Owners of Latin American nearshoring service businesses would have welcomed last year’s article by Hiscox London on the continuing rise in popularity of nearshoring by US firms.
TL;DR
Importance of recognizing customer obstacles in marketing for nearshoring services: striking a balance between discussing challenges and maintaining a positive tone is crucial.
- exemplify your firm’s capacity to navigate through potential instability and risk, demonstrating a proven record.
- advocacy for transparency in marketing strategies for nearshoring services: differentiate offerings, and understand customer concerns without disclosing all operational details.
- nearshoring services should address their U.S. customers’ desire to enable auditing processes, understand local regulations, and implement solid workflows.
Full Article
Owners of Latin American nearshoring service businesses would have welcomed last year’s article by Hiscox London on the continuing rise in popularity of nearshoring by US firms.
The article discusses the risks and solutions associated with nearshoring in Latin America for US businesses. The process involves moving production or services closer to the business’s home country. Despite potential benefits like reduced costs and proximity to the market, businesses must tackle significant challenges.
These include quality issues during the settling period due to the lack of manufacturing history, political instability, higher regulatory risks, and infrastructure challenges. According to the article’s author, Amie Townsend, effective risk management is essential for businesses planning to nearshore.
Whilst the article is primarily aimed at manufacturers there is something to be learned for service providers in Latin America looking for insight into their customer’s mindset. Despite the risks, there is no doubt that nearshoring presents opportunities for US businesses to create value. However, the key is establishing the right systems and processes to ensure the value is effectively realised.
Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with B2B nearshore service clients in Costa Rica, Uruguay, and Argentina. A crucial aspect of their marketing strategy was promoting their services to the US market. I provided a range of services including lead magnet content, website content, lead generation and strategic advice on differentiation. This work involved identifying ideal customer profiles, crafting compelling campaign content, conducting client interviews and researching their locations as well as other popular nearshoring destinations such as Mexico, Colombia, and Puerto Rico.
The main challenge facing B2B service companies is standing out in a crowded market of similar services. Below are three elements of a marketing strategy for B2B nearshoring service companies.
Owner, CEO, or VP of marketing for a B2B nearshoring service? Here’s another helpful article: “Strategizing your nearshoring services marketing: does local color help?”
Embrace the customer journey
The relevance of your content depends on where your customers are in their journey and the problems they face.
A customer at the top of the marketing funnel may not even recognize their need to outsource to a call center. Pushing them to sign up for a sales call at this time is not appropriate. Instead, they may be open to a broader message on how outsourcing can affect the bottom line. Further down the funnel, a lead may be weighing up the differences between two call centre services. They do not need to read another blog on “Top 10 reasons to outsource your call center”. They have already passed this stage and need sufficient encouragement for all customers to progress to the next step in their journey.
Recognise customer obstacles
Marketing should aim to help alleviate or solve the desire of US firms to mitigate the risk of nearshoring. It’s crucial to strike a balance in discussing customer obstacles without becoming overly negative. Writing positively about negative aspects requires skill.
For example, I recently worked on a marketing project for a South American client. Their local economy and political situation is relatively unstable; conditions beyond my client’s control. However, the firm’s record with international clients and the founders’ affiliations with respected international establishments demonstrate clients’ capacity to navigate through these challenges.
Become more transparent
The Hiscox article suggests that US firms looking for nearshoring services should establish solid auditing processes, workflows, and maintain an understanding of local regulations.
A marketing strategy for a nearshoring service can address these challenges by adopting transparency. This does not mean disclosing all your processes or every aspect of your operations. However, explaining your processes not only gives you a potential competitive edge (your processes can set you apart from others) but also conveys your awareness of customer concerns.
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