will contain a number of different parts most start with interviews with different department management/sales/marketing. Of course these can be expanded our reduced depending on your product and objective.

1. Interviews Internal
2. Interviews External (stakeholders/potential customers)
3. Research competitors
4. Research USP competitors vs Client
5. Research substitutes
6. Research Sales Channels
7. Analyse difficulty to the enter market
8. Analyse most import factors for clients to choose your product
9. Advise go-no-go and sales channels

Please feel free to contact us to see what we can do for you! or see our offering.

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Import Export Business

Importing and Exporting is difficult assignment if you do not know what you are doing but with the right research it could be very profitable. There are lots of opportunity from China to Europe to Latin America to Import products from simple toys to advanced technology. If you have an idea to start exporting to a foreign country it is vital to have a clear understanding where to start and which barrier you can run into.

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• Do Research
• Find fitting Market/Country
• Understand your Customers

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Import Duties/Tariffs

Import duties and Tariffs can mean the difference in profit or loss. Make sure you what you have to pay when exporting or importing products. There are tons of different rules for every product category and each of them has different rules by region. Next to that you are also expected to know if you have to pay VAT and if not this does not mean you are completely exempt from paying VAT. A lot countries you expected to pay VAT and when the goods are sold to another company or non-consumer you can request the VAT back from the countries IRS.

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Restricted or Limited Products

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Find out of the products you are trying to export or import from certain countries are banned or limited but government rules. For instance products that fall on  ITAR are limited and demand a lot paperwork to export.

International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a United States regulatory regime to restrict and control the export of defense and military related technologies to safeguard U.S. national security and further U.S. foreign policy objectives (source wikipedia).

Medical devices medicine and other food supplements fall under heavy regulations from FDA (The Food and Drug Administration is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments) and CE (CE marking is a certification mark that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA)).

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Freight Costs

Freight costs may very a lot. Depending on the weight and dimension of you products. I case your products can be stocked it might be worth while to talk to 3PL companies. 3PL companies are 3rd party logistics companies that handle freight, warehousing and order picking depending on your needs. There are a great deal of different companies the market that can offer these services with a wide variety of different prices tags. Contact us if you need help finding the right partner.

• Check import restrictions
• Research delivery time
• Research Freight Costs

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Local Customs and Marketing

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Then last and not least you need to sell your product. Even if you are already set with local customers communications can be difficult and might be worth to find somebody local to help you with this. Next to that it also wise to translate a large share of documentation and websites in the local language to prevent unpleasant surprises. We would be happy to support you in this.

• Check Acceptable Marketing Channels
• Check demands from the Markets
• Translate as much as you can

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The European Market has always been a daunting market with 24 official languages and many more dialects the the shear logistical problem talking with potential customers and setting right tone is difficult almost impossible for non local people. Over the last years luckily this started changing with wider acceptance of English and the formation of the EU the European Union which made the market more accessible.

 

 

What is Europe

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 (1,728,099 sq mi), and an estimated population of over 510 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency (source wikipedia).

Nevertheless the Market is still hardly easy to access with different ruling and with the upcoming Brexit the UK will be most likely add trading barriers within the EU. Brexit, short for "British Exit from the European Union", is the prospective withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU)(source wikipedia).

With shared economy of 15 trillion (nominal), representing ~22% of global economy the EU is the second largest world economy and the largest trading partner of the USA and China.

 

So how do you approach the EU Market?

Because it large fragmentation and big local market differences it is recommendable to research your approach first intensively. Finding business opportunities in europe is not always easy and getting the message across is even harder therefor its recommendable to do intensive research for which countries would be your starting point. Most companies first approach is the German market. This makes sense as it is the largest Country but on an industrial side it is also the most developed market so there is a big chance that you will find more competitors and this combined with the German more reserved approach towards new suppliers would not be your best fit.

 

Export opportunities to Europe

Your next questions would be Exporting or Local manufacturing. This is good question to ask yourself as exporting to the EU is in most cases easy as shipping agents are competitive and offer good shipping rates within the EU but shipping from outside of the EU to the EU also comes with import barriers like duties tariffs and you share amount of paperwork. This might at first be a daunting task and it is if you do not do your homework but if you are well prepared this will be well worth it.

Marketing in Europe

Marketing in Europe is different because it has so many different cultures and accepted medias. As Facebook is very strong Europe Twitter is less accepted. LinkedIn is popular but in Germany for instance there is the German version Xing. People expect Advertising and communication in there local language and English would not bring you Message across as it would in the local language. Of course for this you also reach out to setup your Multi-Lingual approach.

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What is important if you are trying to setup an international website? Where do you have take extra attention for with International Webdesign?

