Content marketing is hard enough. Producing great content, platform optimization, and identifying shifting trends in the marketplace are all key aspects of increasing brand engagement and awareness. Those are just some of the challenges domestically, so what is a brand to do when it has to appeal to a global audience? Here I'm going to identify some of the challenges (and opportunities) that international brands face in their content marketing strategy.
Foreign Language Localization
Perhaps the most obvious way to alienate a potential audience, is to produce content they can't understand. Yet, some brands seem to just be waking up to this idea.
With approximately 19% of the global population being english speakers, there is enormous untapped potential in the marketplace of 3.6 Billion social media users.
According to one study, 55% of global users will only make a purchase if the product information is in their native language. In sports that means we're losing engagement and monetization opportunities if we don't have a localization strategy in place.
Creating a localization strategy
Understand that localization is more than just translation and a comprehensive localization strategy consists of the following steps:
Deciding what content to localize in each relevant market.
Leaning on translators and local experts to optimize content for cultural complexities.
Analyze performance in each market to understand how different types of content perform differently in each market.
Target platform optimization decisions based on localized market and consumer trends.
Complex Coordination & Communication
Aligning multiple organizations - or multiple parts of a single organization - in terms of strategy can be a daunting task. I know this from personal experience working with international partners in television and digital media.
Rarely do inter-organizational interests and strategies align perfectly. More often those relationships require some give-and-take to negotiate the subtleties of the strategy and coordinate effectively and efficiently.
The keys to strategic alignment
In these environments it's important to establish ownership on each side of the partnership. The point-person for negotiating all of the possible complexities and nuances of international content strategy and distribution must be someone who is diplomatic yet firm, and who possesses extraordinary communication skills, organizational skills, emotional intelligence, and cultural awareness.
Understanding Unique Local Markets
Any given region or territory will have its own set of market realities that make it unique. These markets not only are different in terms of the culture, but the regulatory and competitive landscapes are likely very different in each locality.
When creating content for a global audience, it's important to be mindful of these key factors when determining distribution.
Navigating market complexities
It's going to be important to have partners that you can lean on in local markets for insight into the competition and culture as well as any applicable regulations. Ultimately, it's just as important to determine what content doesn't work in a particular region as well as what does work.
Insufficient Resources and Creator Burnout
It would be great to live in a world where we had infinite resources, but the reality is that we're often trying to do the best with what we have. Even content strategies that focus primarily on domestic engagement are susceptible to limited budgets and creator burnout, and trying to optimize content for individual markets increases those challenges exponentially. There is a reason why the wisdom is often to "niche down" and speak to a smaller audience. The larger the audience, the more difficult it can be to reach successfully.
An approach to allocating resources
In these complex environments, the approach taken can mean the difference between success and failure. This is the approach that I would recommend:
Develop a matrix of what content performs well in each market and on each available platform.
Analyze the data to understand where markets overlap in terms of what types of content perform well on each platform.
Plan content distribution and programming based on market overlap, and with an eye towards serving key stakeholders and partners.
Create and produce content with the distribution model in mind.
Remember, sometimes less is more. Prioritizing international localization and optimization over the overall output will often yield greater engagements.
With this approach, output can be maximized while the distribution is optimized and localized. By starting with the question "where is this going and what performs well there," we are able to navigate the complexities of each unique market and create a plan to efficiently create content in a way that avoids (or at least minimizes) creator burnout.
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