The recipe for their craft beer – one of the first made in Italy – is well kept, while they tell the recipe for sale in 47 countries around the world with disarming simplicity. «It takes consistency and preparation, as well as an innate passion. You can’t improvise in creating a business that can involve all customers in the world. Today we owe what we are to our community that follows us and supports us.” So says Teo Musso, founder and CEO of the Baladin agricultural brewery. It is the first company to produce a completely Italian beer with an integrated national agricultural supply chain that starts from the cultivation of raw materials – over 90% of the ingredients are self-produced – and continues within the production plants, finishing the process with a distribution chain Property. We are in Piozzo, less than a thousand souls in the province of Cuneo, a land of great agricultural tradition caressed by the Tanaro river and overlooking the Langhe. From here in 1986 this project was born in a pioneering way which today scales international markets with a turnover of 16 million euros for 3,000 retailers and a proprietary e-commerce that serves 24,000 customers, one of the first to be a single brand. A few days ago the challenge was won in the digital field: in just six days, 5 million euros were raised with record-breaking equity crowdfunding.
The weak points
Selling in global markets. Easy to say, harder to do. Because one swallow does not make a summer. This is confirmed by Italian photography still in chiaroscuro. And the difficulty in expanding on international markets that many Italian companies encounter is certified in a number: today only 8% of our companies have an advanced approach to multiplatform strategy, with a low level of maturity of medium and large companies. A level assessed through the Ocx Index (equal to 4.5 out of 10) by the Omnichannel Customer Experience Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milan. What weighs heavily is the lack of strategy on data collection, essential for understanding the customer. Today only one in three organizations manages to integrate them to enable real personalization of the experience. Only 40% of companies adopt predictive analytics. Of these, almost two thirds declare that they do not have specialized figures and rely exclusively on automatic technological tools. But there’s more. Only 27% involve operational levels such as salespeople and contact center operators in the entire transformation. Rather than putting yourself in the customer’s shoes: it is as if there was a disconnect between marketing strategies and commercial activities in the various markets.
Broken promises
«The distinctive feature that qualifies the global marketing of our best companies is that alongside a first dimension of product alone there is a second dimension of quality of experience. We talk about a value proposition that evolves and qualifies in the exchange process. But the biggest risk is of a management nature, that is, having companies that make promises without then being able to keep them. From the point of view of relationship management, the game becomes more complicated because it requires advanced assistance networks”, says Giuliano Noci, professor of strategies and marketing at the Polytechnic of Milan. Glossy campaigns are not enough, we need to build valuable sales and post-sales experiences. «This unresolved conflict between marketers and salespeople blocks expansion abroad because dialogue is difficult. The challenge involves large and small businesses, provided they undertake scalability paths. Access to digital in the various markets can also concern SMEs, but integrated strategies must be pursued. You need to gain attention in international markets by becoming relevant. There are small companies that have made it because searches on search engines today reward Made in Italy, a fundamental element in guiding consumer choices. However, we need to pay attention to keywords and build integrated consortium platforms, increasing critical mass and maximizing effectiveness thanks to transversal alliances”, specifies Noci.
Global visions, local markets
«The new export-oriented global marketing cannot ignore a customer-centered approach and adaptability to the specific needs of foreign markets». Duccio Vitali, CEO of Alkemy, a pure public company specialized in the digital transformation of corporate business, listed on Euronext Milan, Star segment of the Italian Stock Exchange, is convinced of this. The company records a turnover of 118 million euros per thousand people working in Italy, Spain, the Balkans and Mexico. Objective: understand the post-digital context that covers the entire value chain from strategy to implementation. «Our challenge from the beginning has been to make businesses aware of the transformative value of digital. Today we are doing the same thing with artificial intelligence. Since 2019 we have launched a research division called AI Evolution Hub to develop solutions for our customers and optimize business processes. This technology allows us to process huge datasets, manage content on a large scale, create avatars of consumers to interview with prompts to activate for focus groups before going online”, specifies Vitali. Among the projects followed is that of Piaggio Group with the social management of the group’s four brands.
Value differences
«To sell in global contexts, a series of systemic actions must be carried out: it is necessary to understand markets and customers, personalize offers, maintain coherence of the brand and values while remaining authentic in the eyes of consumers, use digital technologies effectively, focus on customer experience, be agile and adaptable. And then it takes courage, avoiding replicating successful projects”, concludes Vitali. The recipe is local for local, meaning expectations depend on the market in which you operate. In the complexity of relationships in international contexts, specific cultural awareness once again imposes itself. Forbes in America also wrote this recently: «Nationality, ethnicity and place are factors that influence the way in which a message is understood and internalized. We must valorize the differences to be unique.”
#conflict #marketing #sales #slows #international #expansion
2024-03-22 21:01:09