Starting the internationalisation process

Basque Trade & Investment supports Basque companies as they embark on the internationalisation process; the assistance ranges from assessments, plans, competitor analysis, market studies, etc. to the first agendas and international sales, and includes help with accessing digital markets or contracting professionals to accelerate the company’s internationalisation process. We also have specific financial support programmes to facilitate those initial steps in business internationalisation.

Consultancy services

Our Internationalisation Assessment will take you through the necessary human resource and commercial appraisal to identify the aspects on which the company must focus to successfully enter foreign markets

Set off on your international journey by assessing the company’s current situation regarding the internationalisation process. We will help you to plan your debut abroad and to open up new markets that will allow you to:

Grow in turnover
Detect new business opportunities
Diversify customers/markets to minimise risks
Find an outlet for excess capacity and resources

Different work sessions are conducted to analyse together the main aspects of the company (strategy, organisation, financial situation, product/service, marketing/digital channel), which allows the company to know its real likelihood of successfully undertaking the following stages of its international project.

Apart from the conclusions and recommendations obtained from the joint analysis, this programme also lets the company identify the different external resources that you have at your disposal to advance in the internationalisation process.

Our Internationalisation Acceleration service works with you to establish a roadmap to guide and help you to enter the selected markets

This programme is aimed at SMEs and Startups who wish to have skilled support when defining the following step of their international project, whether that is starting out or opening/consolidating markets.

The aim of the programme is to prepare a customised roadmap and with specific actions to allow the company to meet the goals set for each international market.

Several work sessions will therefore be held to address different internal and external aspects of the company in order to select the appropriate target markets. Once the market or markets to be developed have been selected, different aspects (routes of entry, commercial strategy, risks, competitors…) will be analysed in order to prepare the specific action plan for each case.

We analyse the competitors on the selected foreign markets and their marketing strategies by means of our Competitor Benchmark service

This programme is aimed at companies that seek to identify improvement opportunities and generate innovative ideas that can boost their business strategies and international positioning over their competitors.

The aim of the programme is to provide valuable information on the target market and its competitive landscape, which allows the company to build, adapt and improve its value proposition, to thus be able to be more competitive and to stand out on that market.

Apart from providing key information on the competitors on the market of interest, a positioning map will be produced so that the company can visualise its position compared to its competitors, together with a list of recommended actions to meet the commercial goals for that market.

We conduct market surveys adapted to your product and business model

We conduct market surveys customised to your needs (business model, product/service, markets of interest…). Some examples of previous work:

Study to assess the market potential / Steelmaking sector:

Analysis of steel production using different technologies
Main local competitors
Local legislation
National decarbonisation plans

Study to assess a potential foothold in the USA / Industrial equipment sector:

Target sectors: bakery, fish, meat, pharma, dairy
Target states: analysis of the 5-10 states with greatest presence of those sectors
Target customers: basic analysis of the main companies of those sectors

Study to introduce medical device / Biosciences sector:

Total number of medical experts
Total number of specialist clinics
Identifying the main clinic chains
Identifying the main device brands on the market
Number of devices used on the market per year
Any information on available prices
Identifying the main distributors on the device market

We will design a Country Softlanding Programme for you and will mentor you to ensure your success

We organise a round of virtual or in-person B2B meetings so you can discover firsthand the reality of the country; we can accompany you to maximise their outcome.

You will only have to define in detail the profile of the customers/distributors/entities that most interest you and we will then plan a round of meetings that is most in line with your needs and interests.

The number of meetings will vary according to the characteristics of each market, sector and company that requests the schedule be drawn up.

We will analyse your current positioning and we will prepare together a Digital Positioning Plan for the defined foreign market

We are all aware of internet’s importance today as an essential channel to reach out to potential customers, both in the case of companies starting out on their internationalisation process and those exporters that wish to improve their digital positioning on specific markets.

