7 Ways to Improve Global Marketing Strategy

The buzz in the marketing world tells us it is vital for companies to think globally about their marketing strategy. Widespread international access to the internet and media means that it’s no longer enough to sell only in your own backyard. But it turns out that marketing around the globe isn’t as simple going someplace new and rolling out the same marketing campaign you ran at home. Instead, you have to think “glocal” about your business and marketing strategy. Here are seven ways to do that.

1. Get Locals Involved

When sitting in office in your home country, it’s hard to get a proper handle on what will resonate with audiences thousands of miles away. That’s why it’s an excellent idea to include local contacts as part of your global marketing team. Get to know your new market by talking to them about how they market products and services, what sells, and any insights they have to help you market effectively. One more tip: in countries with more than one language group (like Canada, Spain, and Holland, to name just a few), ensure that your team includes representatives fluent in all major languages, as this will come in handy for marketing to each audience segment.

2. Target Specific Markets

You often hear people talking about Europe, Africa, South America and Asia as if they are holistic entities. They’re not. In each of these “markets” there are multiple countries and cultural identities, not to mention a multiplicity of languages.

Even though your marketing campaign is global, refine your audience segments to target national and regional markets – not continents or even countries. For example, when you’re preparing for your Memorial Day campaign this year, it’s worth knowing that the same date is the Spring Bank Holiday in the UK.  The more specific you are, the more successful you will be. Local search is huge, which is why a glocal approach will pay off.

3. Translate and Localize

Research from Commonsense Advisory confirms what we already know: around three quarters of people are more inclined to make purchases when the website and sales material are in their own language. If your website is only in one language such as English, people who aren’t confident in their skills in that language will go elsewhere.

And there’s more: 56.2% of people think having information in their own language is more important than the price they pay. That’s why it’s important to translate your website and marketing materials.

But translation alone is not enough. Localization is the way to make sure every aspect of your website works in the target language, including dates, times, currencies, shipping details, colors, characters and imagery. The same applies to print materials. Avoid literal translation in favor of creating content that reflects your brand while addressing local norms.

4. Go Mobile

According to Statista, the number of mobile phone users worldwide is forecast to pass 5 billion by 2019, and by 2019 there will be 2.7 billion smartphone users. Phones are now primary devices for getting online and, in some parts of the world, they are the only way to access the web. This means several things for your business:

• your website must work successfully on mobile devices
• your marketing collateral must display well on mobile devices
• you must include mobile and, depending on the location, SMS marketing in your overall global marketing strategy.

No business can afford to ignore mobile. This, of course, also means that any translation and localization efforts must also apply to mobile marketing.

5.  Adapt Your Offering

As you’ve seen, global markets are really divided into regional, national and local ones. That’s why you can’t make assumptions about how your products and services will work around the world.

It’s essential to think about how your product compares with what’s already in particular markets in terms of features, quality and price so that you can highlight what is most important each locality. What’s seen as good value in one area could be perceived as too cheap in another.

And remember to cater for local culture. For example, McDonald’s has different menu items depending on location.

6. Change Your Channels

Depending on your target market, you may have to adapt your marketing channels. For example, some markets respond well to direct sale approaches, while others prefer buying through intermediaries (think: buy directly from the company vs. buying from Amazon) . Some countries like marketing targeted to the individual, while others have more of a group mentality.

SEO and social media channels may also have to change. Facebook may rule in a lot of the world, but if you’re marketing in China, then you’ll need to do social marketing in the Q Zone and optimize for Baidu search.

7. Crunch the Numbers

The final piece of the puzzle is to check the data throughout your global marketing strategy. At the start, you’ll be assessing market potential and gathering broad brush data. As your strategy evolves, you’ll be tracking analytics for all your web, social media, mobile, broadcast and/or print campaigns and seeing what works, what doesn’t, and how results differ from the campaigns you run at home. This will help you understand how to market successfully in each locality, what’s driving leads and sales, how pricing works, and which campaigns are most effective.

One resource that cannot be overlooked when developing and implementing your global market strategy is your language solutions partner. At Vocalink Global, our The GlobalBrand Solution is specifically designed to support clients from market assessment through market entry and beyond.