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Inbound Marketing Insights

4 Ways to Develop a Comprehensive Global Marketing Strategy

Posted by Elyse Flynn Meyer | 2 Minutes to Read

1285424_PGMS Global Marketing Blog_V3_012522The digital world has removed borders and has made companies adopt a more unified marketing strategy. For marketers looking to expand their reach to new audiences, this makes an excellent case for looking at a unified global marketing strategy to ensure your message is identified within countries outside of your headquarters.
Here are four helpful tips for beginning developing your comprehensive global marketing strategy.

Know the Market in Your Target Regions
When you first decide to expand your marketing to a global level, you need to understand the environment with which you will be working. Each region of the world has different norms and behaviors regarding marketing messages, what is appropriate in that country, how people prefer to be contacted, and more. Be sure to research how that market will respond to your marketing strategy, so you get the most traction from your new audience.

Develop a Global Marketing Plan
Succeeding in a global environment does not mean simply changing the language of your marketing assets. You need your global marketing plan to be consistent with your domestic efforts, but it will need to be customized based on the region you are marketing to at that time. After you have some insight into the global landscape, you can craft a plan to outline your course of action. First, you will ask yourself your goals and objectives for the marketing program. Consider the following questions:

  • Why are you expanding your efforts?
  • What are you looking to achieve?
  • How will you measure success?

Once your goals are established, you can craft a plan covering the overarching strategy and the tactics to achieve those goals.

Customize Your Global Marketing Approach
You will most likely decide to start your global marketing efforts online to reach a worldwide audience and centralize your efforts there. But remember that what worked for reaching your domestic audience may not translate well overseas. Be sure to adapt your initiatives to fit the audience you are trying to reach to build a customized experience for them. What works well in one country or region will likely not yield the same results in other markets. Speak to the needs of that particular region to market your product or service, and customize your approach for that environment. You will need to research the markets you are targeting to ensure your message comes across the way you intended and utilize the best methods to connect with people in that region. A good example is WhatsApp. While it is used with people globally, it is an app heavily used in South America. For clients we have in South America, having a WhatsApp strategy is critical, whereas it is not as important in the United States. Consider that level of detail when customizing your marketing approach to a new region.

Localize Your Marketing Message
Just because you are taking your efforts to a global audience does not mean you cannot still localize your message. Actually, it is almost necessary to be “glocal” (global + local) with your message when targeting a global audience. It is not only essential to understand the cultural and language barriers and adjust your message for each market, but it is also crucial to understand all cultural references and significant events and holidays. Platforms and tactics need to be tailored to the specific targeted region to create a personalized marketing program and connect with the audience on a deeper level.

The brands that execute global marketing successfully have a local identity to their campaigns but remain consistent with their messaging across borders. If you're looking for ways to start optimizing your website for a global audience, download the eBook from our friends at HubSpot, "50 Website and SEO Tips for the International Marketer."


If you're looking for ways to optimize your inbound marketing program for a global audience, we invite you to
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Topics: Inbound Marketing

Elyse Flynn Meyer

Posted by Elyse Flynn Meyer

Elyse Flynn Meyer is the Owner and Founder of Prism Global Marketing Solutions, an inbound marketing agency and HubSpot Platinum Partner based in Phoenix, Arizona. Elyse is the author of the book, Mastering Inbound Marketing Your Complete Guide to Building a Results-Driven Inbound Strategy. She is a frequent contributor to Forbes on digital marketing, and was named Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association.