niti shah - the marketers checklist for going global

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THE MARKETER’S CHECKLIST FORGOING GLOBALWhat to do (and not to do)when entering a new market.

Niti Shah, Senior Marketing Manager, HubSpot

#INBOUND16@nitifromboston

the number of countries HubSpot has customers in.93.

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WHY AM I STANDING UP HERE?

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1. How to decide where you’re taking your business

2. Which marketing activities to prioritize for a new region

3. How to work effectively as a global marketing team

4. Basic need-to-knows

AGENDA.


1HOW TO DECIDE WHERE YOU’RE TAKING YOUR BUSINESS

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The MARACA model is a framework that

provides a clear, at-a-glance view of the relative

value of a given country to your company, to

facilitate international strategy decisions.

Do the MARACA!

Nataly KellyVP International Ops & StrategyHubSpot


MARKET AVAILABILITYHow much opportunity does this market offer?


REAL-TIME ANALYTICSHow are we performing in this market?


CUSTOMER ADDRESSABILITYHow easily can we address this market?


OtherReally Big Stuff.


OFFICE LOCATIONWill you be operating out of your headquarters or establishing a local office? Which functions will be run out of that office?


REGIONAL TALENTIs there a large enough talent pool in the region that fits various teams’ requirements and culture?


2 WHICH MARKETING ACTIVITIES TO PRIORITIZE


KNOW YOUR METRICS.You need to know what you’re getting yourself into, which means you need some data.


TRAFFIC• What countries are driving

traffic to your website?

• What sources in a region

contribute to traffic?

• What content is driving

regional traffic?


LEADS• How many leads are you

currently generating in that

region?

• What topics and types of

content are generating leads?


CUSTOMERS• What is your lead to customer

conversion rate in region?

• What traffic and lead sources

are resulting in the best (and

worst) customer close rates in

region?


KICKSTART SMARKETING.Meet with the regional sales team ASAP.


NOTHING ELSE MATTERS IF……Your marketing and sales teams

aren’t aligned.

Meet with regional sales managers

and set expectations and a Service

Level Agreement (SLA).


TRIAGE FIRST• Address immediate blockers to

sales, such as lack of collateral

• Understand major influencers

in the sales process, such as

local business customs and

government incentives


PERSONA RESEARCH.Your marketing can’t be one-size-fits-all:understand who your regional personas are.


IDENTIFY KEY DIFFERENCES• Do local keyword research

• Read regional blogs and pubs

• Talk to existing customers

• Attend industry events

• Network with local companies


HOW THEY CONSUME CONTENT• Where do they find their

content?

• What formats are most

popular?


HOW THEY COMMUNICATE• Do they use email or

messenger tools such as

Whatsapp?

• What social media platforms

do they prefer?

• Memes or no memes?


HOW THEY PURCHASE• How much online research do

they conduct?

• Is there an expectation of face-

to-face meetings?

• How important is guanxi?


CREATE DIGITAL ESSENTIALS.Can you support multiple regions and languages on your website? What assets do you need to create?


SALES COLLATERALMake sure your sales reps have

essential localized whitepapers

and resources they need to sell.


TOP-LEVEL DOMAINIf you’re expanding into different

languages, you’ll want to use

country-specific top level

domains (TLDs) for that language.


SEOConduct keyword research to

understand where your keywords

rank in local online search.

Create content to rank for local

search terms.


BLOGCreate language-specific blogs

for secondary languages you’re

selling in.

This is the biggest organic lever

you can pull in a region.


CONTENTDo an audit of existing content

and localize any that fit with your

new market.

When in doubt, repurpose!


SOCIALDo you need local handles? Do

you have the resources to

maintain additional social?

Which networks are your ideal

customers on?


ESTABLISH A LOCAL PRESENCE.Understand and integrate your company into the local industry landscape.


PRHire a PR agency that has done

work in your industry in that

region, at least at the start.

Their connections will give you a

leg up with brand recognition.


COMPETITORSWho are your competitors in the

region?

Some will be the same, but others

might be regional competitors

you’ll need to prepare for.


INFLUENCERSWho are the influencers in your

region and industry?

Connect with them, involve them

in your content, webinars, and

events.


COMARKETINGPARTNERSAre there local companies or

regional divisions of global

companies you could form

strategic partnerships with?


EVENTS & NETWORKINGFind out what events are

happening in your regional

industry.

Cultivate thought-leadership

through speaking engagements.


LEGAL STUFFDifferent countries have different

laws around IP and marketing

activities.

Running a contest? Check with

legal first!


3 CREATING AN EFFECTIVE GLOBAL TEAM


CREATE GLOBAL SYSTEMS.Set up effective communication and processes so teams can work across regions.


OPERATIONS• Internal naming conventions

for your digital assets• Documentation of brand

guidelines, marketing processes

• Go-to troubleshooting resources


COLLABORATION• Have a centralized location for

all teams’ resources

• Share team projects, research,

and experiments

• Regular check-ins for same

functions across regions


OPEN ACCESS TO GLOBAL RESOURCES.Make sure regional teams don’t have to resort to hackymethods to get by.


DON’T LOCKUP THE FANCY STUFFMake sure regional teams have

equal access to high-value

resources that might be in HQ,

such as design, video, and

developers.


INCORPORATE FREELANCERSIt’s not always economical to share

resources from HQ due to

travel/equipment costs.

Budget freelancer costs for projects

that require resources beyond local

in-house capabilities.


HIRE LOCAL.Who better knows the local market than a local?


LEAD WITH LOCALSYou’re going to have a mix of expats and locals – but incorporate local hires into each level, especially management.

They’ll bring local perspective, and that’s invaluable to growth.


CREATE A REGIONAL PIPELINE• Have a recruiter on the ground

• Attend networking events and

career fairs

• Incentivize local hires to refer

people in their networks


MINIMIZE REGIONTHINK.Regional marketers need room to breathe and grow.


LET REGIONS INNOVATEGive regional marketers autonomy and the ability to take the lead on global collaborations.

Just because you’re in a regional office doesn’t mean you can’t contribute to global goals.


GIVE LOCAL EMPLOYEES AUTONOMYThe sad fact is most global orgs

bring in expats as leaders, who

then hire local teams to execute.

Try to foster leadership within a

region to create a strong culture.


4 BASIC NEED-TO-KNOWS


AMERICAN VERSUS BRITISH ENGLISH• It’s “zed” not “zee”• Use “s” instead of “z”

(personalise/optimise/agonise)• Use “ou” instead of “o”

(favourite, glamour, colour)• Stay away from American

idioms (baseball references)


CULTURAL AWARENESS• Local business customs

• Cultural norms

• Social ettiquette

• Rules and laws

• Basic language skills


HOUSE-KEEPING• Provide an immigration lawyer

• Choose serviced apartments in

residential areas for expats

• Know expat tax laws for new

country and back home


GO WITH AN OPEN MINDYou’re bound to have your

perceptions and assumptions

turned upside down, and that’s

okay.

Going global is a journey, so

enjoy the ride.


1. Market availability alone isn’t justification for expanding to a new country

2. Smarketing should be the most important focus of a regional marketing team

3. Create local personas: they’re not the same as they are back home

4. Prioritize which marketing activities to focus on first, repurpose what you can

5. Create global systems and give autonomy and responsibility to local teams

6. Be culturally aware and open to change

Takeaways.

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THANK YOU!@nitifromboston

niti shah - the marketers checklist for going global

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