entrepreneur.com
Smartphone
adoption is on the rise, and by 2016, there will be an estimated 2 billion smartphone users worldwide. The U.S. will constitute a mere 10 percent of this
overall figure, with much of the growth coming from the developing world,
including China and India.
For
forward-thinking app developers, scaling internationally is the best way to
drive growth. International expansion offers access to an increasingly
lucrative market, an edge over the competition and an opportunity to be
perceived as a “global” brand.
If you’re
like many U.S. based startups, the prospect of marketing your app in countries
that don’t even speak the same language may be daunting, so here are five ways
to get started.
1. Do your
research.
There’s a
reason Tinder hasn’t made its way to Saudi Arabia. Not all apps are suitable
for international expansion, so it’s important to choose the target geographies
where you can really make a difference. Create a list of potential target
markets to penetrate and be sure that the app is culturally acceptable. You
need to be certain your concept can realistically resonate before trying your
hand internationally.
2.
Localization in the age of globalization.
Once you
have identified the appropriate countries or geographies, start localizing your
app in terms of design, UI and even name to fit the local culture. When
Evernote entered China in 2012 it named itself based on the app’s actual
function (Yinxiang Biji or Memory Note) rather than directly translating the
name from English. This resonated with the Chinese and within a year Evernote
reached 4 million users in the market, shattering analyst predictions.
Separately,
when entering a multi-lingual country such as India, make your sure app
platform supports all possible languages in the region. Hint: If your app
supports English, Chinese and Spanish, then you’re already covering more than
45 percent of users globally. Also don’t
forget to localize the metadata of the app for different geographies.
3. Secure
the right app store distribution.
Promote your app in local markets. Google Play is
unavailable in China, so savvy app developers turn to Baidu, which just
surpassed Apple to become the world's second-largest app distributor. Many
countries have several popular local app distribution platforms that can be
used for disseminating your app locally and, ultimatel,y drive more downloads.
4. Use cloud services for content delivery.
Whether you’re creating a game, digital magazine or
e-commerce app, all transactions should be done using a cloud services such as
Amazon (AWS), Akamai, Microsoft Azure, etc. This will ensure the transactions
are fast without any latency issues and that users enjoy the best possible
experience with your app. A cloud-driven business model also allows you to
scale more easily abroad and drives greater adoption.
5. Don’t forget social integration.
Make sure you app integrates with popular social media
platform logins. That eases data collection and allows users to register with
the app without additional hassle. The social media platforms should, of
course, be localized as well. That is the important part. Typically, apps have
a Facebook and Twitter login integration, but these platforms don’t work in all
countries. As with the local app stores and distribution channels, be sure to
identify the most relevant social media platforms like Renren in China or MXit
in South Africa.
While scaling your app internationally can be a challenge,
it’s a great way to build your business, monetize and grow the userbase.
Smartphone usage and adoption continues to grow abroad, making the opportunity
quite attractive for startups. In the end,
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