How to get export support in Turkey: the steps

There are many incentive, grant and support programmes, but they are scattered. Different bodies run them, the conditions differ and the limits are renewed every year. Whether a programme is open to you depends on the country your business is based in, its sector, its size and its target market.

So the first step is a scan, not an application. With those four facts you look at the current programmes of the relevant bodies and list the ones whose conditions you meet. Eligibility should always be checked against the official text of the programme.

The example asked about most often is the Turkish Ministry of Trade's support for promotion abroad. For an exporter with a registered trademark, advertising and promotion spending aimed abroad can be covered at a rate of 50%.

The conditions are:

• A trademark registered in Turkey.
• Registration, or an application for registration, in the target country.
• A company at least one year old.
• Content in a foreign language, aimed abroad.

Support can be received for up to four years. The annual cap is set again each year, and the exact amount is decided by the Exporters' Association when you apply.

Support is paid back after the money has been spent. That is why the campaign has to be set up to the rules from the start. Promotion in Turkish and promotion aimed at the domestic market are not covered.

In practice this means the ad targeting includes only the target countries, and the ad copy and landing page are in the language of that country. A campaign whose targeting also includes Turkey puts the support for that spending at risk.

The application has to be made within six months of the date on the payment document, and each payment document has its own clock. Applications are usually late because the paperwork is scattered: the invoice is with accounting, the proof of publication is in the ad panel and the spending breakdown by country has not been prepared.

The fix is to keep the invoice, the proof of publication and the spending by country in one folder from the first day of the campaign. The company itself applies, through the DYS system, to the Exporters' Association it belongs to.

You can run a first estimate for your own budget with the calculator on our incentive and grant research page. The result is an estimate, not a final amount.

Support lowers the cost of a campaign that reaches the right buyer. Finding out who that buyer is is a separate job, and we cover it in how to find customers abroad.