Localise Marketing: Is Your Digital Marketing Led by Global?

The term “localise marketing” isn’t an unfamiliar term. But why isn’t it getting the recognition it deserves?

Some multinational companies we have spoken to have told us that their digital marketing is led by their global team. Because of that, they had to decline our proposal due to budget reasons.

This is a common case we’d like to address. We want to help remove the roadblocks of global businesses who are trying to thrive better locally.

It’s crucial especially during these trying times when physical face-to-face meetings and traditional marketing events are all but impossible.

Sounds familiar?

The most disappointing problem with global-led marketing

One of the most common disappointing mistakes with global marketing is not letting the local teams lead the way.

This is a mistake because local teams know the country in question better which could lead to better business results.

For example, some local teams feel that they have not tapped other marketing channels due to the lack of, or highly restrictive local marketing budget.

This usually happens when the local team’s input is not considered when making strategic decisions on the onset, which includes whether enough budget is allocated for the target country.

Facts on local marketing

Before getting on why local marketing is important, here are some facts to consider according to this study:

• 72.1% of consumers mostly spend their time on websites in their own language
• 72.4% of consumers are more likely to buy a product with information in their own language.
• 56.2% of consumers said that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.
• 9 out of 10 consumers said that, when given a choice of languages, they always visited a website in their own language.
• 42% said they never purchase products and services in other languages.

As the above stats show, the best way for global brands to market and drive revenue locally is to have a local marketing strategy.

A local marketing strategy takes language, culture, and market behaviour into account when communicating and engaging with your audiences in your target countries, while keeping your branding consistent – in your website, ads, and other media assets.

Too often, some brands – for example, a brand from Germany – believe they can enter Asian markets by following the same playbook that brought them local success.

The problem with that is that different Asian markets require different marketing approaches, as dictated by their own diverse local cultures and consumer behaviour.

Meaning, if a brand has domestic success through direct marketing in Europe, this channel may not necessary perform greatly in Asia.

Benefits of local marketing

Here is a list of benefits if you choose to localise your digital marketing:

1. Better reach to the target audience
   • Localisation extends brand reach and awareness. With localised content, you can reach more people in your target country by speaking in their own language. This helps your market entry and brand penetration.
   • Localisation of content boosts SEO. Your website is more likely to be found in the local search results if your content is adapted to the context of the local market. That said, you should consider investing on content translation.
2. Better engagement and connections
   • By localising your website content and ad messages, the level of engagement with your prospective and existing customers will be higher. It shows that your brand cares about the local cultures and values.
   • Localisation promotes personal connection, confidence, and trust to your brand. Your target local audience is more likely to trust your brand if you engage with them on social media. It also helps when locals can verify your business in the local market (for example, by having a local office or local aftersales support team).
3. Better revenue
   • With increased brand awareness and more engaged audiences due to localised marketing, you are positioned towards better revenue.
   • Localised marketing in social media, for example, has resulted to 300% growth of revenue for some brands in the US. In some cases, localisation resulted to 70% increased in conversion rate.

What to do if your marketing is led by global

If you are part of a local marketing team and you want to propose better ideas to your global team, contact us and we’d be happy to give you the support you need.

We will help audit your digital marketing activities and investigate how you adopt localisation in your digital marketing. We check from social media content, to local SEO, to local PPC or any paid media advertising.

Local marketing is an area worth investing for as you adjust your focus on digital marketing in 2020. Indeed, there’s no better time than now to localise your marketing.