by Becky DeStigter

A Canadian colleague and long-time friend recently asked me for marketing advice around how to create a successful international brand. My friend is a Chief Operating Officer who just joined a new venture with a young manager heading up the marketing effort. The marketing manager is highly concerned about developing a new logo and perhaps needs to widen his perspective of developing the venture's brand. Generally, I would define a brand as a customer's perception of a company based on their cumulative experiences with that company. This may include what someone has heard from a secondary source; what is published in media; any marketing, product or service usage; and any continued follow-up in customer service or sales. In the case of companies with widely diverse products and multiple industries, the brand would break down somewhat by industry (ex. General Electric).

Great international brands in any industry are carefully built over time. As with most aspects of marketing strategy, it starts with the end in mind. What do you want your brand to be in five or 10 years? What value do you want your clients to perceive from their cumulative experiences of not only using your products and services, but in all of their interactions with your company? What adjectives would you want your clients and other stakeholders to use when describing your brand? Does the brand need to have the same reaction across all of your markets? International brands need even more attention to cultivation than domestic brands due to the complexities of multiple cultures, languages, legal systems, etc.

Here are several factors to consider as you move forward in your international brand's development:

Start with Consistency—The quickest way to destroy the value of a brand is by being inconsistent. A product may have great promotional marketing, but if the product can't live up to the hype it will soon garner a bad reputation. Likewise, if an in-country distributor is responsible for after-sale customer service but does not return customer phone calls, the brand will greatly suffer. And if your product is the industry low-cost leader and a good value for the price, your international markets cannot be charged a price that covers the shipping, tariffs and other international logistics costs and prices at the top of the market. Building a consistent brand can help drive marketing decisions about who represents your products overseas, customer service standards, product development priorities, and yes, even logos.

Ending In-Country Relationships on a Good Note—This is a brand-damaging issue particularly for American, Canadian, Australian and Northern European companies. Oftentimes these cultures make business decisions based on financial returns, particularly short-term profits. International markets require time to develop. But when operations in a specific foreign market need to be harvested, it is vital to your company's brand to leave on a good note. Some firms cut their losses, leaving partners unpaid or customers unsupported. But a bad brand reputation will linger far longer in most international markets than in Western countries. Companies that have tried to reenter a country later after a hasty departure will find a much more challenging business climate. Instead, consider finding ways to make the transition to leaving a little easier for partners and customers. A little extra effort will keep that door open and protect your brand.

Invest in Local Corporate Responsibility—The level of corporate responsibility efforts expected of the business community varies widely from country to country. As a foreign company, you would never want your firm to come in below the average level of community involvement. Corporate responsibility should tie in some way to your company's industry and mission. For instance, if your company delivers language classes and cultural corporate training, your philanthropic efforts should center around a related area like supporting immigrant refugees.

Protecting Your Trademarks, Copyrights and Patents—Finally, be sure to register your intellectual property with each national government. Especially in China, the IP piracy capital of the world, a great international brand is often copied. Or worse, the trademark could be registered first by someone other than your company with plans to extort payment from you. It's worth the protection no matter how imperfect.