Why Global Content Strategy Must Go Beyond Sales

In today’s global business landscape, it is necessary for a business to possess a global content strategy. However, a recent piece of research from Research Scape and Skyword shows us that most marketers in the United States aren’t engaging markets outside their own borders.

In fact, about 64% of global companies lack a global content strategy.

Global content strategies are very important. For starters, they offer protection from disruptive threats. Recently, a study conducted by IBM managed to identify what they tagged as the “Uber Syndrome”, a kind of fear among businesses that an international competitor would attack local customers and cause a disruption in the industry.

To put it simply, the executive leadership no longer feels safe due to the elimination of borders through ideas and technology. Ironically, the very answer to this problem is to ensure that you have a global content strategy in place.

Skyword’s research found that having a global content strategy has a lot to do with success. For instance, around 43% of high-performing marketers had a global content strategy in place, while 24% of underperforming marketers did not.

But, global content strategies need to go beyond just sales and profit. Yes, it's fine to offer a great customer experience, translate the necessary website elements to direct the customer towards a purchase, comply with local regulations with regard to check-out procedures, and boost your global revenue. All of this definitely has some merit, but, your content strategy shouldn’t pause just with this.

Localization is never ending and providing a limited experience isn’t a good enough content strategy.

Offer more support

When it comes to customers in a fresh market, there are obviously going to be questions regarding product functions, order fulfillment, and the purchasing process. You cannot avoid any of it and in order to survive, you must learn to respond.

You can begin by translating your support material. This is important considering the fact that customers all over the globe expect a self-service portal in their own language. Also, ensure that your information is translated accurately. That’s the only way you are going to have control over the conversation.

There is also the benefit of “0 expense” when it comes to self-service portals. On the contrary, live chat services, call centers, and e-mail support will cost a significant amount of money, which will have an effect on your global ROI.

Ensure brand loyalty

As a business making inroads into a fresh market, establishing loyalty is another challenge that you will have to take on. When customers make a new purchase, they are often confused over their decisions as to whether it is the right one or the wrong one.

‍This is where a little communication can come in handy.

For example, sending out a personalized email reinforcing to the customer that he/she made a good choice can go a long way in creating trust and eliminating what is known as “buyer’s remorse”. Engaging like this on a continuous basis can ensure long-term rewards.

You can further the experience by directing the customer to your self-service portal or initiating an onboarding campaign. This will help remove confusion and encourage the customer to really get to know the product. This will help you create a network of informed customers who will only return the favor through word-of-mouth marketing.

Upsell

It’s cheaper to upsell and that adage is very true in the e-commerce era. In fact, statistics tell us that the average e-commerce retailer earns 43% of its revenue through repeat customers. Top e-commerce retailers earn 75% of their revenue this way.

What this goes to show is that your content must be translated throughout the customer lifecycle. So, go ahead and apply your loyalty programs, personalized suggestions, and referral offers to your global content marketing strategy.

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