Local insight is paramount to a successful multicultural content strategy, says Frank Hartkopf, head of European content at international content marketing agency NewsReach.
Imagine you went on a business trip to Shanghai, visiting a prospect about a potentially massive bulk order. You would probably not take any chances and make sure to use a local interpreter for your presentation and seek advice on Chinese business culture prior to your trip. This will prevent you from insulting your business partner without noticing, as even the way you present your business card and the way you receive another person’s must convey respect. You would think long and hard about how to make a positive impression on your potential buyers in order to ensure you didn’t put them off.
Yet this is exactly what many British businesses are doing every day with their online marketing by refusing to speak the language of their clients abroad. Thirty-two per cent of small businesses still think that an English-language website is enough for them to target a foreign audience, according to a survey by Global Lingo. Luckily, more than half (59 per cent) of SMEs disagree. They know language barriers are the main obstacle when trying to expand overseas.
Indeed, while most B2B prospects around the world may understand English, they are significantly more likely to be engaged if you speak their own language. This is vital in the awareness and consideration phase of any B2B customer decision journey.
Emerging markets offer huge potential for B2B companies to grow their customer base, but there are many pitfalls to avoid. Complacency is the biggest one of them. Many businesses believe it’s enough to translate their static website content into several languages, ignoring the content marketing revolution we all find ourselves in.
Whatever the language, marketers need to publish relevant, useful editorial content frequently to be found in online search and to build up trust among potential buyers. The good news is that because competition for traffic is generally lower for non-English languages than for English, your foreign-language content is more likely to rank high in search results.
From our experience with international B2B clients, we have identified six ingredients for a successful multilingual content marketing strategy:
1. Choose your markets
Don’t spread your foreign language content marketing too thinly by focusing on too many languages at once. Instead, check your analytics to identify which non-English speaking country you get the most traffic from. This could be the first language you concentrate your efforts on.
2. Don’t get lost in translation
Even the most accurate translation cannot have the same effect as content written from scratch in your native language. Cultural concepts, different tastes, humour and local situations can all become lost. This is why you should transcreate your content rather than just translate it. A transcreation is an article written about the same topic and using the same structure as well as some of the facts of an article in a source language, but localised and adapted to the culture of your business prospects. This goes further than using the right phrases; it requires vast local knowledge. For example, when transcreating a British source article on the advantages of installing solar panels on your business premises for the German market, we had to take into account a totally different situation with different government subsidies in order to make this content relevant and useful for prospects in Germany.
3. Work with local talent
Search engines and business social media platforms favour authoritative, high quality content on a par with traditional media output, which is why we work with native journalists to get this style and tone of voice right. As journalists are used to thinking like a publisher, their editorial outlook on content ensures that your content has the best angle and the most engaging headline for your audiences.
4. One message, many stories
To ensure a consistent message while addressing local context, you should use the same core topics across all markets in your content strategy, but give your local writers the freedom to adapt them in order to make them relevant to the local prospects.
5. Time it right
At NewsReach, we advise using an editorial content calendar to plan your content production and to time it in a way that causes the biggest effect. It is important to consider the time difference for audiences in Japan versus those in Brazil, but location also determines when it’s best to deploy which content.
Your local expertise, either in-house or through a multilingual content marketing agency, will identify opportunities to link your content to country-specific events, for example an important regional tradeshow. You could publish thought leadership content in the local language in the lead-up to this.
6. Think social
Your highquality transcreated, localised content shouldn’t just sit on your website and wait for passers-by. Distribute it via social media networks with the most exposure in your target country – use not just your default social networks that work well in Britain such as LinkedIn, but also for example Xing to harness inbound business leads in German speaking countries (DACH region).
B2B marketers should think of their multicultural content marketing strategy as a well-prepared business trip abroad. With tailored, localised content in your prospects’ language you will get found online, present yourself you as a suitable business partner, build trust and inspire repeat purchase.
