This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Wendy Pease, owner and president of Rapport International, a Nebraska company providing translation and interpretation services for businesses.
Pease discusses the importance of exporting to foreign markets for companies in Wisconsin, noting businesses that export products and services have higher revenues, profits and salary levels. Plus, she says they tend to be more stable and grow more consistently, she explained.
“So if you think about your cheese from Wisconsin, you’ve got a huge market out there where you’re not competing with other people,” she said.
While many U.S. exporters typically start with other English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom or Australia, Pease said these markets already see a lot of new products coming in from the United States.
“So that’s where we come in with high-quality translation; we specialize in global marketing,” she said. “We help you figure out how to position yourself … so when somebody reads your marketing message, they understand how you’re different and they want it. So exporters, Wisconsin exporters, certainly think about it because it can make your business explode.”
She also gives an overview on a $700,000 federal grant awarded to Wisconsin through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s State Trade Expansion Program. The state can award these funds to small and mid-size exporters, Pease explained.
“You can get up to $15,000 to use in training, business ethics, cultural competency, export compliance, foreign language translation, market assessments, distributor searches, going on trade shows or conferences or one-on-one country business meetings — among some other stuff,” she said.
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
