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Global growth isn’t just about finding big markets. It’s about opportunity, capability, and accessibility. New markets can be exciting, but the path is paved with strategic complexity.
In this complex subject, Aaron McDaniel, an expert in international strategy, offers global expansion tips for 2025 and beyond.
Global expansion tips: 4 key insights
1) Why global expansion in 2025 is a smart move
- Contrarian advantage: Despite growing nationalism, trade barriers, and tariff wars, many companies are avoiding international markets, creating a unique opportunity for first-movers.
- Emerging markets Are ripe for growth: Sub-Saharan Africa is highlighted as a massive opportunity, with over half a billion people under age 19, expected to double in the next 15–20 years.
- International expansion is emphasized as the most powerful driver for multiplying a company’s value (2x to 10x), much more so than the other two.
- Just like companies once debated whether to build a website in the 1990s, today they debate whether to expand globally.
2) Common mistakes in global expansion
- Companies often chase large or attractive markets without evaluating whether they have the capability to win in those markets.
- Go to the other extreme: completely custom-build each new market, creating multiple disjointed operations.
- Companies focus on market size and past success at home, but don’t assess internal readiness, including alignment across teams, local and international expertise, scalable systems or processes (like a repeatable playbook).
3) A scalable approach to market expansion
- Avoid one-off market decisions based on individual bias.
- Instead, use data and a global view that considers multiple markets simultaneously, identifies overlapping localization needs, and reveals how one market’s adaptations can benefit others.
- Measuring mature metrics (profit, revenue) too early can lead to premature pullback and failed expansion efforts. Instead, use milestone-based metrics, such as initial user traction, regulatory licenses, and key partnerships.
- Markets are constantly evolving! Market evaluation shouldn’t be a one-time event.
4) The role of AI in market discovery
- AI in the workplace can speed up localization research and guide strategic decisions under time pressure. Ideal tools combine local market knowledge, access to expert networks, and structured frameworks to avoid reactive mistakes.
- Top-down decisions from leadership often set tight expansion timelines. Companies need tools that allow for fast, informed decisions, rather than spending months on market evaluation.
Watch more for other global expansion tips
Aaron McDaniel is a globally recognized corporate manager, entrepreneur, teacher, and speaker with a passion for helping companies innovate at a global scale.
We had the pleasure of inviting him for an enriching live webinar. For more insights on international markets and trends, catch the full talk below.
