2. Why Market Globally?
Customers are global
Our customers have offices around the world, you
should too
Internet makes you global
E-commerce offers opportunities to sell to anyone
with Internet access
Why not?
More countries mean more opportunity
3. Typical Situation #1
Me: “I'm giving a presentation on "Thinking
Globally with your Product Marketing" As an
EMEA guy, do you have any tips you'd like to
share that would help your U.S. counterparts
out?
EMEA Guy: “Yep sure, make sure you
message test what you are rolling out. Make
sure any statements or strap-lines [taglines]
you create translate into other languages or
can be understood by other cultures. Have
product launch review cycles that includes
folks from other geos (APAC and EMEA).”
4. Typical Situation #2
Me: “I'm giving a presentation on "Thinking Globally with your
Product Marketing". Got any tips I can share that you'd
suggest as an EMEA guy?”
2nd EMEA Guy: “Yeah, definitely. I’d say that in this
increasingly globalised world that we live in the old adage “go
global, think local” is truer than ever before. Whilst products
might be designed to be globally delivered, marketing must
be locally focused – pull out the features and functions that
are more relevant and set aside those that don’t fit with the
audience.
Also, Europe is many countries – many of my American
colleagues seem to think of us as the United States of
Europe. “We’re going to localise the value proposition for
Europe” they say – “change the Zeds to Esses and we’ll have
our collateral in International English”… what is international
English anyway?
Make sure to travel and immerse yourself in the local culture
– see how others do business and follow. This is no time to
5. Marketing Tips
Present a local face to your customers
Interview in-country customers on topics of local
interest and post the interview on your website
Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation
of the local culture in all that you do
Write locale-relevant press releases in the local
language and release them on your website and
on in-country online wire services
Make local customer service accessible and easy
6. Marketing Tips
Holidays are different so pay attention to them
Time zones are different so schedule for that
What you can ask customers to do is
different, i.e., they may not be able to give a
quote for a press release or speak at an event
Formalize Direct Marketing in some locales –
i.e., Dear Mr. Smith v. “Dear Sam”
Put your local address/contact info on the
website
List local events you are participating in
7. Marketing Tips
Monitor your global brand online to measure
attitudes and the impact of your programs
Use social media to connect with local
consumers and allow for two-way
communications and establish a dialogue
A localization partner can help with
international social media monitoring and
translation of these communications so you
stay on top of what is being said about you
8. Content Tips
Eliminate colloquialisms
Edit marketing copy to eliminate U.S.-specific
references, i.e., HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley
regulations that don’t apply outside of the U.S.
Get an in-country expert to write the copy
using basic copy points
9. Graphic Tips
Reduce the use of text in images
If you’re working with machine
translation, i.e., Google Translate, they won’t work
with graphical images
Allow your text to grow
Make sure your layout can survive machine
translations
Web content written in English and converted to
another language, should flow into your webpage
Print content may not flow as easily as some
words are just longer in one language than they
are in another, i.e., German
10. Legal Tips
Advertising Regulations: advertising related to
certain types of products are subject to approval
by various governing bodies in other countries
Comparative Advertising: may not be legal in
other countries. Americans may use phrases
like "best" and "better" to describe products in
relation to other brands, but Germany, France
and Belgium don’t
Be Careful with Promotions:
contests, sweepstakes, deals and premium
offers (i.e., buy one, get one free) can be
11. Design Tips
Work with an international design firm and in-
country managers to understand perceptions
of colors and symbols with your target
audience
Color matters when designing a global-friendly
site because what a color connotes can vary
greatly depending on culture. Green, for
example, can represent serenity or eco-
friendliness in the United States, but in some
countries, it is associated with greed
12. Website Tips
Make Your Shopping Cart Global: when
accepting payment from global users, offer the
payment amount in one currency
Share Shipping Information: post your
method of international shipping on your
website to set your customer’s expectations
properly
Post customer service information and
hours on the website
13. Website Tips
Secure Website Extensions: i.e., .nl, .de, etc. in
advance of launching your site
Choose the Right Search Engines: Figure out
which search engines are used by the particular
markets you are targeting
Localize Content: Don’t just translate your
website into target languages and think your
phrasing is correct. Use human translation
instead of machine translation where you can
Choose Native Keywords: Work with native
speakers trained in SEO to figure out the best
native keywords for your website and its content
14. Social Media Tips - Facebook
Facebook: Either create one page or many
One brand page: lets you target updates by
location, demographics and language. It’s easy to
update. But, it could be confusing to users who
visit your page and find updates in multiple
languages
Multiple regional pages: takes more time to
customize, as various logos and text should be
created for each page. But, pages will be better
focused on each country you market in
15. Social Media Tips - Twitter
Twitter: If you expect to tweet in multiple
languages, you should create multiple Twitter
accounts. This minimizes confusion with
readers who don't speak all of the languages
you tweet in. Dell's Direct2Dell corporate
blog, for example, has Twitter feeds in
English, Norwegian, Chinese, Japanese, and
Spanish
16. Social Media Tips - YouTube
YouTube: While creating video content in
various languages is a huge task that may not
be possible. Adding subtitles to YouTube
videos is a way to get around doing voiceovers
for each country
17. Marketing Tips - Measure
Your marketing department, along with your
localization vendor can conduct a quarterly
review of your international brand
messages, collateral materials, and language-
related business practices in each market.
