B2B going global

With an increasing number of B2B agencies, vendors and brands going global, is now the time that globalisation of the B2B market is becoming more advantageous? Claire Weekes investigates.

Without a doubt, technology is helping more brands and agencies connect with overseas markets and go global.

It would appear, thanks to the digital revolution that we find ourselves in the midst of, that globalisation in all aspects of B2B marketing is becoming ever more achievable. Technology is an increasingly important factor in this, enabling brands to run campaigns internationally with a greater degree of control than ever before. Consequently the marketing function is becoming the target for global tech giants – Oracle’s recent $871 million acquisition of marketing automation vendor Eloqua is the best example of this, and Adobe too has made no secret of its wish to dominate the marketing space.

At the same time, an increasing number of UK marketing agencies are merging with overseas counterparts in a bid to expand globally – the recent merger of UK-based Agency IAS B2B Marketing and New York-based agency Stein + Partners Brand Activation (to form SteinIAS) is a case in point. The merger of the two is, explains Rob Morrice, managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at SteinIAS, a natural fit given that more and more brands are thinking big when it comes to the reach of their campaigns.

“The first thing brands look for in a global agency is whether they have substance in US, the UK, and increasingly the Far East, which is a market more and more Western brands are tapping into”, he says. For this reason Stein/IAS is in the process of putting down roots in Shanghai.Of the opportunities for B2B agencies looking to pick up international business, Morrice believes the gap in the market lies in there being global agencies that can offer a joined-up network around the world for ‘mid-sized’ brands – by which he means the ones spending “between 10 and 20 million dollars, perhaps, per campaign.

“The biggest of the big brands – the IBMs of this world, will have their global strategies in place, handled by their big agencies. But the availability of a global agency service for mid-sized brands is lacking. We want to be at the vanguard of global agency expansion because we believe more and more mid-sized brands – in sectors like finance, construction and healthcare, are seeking to go global, with an agency that can offer them a joined-up, international service. Technology is making the world smaller and agencies and brands must react to that.”

In the past, marketers would need to spend considerable amounts of time and money localising a campaign for each overseas target market. So the fact technology and agency expansions are affording them easier opportunities to go global has to be a good thing. Or is it not as simple as it seems? 

Tech is one answer
Yes, technology does make it easier but only if it is used in an effective way. Technology opens up an ever increasing portfolio of communications channels for brands looking to connect with overseas audiences. It also affords brands, and the agencies that work alongside them, the opportunity to gather deep levels of insight into international audiences. Thanks to the levels of automation and the introduction of cloud-based services provided by vendors it is possible too for companies to manage their global operations via one platform, therefore standardising campaigns and reporting.

While technology can help to automate the overall process behind a global marketing campaign, it cannot contextualise. This is an element of international marketing strategy that still requires the human touch.

“Standardising campaigns globally is not a good idea – contextualisation is key, particularly in emerging economies such as the BRICs. Starting with UK material can work, as being British is cool in many emerging markets, and having [a] foreign feel carries appeal; but if messages and creative are not tailored for local relevance they cease to resonate,” says Hin-Yan Wong, head of research & strategy at advertising and marketing agency, Connect.

Technology can help us to number crunch but a lot of the groundwork, when it comes to repurposing a home-grown campaign to run in overseas markets, is still down to good old-fashioned research – i.e. getting to know your audience by learning about it.

However, what marketers can do a lot more easily these days is centralise their international campaigns.

Centre stage for marketing
“Many B2B organisations, particularly technology companies, regularly fluctuate from central control to local autonomy. Most prefer a centralised model as this gives them more control over campaigns and communications,” says Chris Sykes, CEO at agency Volume Global.

“From our experience, simple considerations such as adapting campaigns for various languages can greatly enhance how we reach different audiences across different markets. By being able to use global technology on both a local and worldwide scale, we’re able to then automate that process, requiring minimal assistance needed from teams in that country.

“Similarly with digital communications channels; rather than homogenising content, we’re able to break it down into palatable chunks and adapt it for the intended viewers. Whether it be through bespoke content delivery platforms or mandated enterprise marketing automation tools, there’s a host of solutions available.

“The big advantage for marketers of course is they have more communication channels available to them and by repurposing centrally produced content can get a campaign or communication to market very quickly and cost-effectively. This also means it’s more of a level playing field where smaller companies can compete effectively on the global stage.

Big reach for small brands
Sykes makes the point that as big brands consider bigger and more far reaching global marketing campaigns, thanks to the technology that allows them to do so, the smaller brands behind them are increasingly able to do the same. For one thing, brands big and small now have the same access to technology to make globalisation of their campaigns easier.

We are in an era in which brands are able to go from local to global in the blink of an eye. Social media alone affords brands the opportunity to dip their toes into several different markets at the push of a few buttons. However, access to the technology alone that allows brands to go global is not enough to justify doing it without in-depth thought and planning.

Even a global social media campaign – so easy to set up in principle – should pose many questions; does your brand have 

the resources to provide content for multiple local pages? Should a joined-up approach be taken, or should each international strand of a campaign be handled separately?

Globalised marketing campaigns will inevitably become more commonplace as technology makes our world of communication smaller. But technology alone cannot make for global success.

 

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