Expanding into new markets: strategies for growth in 2025

When your company’s flagship product has been dominating the existing markets for years, it’s not uncommon to get the feeling that there’s more out there. Maybe something like… a whole other market?

Once you’ve expanded your market share in your company’s home country and built a loyal customer base, chances are that you want to continue growing – but launching new products in your home market doesn’t seem the right way. Because why change a winning formula?

One of the routes to take leads you to expansion in a foreign market – a place where your competitors may not have ventured yet, and where the demand for your product is growing. That would give you enough time to get settled in before everyone else starts their market expansion.

Crossing borders with your business is exciting, but it requires thorough preparation and research. Your team needs to familiarize itself with the cultural differences, consumer behaviors, and market trends there.

The first thing on the packing list for your market expansion plan should be thorough market research. You can build a data-driven expansion strategy and make the most out of entering this new market. You need to figure out your target market, identify key customer segments, and align your business practices and positioning strategy with local preferences is going to be top of your to do list.

Let’s go in with an open mind, and explore how you can navigate the challenges of international expansion, and develop an effective strategy that helps you thrive foreign markets.

Why should you expand into a new market?

Expanding into new markets isn’t a shortcut to increasing sales. In reality it’s a big investment that requires a solid strategy, plenty of time, resources and research. So why do it?

When done thoughtfully, entering a new market can unlock opportunities for your brand that go far beyond revenue growth (although that’s a big benefit). You increase your company’s resilience in a world that is never done changing. You build brand awareness across the globe. You may even find new paths for innovations. And the list goes on:

• When you enter new markets, it’s a chance to diversify your revenue streams. This means your business can mitigate some of the risks that are associated with relying on a single market or region to sell in. The more diversified your revenue streams are–and that can be in terms of international expansion too, not just more products–the less vulnerable your business becomes.
• After you’ve learned the ropes in your initial target market, you can use that knowledge to get the first-mover advantage locked in elsewhere. Chances are you aren’t going to do everything right, right away. But by being the first mover, you can build a name and awareness around your brand which will help you in the long run.
• Venturing into new markets can also be beneficial for your marketing efforts in your current market. It gives you a competitive advantage over those who are confined to their existing markets. Not just because you build brand awareness globally, but also because you learn new things in those new markets that you can apply in your initial target market as well.
• Expanding into new markets is a great way to fuel innovation. Exposing your team to foreign markets with different business practices forces them to think outside their box and gives them insights they can apply to existing products and growth strategies.
• Global expansion is also great if you’re hoping to tap into a broader talent pool to fuel your business growth from within. It makes it easier to attract highly skilled individuals from other countries if they are familiar with your product.

When you take your business abroad, it’s crucial to know what trends are happening there. For the US, we’ve done the research for you. Download these consumer trends here.

How to expand into new markets

Before you try to break into any new markets, preparation is key. If you want to successfully expand into other markets, you need to get your international market research right, define goals and pick the best strategies for your adventure. Below, you’ll read what steps you shouldn’t skip if you’re aiming at business growth.

1. Define the strategic focus of your expansion

As we’ve mentioned before, simply hoping to get more sales out of expansion isn’t enough of a goal. Define it more clearly, so you can pick more focused strategies. For instance: are you trying to get a head start over your competitors in a specific foreign market? Or is it because you want to reach new customer segments that you can’t reach in your own country? Whatever the reason is, make sure it’s the focus of everyone working on this expansion.

2. Conduct market research with precision

The foundation of any successful market expansion is thorough market research. Research that’s centered around your strategic focus, and that goes beyond surface-level data.

To spot the best market opportunities and to get to know your soon-to-be customer base inside and out, you’ll need a strong partner. With Attest, you get access to useful tools like multi-market research which allows you to analyze market trends across different regions simultaneously. This gives you a nuanced and practical understanding of how local economic conditions, consumer behaviors, and cultural differences might affect your product’s reception.

3. Get to know local competitors

There will likely already be companies in the market that you’re expanding in, so it’s time to get familiar with competitor research.

Walk through the process of buying from them as if you were a customer. What’s the experience like, the prices? What product gaps can you spot in the market, and what innovations have they applied that you can learn from? Look at all this information through the lens of a local: is this ideal for the customer base in that country, or could you do better?

4. Get consumer insights – by starting from scratch

Avoid the trap of assuming that your target audience in a new country will behave similarly to your current customers. At first glance, they may be super similar. But under the hood there are likely to be significant differences in preferences, expectations, and purchasing behaviors.

When you start researching your new market’s consumers, go in with an open mind, and don’t immediately try to compare them to what you already know from your home market’s customer segments. This prevents you from overlooking crucial information and helps you build the most realistic buyer persona possible.

5. Set yourself a clear framework for success with KPIs

If you want to set your team up for success, make sure you formulate key performance indicators (KPIs) that are specifically tailored to your expansion goals. You should have clearly defined objectives (and strategies to get there) for metrics that go way beyond sales and market share, such as customer satisfaction, brand awareness, and operational efficiency. Using these as your north star helps your expansion plan stay on track.

6. Develop a robust go-to-market strategy

Your go-to-market strategy should take learnings from your first go-to-market venture in your home market, and everything else you’ve learned about the market you’re entering through your market research.

Are you going to partner up with local businesses? Will your focus be OOH or targeted digital campaigns? What’s the best PR and brand positioning strategy for the country you’re going to? All this and more should be included in your go-to-market strategy to ensure a successful expansion that your business benefits from in the long run.

Eager to learn more? Check out these examples of a brand growth strategy from real brands.

How Attest can help with new market expansion and robust market research

If you’re looking for some real-world inspiration from brands like yours who have successfully expanded into new territory, we’ve got you.

Baby Brezza, a leader in baby feeding appliances, was building their strategy for breaking into the diapering category – but the market outside the U.S. was new to them. Instead of relying on guesswork or making assumptions about parenting practices abroad, they used Attest to survey mothers in multiple countries. They did their research in France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Australia, Korea, and Taiwan, which gave them plenty of information on the true potential of their new product.

All that research took only a week, but the results are long-lasting. It cut down the time to market for their international launch, something that typically takes a couple of years, down to just 12 months.

If your business is looking for a similar solution and you want to get detailed insights before expanding into new markets, take a look at how Attest’s market analysis tools can empower your market expansion strategy.