Regularly seek client, vendor and employee
feedback regarding how your brand delivers
on its promises and the evolution of your
brand's image
Editor's Notes
Good morning, I’m Carole Gunst. I’ve worked in product marketing for a long time now. Most of my time has been spent right here in Kendall Square with software companies. All too often, I’ve just done my thing for a product launch for a North American audience and I’ve handed over my files to the international folks to take it from there.Recently I helped a client of mine get their website translated into 4 languages and it got me thinking that there’s a lot more I could be doing on the front end to help market globally.I hope this can be a good discussion today and that you’ve got some ideas to contribute too.
All too often, as marketers based in the United States, we tend to focus our marketing efforts on the market we know, which is the U.S. market. By broadening our thinking, we can take our messaging, marketing programs, and our products to a larger market. This gives us the opportunity to increase our sales and our brand loyalty.More importantly, is the fact that a lot of our customers are global. In the B2B space, we’ve probably got customers with offices outside of the United States. And, in the B2C space, the customers finding us on the Internet could be based anywhere.Keeping a few tips in mind, will help us proactively with our product marketing efforts. Let’s review a few tips now.
If you don’t know the marketplace in another country, work with someone who does. You can start with a local office if you’ve got one and work with the sales team there. If not, reach out to business partners in that country for suggestions of who to work with.Conduct a global brand assessment study. Take a look at your logo and visuals and consider how the colors, shapes and font choices (typography) will be perceived in other cultures. Could any of the shapes in your brand elements be confused with cultural symbols? Try to see your brand identity through the eyes of a local.If necessary, work with a designer or your marketing department to refresh your brand in the context of the new global stage where your products will have a multicultural following.Keep one logo for all countries but vary your slogan if necessary.Leave your brand name in English if the words are not crucial to the message your brand communicates.
Reducing the amount of text on graphic images is a good practice. It’s an even better practice when your images are being translated.If you’re working with machine translation, like Google Translate, then static images for headings, parts of a logo (like the tagline)or for call-out information, your content isn’t going to get translated.Optimizing your website's text for global access goes beyond limiting the number of graphics that utilize text — you also want to make sure your layout can survive machine translations.
Every country has it’s own rules and regulations. Work with a legal expert who knows what s/he before you start marketing in another countryAdvertising Regulations: In some regions of the world, advertising related to certain types of products are subject to approval by that government. Pharmaceuticals fall into this category. Comparative advertising also needs to be handled differently by country. While America may be relatively relaxed about using phrases like "best" and "better" to describe products in relation to other brands, Germany, France and Belgium are all known for having very strict principles when it comes to competitive messaging.Verizon's commercials that compared 3G coverage across America between Verizon's and AT&T's networks, for example, made it to fruition in the States, but this type of comparative, and possibly misleading, sales tactic may not be permissible in other countries.Regulation of Sales Tactics: Various sales promotion tactics — such as contests, sweepstakes, deals and premium offers (i.e., buy one, get one free) — are usually regulated differently across borders. Make sure your desired promotion tactics don't conflict with local laws before running them.Product Laws: If you sell your product online to an international audience, it is subject to product development laws regarding chemical makeup, safety, performance and packaging designs, including languages, sizes and materials used.
