Go-to-Market Strategy for Nordic Organizations

By Madison Taylor
April 14, 2022
Husavik

North American markets offer considerable opportunity for Nordic companies looking to expand their business westward. They also pose significant challenges in adapting successfully to reach consumers with different business cultures and communication styles.

Reaching your target customer successfully, effectively, and in a way that resonates is both more complex and more important in North American markets than almost anywhere else in the world.

Transitioning Into North American Markets

Establishing a solid brand identity and presenting an organization’s offering, values, and vision in the most advantageous way possible is essential. Nordic organizations preparing for initial or more focused North American market penetration need to make careful considerations and seek the proper support and advice for this critical transition.

Crafting an efficacious go-to-market plan is the first step in meeting these challenges. Developing a carefully studied and actionable strategy to present a company’s product or service compellingly and engagingly is the foundation of any market entry or expansion.

Differences in Nordic and North American Business Cultures

Nordic brands are historically well-received by North American consumers, as are many aspects of Nordic culture. Not only are businesses seeking to integrate elements of innovative Nordic policies into their organizations, but there has long been public discussion of the benefits of adopting a more Nordic-style attitude toward social culture and discourse.

The success of the Nordic Model and the region’s many brands that have already successfully transitioned to North American markets have the attention and interest of business leaders on the western side of the Atlantic.

Nordic-North American Cultural Differences

Still, there are undeniable differences in culture, making it challenging for Nordic executives and organizations to communicate effectively with North American consumers.

North Americans are accustomed to a different business environment, communicate differently, and have different expectations than the customers many Nordic companies may be familiar with serving.

Addressing these differences with a comprehensive and informed go-to-market strategy is essential for Nordic organizations to connect with clients or customers in North America successfully.

First Impressions: Introducing Nordic Companies to North American Consumers

Creating an effective, knowledgeable, and thorough go-to-market plan can remove these obstacles and communicate the value most North Americans associate with Nordic organizations in a relatable and familiar voice.

Even the most innovative and carefully developed offering needs the proper introduction. First impressions are essential to North American consumers, and they form those initial opinions quickly.

Most Americans feel they can generally determine a person’s character within the first few moments of meeting them — some research shows this can take as little as seven seconds.

Capturing a potential customer’s attention, holding it, and making the best possible use of that first introduction are key to establishing a firm foothold in a new market.

A Nordic company must have a go-to-market plan that accounts for minor differences in communication and culture and also engages consumers in the often hectic and information-saturated North American market space.

Strategies for Nordic Transitions

Nordic organizations have engaged with North American consumers with mixed success. Connecting with customers in this challenging market sometimes demands offering them a solution they may not have been aware they needed or presenting a product or service in innovative ways.

Strategic marketing is a key component. Nordic transition success stories have often refrained from focusing on the primary function of the business and instead used strategic marketing campaigns to highlight cultural and social elements that juxtapose well with the aforementioned hectic American marketing landscape.

Icelandair, for example, has found a niche reaching many North American customers (both consumer and business) by focusing on what they wanted — the adventure of travel and interaction with new cultures — instead of strictly what the company was selling.

Kognity is also connecting Nordic principles to the needs of their targeted North American consumer in their effort to redefine traditional textbook-based teaching curriculums. Engaging potential North American clients through programs and initiatives that present Nordic values to a North American audience in a relatable and familiar way is a smart first step to breaking into the market.

Marketing Nordic Companies in North America

Nordic companies seeking to establish a presence in North America need the expertise, talent, and strategy required to successfully introduce their products or services to North American audiences.

Madison Taylor Marketing knows how to present Nordic companies to North American markets in a way that resonates, engages, and builds brand confidence and loyalty.

A marketing process that covers traditional and digital campaigns with the appropriate presence and message on social media and other platforms is based on a careful blending of art and science that comes with experience.

With full-service marketing and advertising efforts geared toward an optimal partnership between agency and client, Madison Taylor Marketing can help Nordic organizations develop the go-to-market strategies they need. Let us know how we can help your organization.