For many companies, selling outside the home market is a critical success factor. But selling successfully in other markets is often easier said than done.
In 2007, when UK retailer No. I opened its small supermarket chain in several western states, it struggled and gave up within six years. Despite the shared language and heritage, British multinationals have misinterpreted the American public. Small supermarkets, marketed for convenience, low prices, and ready-to-eat meals, were self-service. Of course, it’s never something that prompts a company to sign a deal, but analysts thought it was too much to ask Americans to digitize their purchases, make payments, and then make the purchases.
The key to successfully translating your business and how to market it in the US can be summed up as “Taking Care of the Void” – understanding cultural, practical, and legal differences … and overcoming them through key localization marketing activities intelligent.
Headquarters of the main marketing activities
B2B activities are carried out in person, not just digitally. Business relationships are based on trust. And trust is based, at least in part, on mutual understanding. Intercultural understanding is the key to global success. And it is essential to know how to speak the language of your new market.
This doesn’t mean that you need to completely revise your marketing strategy or even your marketing materials. Much of your marketing can be adapted to work in the United States. Centralized vs. finding is not black and white or a decision. Some marketing activities are best maintained in Central Europe and others are better located in the US market. Best practice marketers know which ones.
Seven Tips to Localize You’re Marketing
If you are marketing in the US, the best practice that European B2B marketers will find is as follows.
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Personal shoppers and travel cards
North American buyers are generally more direct than European ones. While brand reputation can be an important decision factor in Europe, return on investment (ROI) – “show me the money” – is much more important in the United States.
Therefore, with their buying personalities and European signatures as a starting point, marketers with best practices…
- Create an online listening point in the United States.
- Engage actively with your prospects.
- Use a local business to gather clues and insights.
Then they customize their characters and travel maps accordingly.
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Content strategy
To begin localizing your content for the US market, choose a centralized or global content strategy, then adapt it based on the buyer’s and buyer’s journey and integrate local market intelligence.
Your strategy and channel mix for your content assets may shift to the US market. In the United States, for example, B2B buyers find offers and offer from sellers more effective in the sales process, while buyers in Europe find analytic reporting much more effective.
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Content resources
Once you’ve identified your content strategy and assessed your engagement touchpoints, you should conduct a content audit across all touchpoints in the buyer’s journey.
Determine which content assets can be customized for the US market and which additional content assets must be created. Items to be identified include language, call to action, offers, images, customer references, and legal requirements.
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Disclosure and collection of information
Most privacy and data collection laws in the United States are different from those in most European countries. European B2B marketers need to find information and data segmentation in the US market, which has more liberal data privacy rules for communicating with companies.
The effectiveness of your campaign will be only as good as the data it contains.
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Insights and Targeting
Data is just information if it is not intuitively viable. The best marketers create sensational data, with behavioral, demographic, and psychographic information. This is where understanding the nuances between different US regions and cities can help you effectively reach your potential customers.
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Consider local collection and privacy rules
Best Practices European B2B marketers use centrally developed strategic targeting and localize to ensure that target segments are measurable, accessible, and profitable. Localized campaign management can be done by a local team or a centralized team with shared resources, but these campaigns must be developed and implemented with local targeting, data collection, and privacy regulations in mind.
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Telecommunications services and inside sales
Digital marketing is part of the journey, but it’s not all. While the shopper’s journey begins primarily online, don’t underestimate the human element in B2B sales in the United States. People buy from other people. Best practice marketers understand the importance of the human touch in the marketing and sales process and know that the human touch works best when there is a recognizable cultural affinity and quick response to buyer questions.
Finding the Right Balance When Expanding to the United States
When the balance is struck between what to find and what to centralize, it ultimately boils down to the question, “What needs to be shaped, localized, or created around the world to best serve our product or service in the US market? To market? ”
The logic of keeping some marketing activities centralized is twofold:
- Get global brands first and consistent messaging to deliver a consistent customer experience across the entire lifecycle
- Second, to remain cost-effective, use centralized marketing technology and duplicate efforts from one place to another
The content position is important for accuracy, agility, and relevance; but centralization is important for cost efficiency, consistency, and control.
And in all cases, there is a balance to fill the gap.