You run a business. You’ve gained some traction in your local market, and now you’re thinking of going global, by creating a business presence in the UK.
Well you’re in good company. A survey commissioned by British telecom giant BT found that the UK was the most desirable market in Europe for business expansion, and second globally after the US.
The UK can lay claim to being at the centre of the financial world, with London continuing to dominate other financial hubs, so whether you sell comfortable shoes in Singapore, or legal advice in Lagos, expanding into the UK offers opportunities aplenty for growth.
You have big ideas. But you don’t have a big budget. How do you expand your reach into the UK, and reassure local customers that you understand the region and their needs, without committing to boots on the ground and big bucks spent on a physical presence?
Get a UK address for your business
If you’re serious about expanding your business into the UK market, this is the place to start.
For a lot of customers out there, there is no substitute for bricks and mortar, or even the appearance of bricks and mortar, when it comes to legitimising a business.
That doesn’t mean buying an office complex in the heart of London and hiring an all-UK workforce. There are ways your business can create the impression of a physical commercial presence in the UK without breaking the bank, starting with a local business address.
When UK customers see a UK business address, they don’t stop to think about the size of the office, the number of people who work there, or how often the space is used. If your business has a mailing address in the UK, then your business operates in the UK.
There are various options for setting up a UK business address, including:
- A private mailbox
- A virtual mailroom
- A street mailing address
A private mailbox is the easiest and cheapest way to go, offering a dedicated address for business mail at a low cost. You can set it up in the UK town or city of your choice via the local Post Office, on the Royal Mail website, or via private handlers like UPS or FedEx.
There are drawbacks that offset the low cost of this method.
If you opt for a Post Office mailbox, an address carrying the ‘PO Box’ tag might harm the legitimacy your business is trying to build up with UK customers, some companies won’t deliver to PO boxes at all, and some private handlers won’t accept mail from their direct competitors.
A virtual mail service is a relatively new concept, which has taken off since the digital nomad craze kicked into high gear. For a monthly fee, you have all your business mail shipped to one address, where someone scans and forwards it to you, shreds it, or even reposts it for an added fee.
The downside is that some virtual mail services will use a PO box as your delivery address, leaving you facing the same issues as opening your own PO box, only at greater cost to your business.
A street mailing address might be the most expensive option, but it may be cost effective if you’re wedded to giving your business the appearance of a real, legitimate presence in the UK.
You can buy a mailing address in some of the UK’s biggest commercial centres, ensuring your professional image won’t be tarnished by stray flat or apartment numbers.
You might have to pay more depending on the size and reputation of the city, but an upgrade to a more prestigious address has the advantage of creating an upmarket feel.
Create a UK domain for your business website
Studies have shown that customers have a need to belong, to feel part of a club, to relate to a brand before they can invest in it. When people land on your company website, the first question they’ll ask themselves is: “Is this for me?”
That question might be referring to what your product is, whether they can afford it, or whether your offer is available in, and relevant to, the country they live in.
Your business needs to answer those questions quickly to reassure UK customers you care about them. The most effective way to foster that sense of belonging is by registering a UK domain for your website.
That might mean committing to an entirely new, UK-focused website, by investing in a .co.uk domain.
This immediately shows you value your UK customers, and take seriously the work you have to do to win them over. By putting time and resources into creating an online hub for them alone, you’re making them aware they are a priority for your business.
Alternatively, you might decide to create a UK-specific subsite for an international, .com domain.
This is easily achieved using Internet Protocol (IP) address information that recognises where in the world your visitors are coming from. If a user begins a session on your business website from the UK, the site will automatically redirect that individual to a localised version.
This too shows you place high value in UK customers, with the added advantage that the overall .com domain creates the impression they are dealing with a legitimate, international business.
Do some basic local SEO research
We all know the joke about the best place to hide a dead body…on the second page of Google.
That’s because 95% of the traffic Google receives doesn’t make it to page two of the search engine results. If your company website fails to rank highly in Google’s search results, it might as well not exist. That’s why you need local Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
Since Google’s Hawk update in 2017, businesses creating genuine, relevant local content are given preference whenever someone conducts a local search – with the three most relevant local businesses appearing above the fold, on page one, in a ‘map pack’.
