While focusing on your local audience is a great marketing effort that will help you get to know your ideal customer, you can also focus on reaching a broader audience. As you implement your marketing strategy locally, you’ll get an idea of what resonates, what works, and what doesn’t. Since the one strategy won’t work for everyone around the world, you should consider different options for reaching a worldwide audience. We’ll go over seven techniques to make this process go more smoothly so you’ll know what it takes to expand your reach.
Start with research
Just like with your local audience and local marketing strategy, every effort begins with research. You have to learn more about the audience you wish to target. Each country might be different, so you’ll have to cover all the bases. Also, this research will help to identify your main global competitors. It’s always best if you know who you’re up against so you’ll know how to tailor your message and your marketing strategy to reach the audience you might share with one of your biggest competitors. Furthermore, go deep into the data to identify potential markets to explore and avoid those that are already oversaturated. Even if your goal is to target one of those oversaturated markets, you might be surprised to learn about other global opportunities as well. But, until you do your research, you won’t know where your global opportunities lay.
Get to know the laws and regulations
Every country has its own set of rules and regulations governing any type of business, service and product. It’s your job to get to know the legal landscape of the country where you want to market your product. There will be certain rules to follow depending on the country you wish to target. For example, you might be required to package or label your product to a certain standard. Also, you have to know if there are certain limitations regarding your product or service.
Tailor the product to a specific market
Once you learn about the rules of the market your wish to target, it’s time to tailor the product to fit the requirements and your audience’s taste. If you’re trying to reach a wider audience for your product, you can play with different packaging, color or font. You can also create a product that has a traditional spice of that country or some other unique condiment or added flavor. Just use other people’s preferences to market your product to an audience that is different from your local audience. Also, pay attention to trends like sustainable packaging or other sustainable practices of the country you wish to reach.
Work on the marketing plan
If you try to replicate your current marketing plan, you might not appeal to the needs of a global audience. Each country has a different audience, and it’s your job to provide value to each one of them. You need to know their habits and preferences to customize your marketing approach. If you want to target a specific country with an ad designed to provide value, service, or product to fit their needs, you can target them easily via different marketing channels. You can easily automate your marketing efforts to even target a specific city, demographic, area and show your ads at a specific time. Also, pay attention to marketing channels, because what works well locally, might now work well globally. But, if you know which social media channel is popular in the market you want to appeal to, tailor your message to that channel.
Take advantage of live streaming
The easiest way to bridge all borders and to connect with people across the world is via any form of a live event. By now, every person out there has had experience with live events, concerts, webinars, and live stream conferences. The reason behind this trend is simple – these types of events are easily accessible and of value to both organizers and the intended audience. You can take advantage of live stream conferences yourself, to boost your engagement and reach a wider audience. You just have to come up with content that is of value to your global audience and team up with an experienced team that will help you get your message across and ensure flawless execution.
Breakthrough the language barrier
You’ve probably heard of the saying that things get lost in translation. This means, what works well in one language might not sound that appealing in another. Also, some phrases might not be possible to translate because the translation won’t evoke the same call to action or even a reaction. So, when working with a global audience, you need to pay attention to the language and hire experienced international marketing consultants and interpreters. Don’t just rely on translating your existing content and expect to see great results. An international team can be your ally in reaching a wider audience with a perfect copy and marketing approach that will help you break through another global market.
Deliver meaningful content
Whether it’s in the form of a blog post, video, social media post or ad, make sure the content is specific for the global audience. When you aim to establish a foothold in a global market, you need to direct your efforts in creating local content. Different geographic regions, different preferences, thus they will respond to a different message. This means that you’ll have to make meaningful and authentic pieces of content for each market your wish to target. Also, another great way to also do this is to repurpose old pieces of content and tweak them to fit the new need and purpose.
Lastly, don’t forget to research the culture of your new market. A successful global campaign is tailored to fit the cultural requirements, as well. This is yet another reason to start with thorough research and tailor every other step to the data you’ve collected. Your ultimate goal is to reach a wider audience, so make sure your effort and your message are culturally appropriate.
