What SaaS vendors need to understand about the Latin American market
Many flags, many countries, two main languages with different cultures
Many flags, many countries, two main languages with different cultures
SaaS vendors around the world are trying to market, sell and service into the Latin American region for years. There are many challenges to be able to be successful in the region. Vendors need to understand that the region is not one region, but 33 countries with different economic and political realities.
There are key factors you need to understand about the region. These factors are:
Taxes: Each country has a different set of laws for selling SaaS solutions with different tax structures that will impact your pricing.
Billing: Collection starts when you sell your software. Fluctuations in the market, exchange rates, invoice terms, and Purchasing department policies will demand different billing strategies from local billing via resellers or direct transfers.
Partners: A diverse and flexible partner strategy is needed to manage marketing, sales, and service of your solution. Each country is different and within each country, you have local regions that will need different types of partners: Resellers, System Integrators, Training, Billing Agents and Advisory Services.
Hiring: Local teams will be needed to sell and build relationships. Relationships in Latin America can't be built from far away. There are options to hire local talent via agencies or sub-contracting until your company can set up shop in a specific country.
Marketing: SEO, SEM, social media, events, public relationships, and content marketing needs to be localized using local marketing agencies. Your existing content needs to be localized.
Patience: Entering into the Latin American market is a marathon. It takes time to market and sell in the region. You will need a strategic plan and a good execution plan. It will take time.
Understand the Market: There are tons of research in the market. Get advice from legal and research companies about the market trends for each country.
Type of Companies: There are different types of companies in the region with different purchasing structures that will impact how to sell into these companies.
Local Small Businesses in each country that only sell in that country.
Local multinationals that sell in more than one country in Latin America.
Group of companies (mostly family own) that are specific to each country and/or have other companies throughout Latin America.
Latin American multinational companies that are all over Latin America.
Multinational companies from the USA, Europe, Japan, Canada, China, and other countries.
Latin America has many flags, many countries, many sub-regions, two main languages, and different cultures. You can't consider that marketing in Mexico is the same as Brazil or the Southern Cone or the Andean region. Each country is different and an excellent market to expand your business.
If you are a SaaS vendor exploring the option to enter the Latin American marketing go to CX2Advisory. We can help!