As globalisation increases, its impact on businesses becomes more visible. So, what can globalisation do for B2B marketing campaigns?
The world is shrinking
Thanks to globalisation, our world is shrinking. Spurred on by the spread of easy internet access, businesses of all sizes have the opportunity for global growth.
You need only consider the clichéd, “built a software program in their basement” story to know that designing a product in Stoke-on-Trent and selling it to Silicon Valley is now well within the realms of possibility. This new reality is exciting and potentially lucrative, but it comes with a unique set of challenges that your business will need to address when planning out future B2B marketing strategies.
Essentially, our shrinking world has provided companies with a much broader target market. Successfully marketing your product on a global scale requires that your business stays up to date with trends and changes in your industry across the world. It’s imperative that you fully understand the specific needs, values and pain points of your target audience if you wish to market effectively to them.
Get to know your audience
Whether you’re developing content for a blog or planning an advertising campaign for a new product, you must first get to know the varying local nuances of your target market. What languages do they speak? Are there any cultural differences you need to be aware of? Don’t make assumptions about the needs and pain points of your audience – conduct market research so that you can make informed decisions in your marketing strategy.
When entering foreign markets, it’s worth building relationships with potential partners and customers ahead of launching your marketing efforts. Reach out to prospects, organise meetings and work on building up a local presence to show that you are invested in the new location. After all, to some extent, it’s not just about what you know, but who you know.
Part of familiarising yourself with your audience also involves identifying the best channels to use to market to them. The channels you currently focus on may not be appropriate or effective in other markets.
In some parts of the world it may be wise to invest more in mobile marketing channels than you do at home, while in others, offline channels like events may be pivotal to your marketing efforts when you first launch. Take time to research the most popular apps in different regions to ensure that your efforts aren’t wasted on the wrong platforms.
Tailor your content
Once you’re familiar with your target audience, the next order of business is in tailoring your marketing techniques and content accordingly. Let’s say, for instance, that your US-based company is promoting the next big cloud-based platform and you want to target the African market. Here is a hypothetical example of how and why you may need to adapt your content and approach:
The government in South Africa has re-introduced a rota of nationwide electricity rationing – otherwise known as load shedding – to help prevent the collapse of the power grid, as supply fails to keep up with demand. Alongside a wide range of inconveniences, these daily electricity “blackouts” also cause computer systems to shut down. Data security and protection are at risk as a result, and businesses are in danger of losing any information created or uploaded since their last backup.
When designing your content strategy for this market, you’ll need to address these issues. Your marketing content should home in on the pain points that frustrate your potential customers and cause their business the most trouble. By understanding their problems, you can present your cloud-based platform as a solution. So, in this instance, you would place an emphasis on the automatic backups, data security and the ability to work from multiple devices that require no electricity to run.
Widened horizon, narrowed focus
Increased globalisation allows businesses to have a greater impact on their product or message. Globalisation has broadened the horizons of B2B marketing by breaking down the borders between countries and extending the reach to foreign clientele. Access to mass markets can lead to increased sales for businesses, while consumers can benefit from full product variety and competitive pricing.
Though horizons are inevitably widened as a result of globalisation, businesses must be careful to retain a narrow focus in their B2B marketing. When it comes to advertising, marketing, and product development, one size certainly does not fit all.
It’s imperative that businesses spend time getting to know their audience and designing varying strategies to attract the target buyers in each location. To run successful B2B marketing campaigns, brands must always stay up to date with technology innovations, economic trends and competition within the different countries they intend to target.
Like Pandora’s box, globalisation can’t ever be closed or put away. It’s here for good, and it’ll keep changing the way that B2B marketing works. It’s our job as marketers to figure out how we can use it to our benefit.
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