Beth Worthy
12/7/2018
If you are shifting your business to another location or planning to go global with your company, localization of your content and reworking on your social media strategy is imperative for success.
Every business owner who shifts their location, expands their operations, or has ventured overseas, understands the challenge of website content localization.
The more relatable the content is to the foreign audience, the more inclined they will be to buy the products and services being offered.
This fact underscores the importance of determining the global variations in the language so that your content reaches the right target audience--achieving your marketing goals.
Therefore, you need to know where your audience is located. Next, draft a content strategy that develops a deeper trust of the customers in the local market.
For this, we reached out to 7 small business leaders, who shared the strategies they use to increase content efficiency when entering new markets.
1. Create a strategy
Utilizing the S.M.A.R.T goals method is a great start when creating the initial framework for your social media goals. It allows you to figure out your objective, establish goals, and pick the right metrics to measure your success.
2. Keep an eye on your competition
Pay attention to what other competing businesses are doing with their social media accounts. Observe what works for them and test whether or not you can implement a similar strategy for your own.
3. Analyze and track your progress
You can see what type of content is working for your brand and what needs a little adjusting. Utilizing social media management sites like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Google Analytics can help figure out how successful your posted content is and where to consider making adjustments.
4. Find the right social media platforms
Should you have a profile on every social platform all in the name of increasing the visibility of your offerings and services? Probably not – especially if you don’t have the bandwidth to manage each account. Head back to your strategy to determine the kind of content you want to market, who you want to target, and where your audience is located.
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Russell Knight, Law Office of Russell D. Knight
I have always created content on my Chicago website based on experiences I’ve had in current cases.
Typically, I broadly answer the same question a client recently posted. I get a lot of business from people who google search the exact same questions.
I recently became licensed in Florida, where I have a second home. I opened an office in Florida and began to create content.
Florida law is different from Illinois law, so the content had to be completely new. I did not have any Florida clients to ask me legal questions for me to recreate on my Florida website, however.
I bought what lawyers call a hornbook for Family Law in Florida. A hornbook is essentially a comprehensive guide to a legal subject.
Moreover, I read the hornbook and gleaned questions that the hornbook was essentially answering. Now, people are reading the Florida content as well as the Chicago content.
Localization is key, as one size does not fit all when it comes to connecting with customers from different countries.
Whenever we start to expand into a new market, we launch a country-specific company blog on our website.
On this blog, we cover interviews with local businesses and specific industry leaders—from the respective country—in order to localize and situate our business in the new market.
Featuring content about local businesses builds familiarity and trust with the customers. Online shopping is built on trust, so this connection is incredibly important.
We also adapt the language to fit the different countries, as well as work with local influencers to further localize our content. I’m more than happy to share our experiences with this as well.
Many consumers are shying away from massive, faceless, corporations taking their business to friendlier and smaller companies.
That being the case, it’s important for small businesses to introduce themselves and share their story. T
his simple marketing technique is a great way to stand out and engage your audience without having to promote sales and markdowns.
Besides giving your brand a voice, sharing your story can add character to your business; adding an appeal to consumer emotions.
If you can effectively communicate your company values and what makes you special, you will see a rise in popularity.
We are running our business in 26 different markets: we are running a large personal finance and price comparison site, Financer.com, in these markets.
We have faced huge challenges with content marketing and SEO when expanding to new markets because some aspects of content marketing might not work, all the same, in other countries.
Finding experienced locals with knowledge of what works in the market plays a huge role—when expanding to new markets.
I think the most important thing when creating a content strategy, for new markets, is to make sure you use the vocabulary that locals use; especially if there are global variations.
For example, British and American English have subtle differences in spelling and vocabulary.
Therefore, if you’re an American company entering the UK, you should probably have a local speaker read over your content to make sure it hits the right notes.
The hard part of content marketing is finding the balance between SEO and targeted keywords, alongside creating a deep understanding and connection with customers.
When you want well-ranking content that develops a deeper trust of the customers, you have to know your customers.
That means you have to interview a range of different customers (both who still buy with you and who have stopped using your services).
You need to try and understand where they are coming from. From there, you need to develop a ‘buyer persona’ that represents sectors of your customer base.
These personas include customers’ measures of success, fears, what is holding them back, suggested methods of contact, ways that they get information, and anything that can help your specific industry.
Once you have your customers, creating a mission statement is key. A content mission statement is the basis for every piece of content created.
If this is followed, then no matter which of the great SEO strategies you use, you will see a deeper relationship with customers. Here is a template you can use.[INSERT BUSINESS NAME] sells [PRODUCT]. However, the [INSERT BUSINESS NAME] blog is not about selling [PRODUCT]. The blog is focused on giving [IDEAL CUSTOMERS] the knowledge that [THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ABOUT PRODUCT/SERVICE AND HOW IT RELATES TO CUSTOMERS].
The strategies mentioned above highlight the importance of hiring professional translation services; when entering new local markets.
Effective translation of your website’s content will help you adapt the language to fit different countries and will facilitate in achieving your marketing goals.
Also Read: Finding Your Focus: Who is Your Audience?