[fusion_builder_container admin_label="" hundred_percent="yes" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" enable_mobile="no" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_3" layout="1_2" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="200" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_progress height="" text_position="" show_percentage="yes" unit="" percentage="100" filledcolor="#0355a3" filledbordersize="" filledbordercolor="" unfilledcolor="" striped="no" animated_stripes="no" textcolor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""]Brainstorm[/fusion_progress][fusion_progress height="" text_position="" show_percentage="yes" unit="" percentage="70" filledcolor="#0355a3" filledbordersize="" filledbordercolor="" unfilledcolor="" striped="no" animated_stripes="no" textcolor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""]Technical Aspects[/fusion_progress][fusion_progress height="" text_position="" show_percentage="yes" unit="" percentage="100" filledcolor="#0355a3" filledbordersize="" filledbordercolor="" unfilledcolor="" striped="no" animated_stripes="no" textcolor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""]Translations[/fusion_progress][fusion_progress height="" text_position="" show_percentage="yes" unit="" percentage="50" filledcolor="#0355a3" filledbordersize="" filledbordercolor="" unfilledcolor="" striped="no" animated_stripes="no" textcolor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id=""]Design[/fusion_progress][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type="2_3" layout="1_2" spacing="" center_content="no" hover_type="none" link="" min_height="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="#607d8b" background_image="" background_position="left top" undefined="" background_repeat="no-repeat" border_size="0" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" padding_top="100" padding_right="100" padding_bottom="100" padding_left="100" margin_top="" margin_bottom="" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset="" last="no"][fusion_text]Every Country has its own particularities if it comes to webdesign and promoting you online presence. The most important factors is like any other website to take in account what you goal is. Is your website just a showcase or a landing page for you campaign or are you creating a fully blown webshop? Do you want people register or do you want to communicate with them directly? Here we are going to handle a few of the more general questions.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container][fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="no" equal_height_columns="no" menu_anchor="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" background_color="" background_image="" background_position="center center" background_repeat="no-repeat" fade="no" background_parallax="none" parallax_speed="0.3" video_mp4="" video_webm="" video_ogv="" video_url="" video_aspect_ratio="16:9" video_loop="yes" video_mute="yes" overlay_color="" video_preview_image="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" padding_top="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" padding_right=""][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" layout="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" border_position="all" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding_top="" padding_right="" padding_bottom="" padding_left="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" center_content="no" last="no" min_height="" hover_type="none" link=""][fusion_text]

 

1. Brainstorm

To really understand what the best solution is, you need Brainstorm and write down all the different influencing factors. There are plenty of (free) tools to Brainstorm but a pen and paper will also do. First you have consider who your target group is: What language do they speak? Do I have to translate everything? Especially with technical information this an important question as the costs for translating are considerable.

2. Technical questions

After your answered the most import questions in your brainstorm session we need to look at the technical questions. There a few options for translated websites Basically there are 3 options :

1. Fully translated website on its own server

   Very Expensive solution. You need to manage the website completetly seperate from your Mainpage but this gives the best result for your SEO strategy. Everything can be tailored to your customers demands. Big benefit is also that you can use a local server location this won't affect you SEO strategy directly but it is major contributor to your website speed which indirectly influences your SEO results.

2. Subdomain

   Integrate your existing design but still keep data running on the same server. Some CMS systems have active support to this so its easier to copy information from one page to the other. You can keep information seperate in the specific language but still have flexibility to copy information. Generally this is easier to manange but still requires a lot of translating work. Subdomains are seen by Google as an seperate domain so you can still fully adapt your SEO strategy.

3. Plugin

   Some frameworks will support plugins to make an alternative translated website. This creates of crossbreed type of website. Very  easy to manage but makes some links go to the main (English) Website which doesn't give the best User Experience and this also limits you SEO strategy. for Example WPML for WordPress.

4. Landing page

   The minimal solution for a International Website. Create a seperate page just in the Target Language. This works well if your purpose is to use it in combination of Online Marketing Campaigns for example for a sign on Form for Local seminairs or if you are working with limited budget but still want to explain your foreign customers what you do.

3. Translating

Make sure you find Translators that actual understand your product or service. Bad translations are usual the product of bad context. If your translator is not aware of your companies products of service its hard the explain with the right Keywords. Investigate if you translator as experience in your business. Are you selling Legal services then find somebody with a background in Legal services or are you selling a Technical product then find somebody with experience in writing or selling Technical products. You don't need Lawyers and Engineers for this but you can easily check if they actually understand the concept.

4. Design

Your flexibility in Design really depends on your Technical choises if you do not have a flexible design choose the less is more approach and keep a clean design with not to many icons and signs and if you use them make sure they actual mean in the Target Country what the mean in your Country. Also keep in mind which different colors mean in a Country and last but not least make sure if you use website optimized picture in case you target countries with less optimal internet connections.

 

 

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As every online specialist will tell you: “You need to analyze your campaign” but a lot of them neglect to tell where to look for. With this paper, I would like to give you a short introduction on where to look for and why.

1. CTR - Yes, I know it’s the most obvious choice but do you know why and what is a good Click through rate? These questions are not easy to answer and depend on your campaigns target and market. I have seen click through rates of 30% and as low as 0,02% and both satisfied the customer. Eventually it really depends on what is accepted based on the costs of your product or service, the invested budget and the return on investment. As you easily calculate if you have a $100.000 product, assuming you make good margin 😉 one sale can be the difference between success and failure while if you are selling $5,- item you want to receive a lot more clicks to support your sales.
2. Bounce rate - CTR is one thing but once on your website what will happen next? They leave again? A high bounce rate is a sign that your landing page experience did not match your Ad. Review your ad is telling the right story? and your landing page is appealing a few seconds to find where they are looking for can already be too much. Make sure everything as smooth as it can be. Test-drive it by independent persons to get an objective view on your campaign and landing page. I you have been working on the campaign for while we tend to get blind for our mistakes.
3. Conversions - This is where it is all about of course but what we seem to forget is that we determine the conversion ourselves. This is prone to errors and a high conversion rate has to be inline whit your sales targets otherwise you didn’t set your conversions right. Your whole campaign has be setup to reach the conversion that is your other most target so the whole story has to be inline form keyword to add to landing page and the final conversion. I sounds easy but it is a lot harder than you think.
4. Trending - All the info above is subject to change and this can be small change in keywords or sometimes in landing pages or even external events (think of the electrical transformer company when the first transformer movie came out). Understanding trends in your data is sometimes hard to understand and not always obvious. Luckily, there are companies like us to help you with that. Please feel free to contact us for a free introduction call.