It doesn’t matter if you are a local bricks-and-mortar, or an online retailer selling locally. If you’re business is meeting a local need, it can appear at the top of local search results. To get a boost in the UK, there are a few local SEO tricks you can try.
First up is local keyword optimisation. If you’re company sells flip-flops, you’ll already be targeting the keyword ‘flip-flops’ in your online content. That way, as soon as someone types ‘flip-flops’ into Google, your website pops up, and you have a good chance of making a sale.
Localise your keywords by attaching to them the town, city, or region you are operating in. If you can get Google to understand your product’s relevance to the local UK market, it will be reflected in your site’s place in the local search rankings.
Next, you should make the best of local long-tail keywords. While keywords are the one or two words that encapsulate your business for searchers – i.e. ‘flip-flops’ – long-tail keywords are, you guessed it, longer: search queries of three words or more.
Long-tail keywords are more specific, which gives your business a better chance of being the best answer to the question being Googled. To get in on the local search action, target local long-tail keywords; so ‘flip-flops’ becomes ‘best flip-flops UK’, or ‘buy flip-flops in Edinburgh’.
Finally, to establish a bigger online presence in the UK market, your business needs to create local UK content for the web.
Use local UK content on your business website
Ever notice that when you visit another country, speaking even a few words in the local language gets everyone all excited? Like they can’t believe the effort you went to? This is a little like that.
If you want to create the impression that you have a business presence in the UK, your business should talk in terms locals understand. Using local content on your site may seem like a small thing, but it can have huge repercussions on the way your business is perceived
Every single day, 4 out of 5 people search online for local information. That’s a lot of local traffic. To divert some of it your way, populate your website with relevant local content, to generate interest and foster trust in your brand in your target market.
You want people to think your company has its ear to the ground in the UK, and has been operating there for years.
The least you can do is update your content with UK English. That’s more than just replacing every ‘z’ with an ‘s’. Keep an eye out for turns of phrase that don’t ring true with UK audiences – if you have access to a native UK English speaker, now’s the time to use them.
You can reassure your UK customers that you understand them, and the things they care about, by steering clear of culturally sensitive issues. Taking a strong stance on Brexit, for example, risks alienating around half of your potential UK customer base.
That’s not to say that your business shouldn’t get involved in local conversations at all. As long as you know your audience, and tailor your message accordingly, using UK colloquialisms might help local customers connect with you, rather than see you as a humourless corporation.
Work with a UK answering service
If you want to demonstrate your business understands the UK market, but your only listed phone number isn’t a UK number, you have a problem.
When people see a phone number they don’t recognise associated with a business, at best they might worry the company is far off, out of touch, and that when they call it they’ll be put through to someone who has no idea of the problems they face or how to solve them.
At worst, they won’t call – or answer – that number at all, and their business is lost to you. When you get a call from a strange number, it’s only natural to think: “Scam”.
If you choose to operate as a UK business, get a UK phone number, and if you’re business is targeting a specific region of the UK, consider using a local dialling code. But don’t stop there.
What happens when UK customers give your UK business number a call? Are they likely to hear a British accent on the other end of the line?
Work is what you do, not where you do it, but if you’ve invested time and money in presenting yourself as a business with a big presence in the UK, international accents may not fit with the local image you’ve created.
When trust is lost, it’s hard to recover, so it might be time to consider using a UK answering service. An answering service can:
- Answer calls with your company name
- Offer 24/7 call handling
- Take and pass on messages
- Forward important calls straight to you
- Schedule bookings and appointments
And a UK answering service can offer all of that using dedicated UK call agents. They will immediately reassure your customers that they are talking to someone local, who represents a company with a focus on the UK.
So if you want to create a business presence in the UK…
- Get a UK business address
- Do some basic local SEO research.
- Use local content on your website.
- Try working with a local UK answering service.
Remember: Big business ideas merit a big business presence.
