Export assistance

At a point in time, the American car company General Motors wanted to expand its market share to include South America, and therefore they planned the marketing of they ‘Chevy Nova’ car. Sales were very sluggish, which naturally, the Americans found very hard to understand. Until one day when a Spanish expert told them that ‘Nova’ to a Spanish speaking person sounds like ‘No va’ which means ‘do not go’ in Spanish. No wonder that the car did not sell very well!

This story shows how extremely important it is that you know quite a bit about your new export country’s language and not least its culture before you throw a lot of money at the marketing of your product. It may be some very small differences that you must be aware of or perhaps your entire strategy must be redefined to ensure the additional sales your international sales campaign should preferably result in. Therefore, it is often not appropriate simply to translate the original marketing material as that has been written with the domestic market in mind and the same strategy may not suit the new market.

If you are thinking about exporting to Denmark or even Scandinavia, I have the expertise to help you decode the unwritten rules and break down the language barriers in these cultures so that you are more successful on you new export market.