Thanks to this programme, the digital positioning of the participating SMEs can be analysed when the following aspects will be considered:

Assessment of the usability, accessibility and focus on the international user of your website
Presence on social media
Initial approach in key words and other aspects that influence search engine optimisation (SEO)
Mapping competitors on the target foreign market

Once the analysis is completed, a Digital Marketing action plan will be produced in order to improve the digital positioning of your company on the selected foreign market.

Our Marketplace service lets us help you to select the product and the appropriate marketplace until the launch of the operation.

Marketplaces are a way for SMEs without the resources to establish their own online channel to reach international consumers through the digital channel. Using Marketplace has the following advantages:

Increased geographical reach of the sales
Greater foothold on the markets to reach more potential customers
Easier to achieve economies of scale and better efficiency
Provides the customer with credibility and confidence

The service will include the following steps:

Selection of the export product and target markets
Benchmarking of competitors in the digital sphere
Mapping the Marketplace in the selected country and identifying the most appropriate for the product-market
Project feasibility and break-even point study
Assistance with the Marketplace onboarding process:
Support with logistical aspects, collections, guarantees and export formalities, to do with the Marketplace
Defining the Marketplace positioning strategy and the price strategy on the platform
Analysis of the metrics offered by the Marketplace
Training as the programme moves forward

We put a Profex part-time promoter at your disposal to prepare and deploy a commercial plan for the selected market or a Digital Profex to bolster the digital channel

PROFEX

This programme is aimed at SMEs that need their commercial position to be shored up to be able to take on certain international markets. We therefore provide each participating company with a part-time export support, who will work simultaneously with groups of 2 to 4 companies with their sights on the same markets.

Each promoter, who is selected and trained by the Basque Chambers of Commerce, will be in charge of working with the participating companies to draw up a bespoke commercial plan during the first months of the programme. The Basque Chambers of Commerce will offer technical assistance, supervise and advise throughout the process. The duties of each party will be as follows:

Promoter

To regularly report on the results to each company and to the Chamber of Commerce
To comply with the commercial plan
Commitment to stay for 18 months, expandable to 24 months
Code of Conduct
Confidentiality Undertaking

Company

To support the promoter
To provide the technical expert with sufficient resources to be able to carry out their duties correctly
To sign a contract with the technical expert and pay the set fee on a monthly basis
To follow up on the commercial plan
To cover the travel costs of the technical costs incurred in the normal performance of their commercial work
To hold monitoring and assessment meetings with the Chamber
Commitment to stay for 18 months, extendable to 24 months (after being requested by the participating company and the favourable report from the group supervisor

DIGITAL PROFEX

Promoting companies on international markets no longer is only through traditional channels; digitalisation opens up a range of new opportunities to operate on non-traditional markets or to be further consolidated on the traditional ones. This programme is aimed at SMEs that lack the human resources with the preparation or knowledge to promote the company through the digital channel.

We therefore provide each participating company with a part-time export support, who will work simultaneously with groups of 2 to 4 companies with their sights on the same markets. Each promoter, who is selected and trained by the Basque Chambers of Commerce, will be in charge of working with the participating companies to draw up a bespoke digital marketing plan during the first months of the programme. The Basque Chambers of Commerce will offer technical assistance, supervise and advise throughout the process. The duties of each party will be as follows:

Promoter

To analyse the current situation of the company with respect to the digital marketing tools used
To help define targets, strategy and action plan
To implement the action plan
To train the company in digital marketing strategy
To measure results and propose corrective actions
To regularly report on the results to each company and to the Chamber of Commerce
9-month commitment to remain

Company

To support the promoter
To provide the technical expert with sufficient resources to be able to carry out their duties correctly
To sign a contract with the technical expert and pay the set fee on a monthly basis
To train the company in digital marketing strategy
To follow up on the digital marketing plan
To hold monitoring and assessment meetings with the Chamber
9-month commitment to remain

Do you know about our internationalisation support programmes?

Zabaldu+

A non-repayable grant of up to €75,000 per company for SMEs and start-ups wishing to enter new markets, strengthen their international presence or advance their internationalisation process. It brings together previous schemes such as Zabaldu, Sakondu, Elkartu and Pilotu under a single call for applications.

Learn more