With the ever-increasing power of the internet and social media, businesses have the ability to reach a global audience with their marketing efforts. However, traditional marketing techniques often don’t work as well when applied to a global market. That’s where global content marketing comes in.
Content marketing is the process of creating and distributing high-quality content to attract and retain customers. The goal of content marketing is to drive profitable customer action. By creating and distributing high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience, you can effectively reach a global market without spending a fortune on advertising.
Why Global Content Marketing?
When done correctly, content marketing anywhere in the world can help you build trust and credibility with your target audience. It can also position you as an expert in your industry, which can lead to stronger relationships, more sales, and higher customer retention rates.
Unlike traditional marketing techniques, content marketing is not intrusive or pushy. Instead, it provides valuable information that your target audience is likely to be interested in already. And because content marketing relies heavily on search engine optimization (SEO), it can help you rank higher in search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
Benefits of Content Marketing:
- Content marketing helps you attract new customers. By creating high-quality content, you can attract new visitors to your website and convert them into leads and customers.
- Content marketing helps you build trust with your customers. If you provide valuable, informative, and helpful information, your target audience will begin to see you as a credible source of information. This trust can eventually lead to sales.
- Content marketing improves your brand image. If you produce consistent, high-quality content, people will begin to associate your business with quality products or services. This can help increase sales and encourage customer loyalty.
- Content marketing is relatively low cost if you have the expertise to share using a variety of media. Compared to other forms of marketing, such as paid advertising, content marketing is less costly and you own the audience.. This makes it an attractive option for small businesses or businesses on a tight budget.
Examples of Successful Global Content Marketing
Many companies, both large and small, have created successful global content marketing campaigns, and we can learn from their examples, and even integrate some of their ideas into our own strategies.
Salesforce became a leader in global content marketing after shifting its focus from product-centric to customer-centric campaigns. The “Ohana” campaign and support system spotlights the importance of family and community and focuses on both local and global connectivity.
The “Leading Through Change” campaign by Salesforce is another extremely successful global content campaign. It features thought leadership, innovation, and insights from global business leaders, and provides both inspiration and practical advice for businesses – while also highlighting the tools that Salesfiorce and Pardot offer.
The UK utility company Bulb Energy used a novel content marketing approach to engage customers: sending personalized emails detailing customers’ reduced impact on the environment when using renewable electricity and green gas. These emails were both educational and entertaining, and provided powerful motivation to increase their conservation efforts – and invest in renewable energy.
Global sales training company RAIN Group took its customers’ experiences seriously and created a survey to find out how its services and expertise might be needed during the early days of the pandemic. They eventually released the complete findings in an e-book: Virtual Selling: How to Build Relationships, Differentiate, and Win Sales Remotely. This earned RAIN Group the 2021 Content Marketing Award for Best B2B Branded Content Campaign.
How to Create Relevant Content for your Global Audience:
In order to create content that resonates with a global audience, you need to start by understanding them and what they want from your brand – whether from inference or by asking them directly, like in the example above. Once you understand these factors, you can create appealing content that speaks to their needs.
First, let’s look at understanding your audience. There are a few key questions you need to answer:
- Who is your target audience?
- What are their needs?
- What do they want to see from your brand?
- How are you different and special when solving their needs?
- Are you committed to their market?
Answering these questions will help you get a better understanding of who you’re trying to reach and what type of content will resonate with them.
Now that we’ve covered how to understand your target audience, let’s look at creating content that appeals to a global audience. Here are a few tips:
1. Keep it simple
2. Use local and relevant keywords for SEO
3. Use relevant localized visuals and alt text to support search
4. Be culturally sensitive and appropriate
5. Showcase your expertise in a genuine, humble, and helpful way
6. Write for one international audience, not too broad
7. Promote your content globally in key markets
Keeping it simple means creating content that is easy to understand regardless of language barriers. This can be achieved by using short sentences, active voice, and common terminology. Avoid industry jargon as much as possible. Use visuals whenever you can as they are universally understood. Be sure to be culturally sensitive and relevant in your imagery and messaging. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and make sure to do extensive research if you’re marketing to a culture you aren’t very familiar with.
Finally, when promoting your content globally, consider using platforms like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads to reach a wider audience. Look to see if there are local platforms to boost your content on and reach a completely new localized audience. Utilizing these tips will help ensure that your content resonates with – and gets seen by – a global audience.
Global Content Marketing: Key to Engaging a Global Audience
With the increasing power of the internet, social media, and globalization, businesses now have the opportunity to reach customers all over the world with their products and services. Global content marketing is an effective way to connect with customers around the world, without using pushy marketing tactics or spending lots of money on advertising. By following the tips above, you can create content that engages a global audience and helps promote your business on an international scale.
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