Understanding Your Global Target Markets

A marketing localization strategy is a crucial step to global success, but it can be challenging. In-depth insights and in-country experts can help effectively reach and engage your global target market. 

Implementing a marketing localization strategy can be daunting for businesses. Other than the obvious problem of finding the right skillsets and tools to support the process, there are many moving pieces to effectively reach and engage your global target audiences. And each market is different. 

You want to market your brand globally with compelling content. But if you’ve not done the groundwork, your efforts could fall flat. 

Understanding the local market landscape will help determine which markets to pursue. It can also inform how to identify and engage with your target audience.

Discovering the ins and outs of their behaviour is essential to ensuring your international marketing budget goes far, making an impact with your content and securing brand awareness and authenticity.

The key is asking the right questions to create a locally relevant strategy and having access to in-country, subject-matter experts.

Here’s where to start:

DISCOVER YOUR GLOBAL TARGET MARKET

It’s important to know whether your product or service has potential when you’re looking to launch in a new international market. Here are some useful questions to consider:

• How relevant is your product or offering to the local market?
• What does the competitive landscape look like?
• Are you competing with international or local brands? Or both?
• What are the logistical or legal barriers to – or costs of – marketing there?
• How will socioeconomic and cultural factors affect your brand, messaging, and marketing strategy?
• Is your product or service only relevant based on current circumstances?

Website analytics and international online sales via your other sites can help you decide which international target market makes the most sense to pursue.  

These analytics provide more intricate details about your global audiences. Getting clicks in China? Or do you have a high retention rate in Brazil? It would make sense to start your market research there. 

However, with the launch of GA4 and the controversial limitation of features, it’s important not to put all your eggs in one basket. With market research, you can refine how, when and where you promote products and services based on a deep-dive examination of your current efforts across platforms and channels. 

Other information like increased sales, revenue, repeat business and customer lifetime value – and how those trend over time – are good indicators of international interest in your brand or product.

It’s likely your existing social media channels will offer additional insight into which markets to pursue next. Most social media tools offer in-app, country-specific data on engagement – use this to your advantage. 

Plus, country-specific data on engagement with your video content and downloadable assets can provide useful insights to help you decide which markets to pursue first.

UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Consumer behaviour varies from market to market. You can’t assume your international target audiences have the same habits, interests, or demographics as your current ones. Especially with a shift in buying habits since COVID-19 and the economic downturn. 

A deep dive into understanding your audience will help determine:

WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT

Do they care about personal touches or a seamless user journey? Quality or price? Practical application or aspiration? Authenticity or effectiveness? 

Understanding what your audience values – from both the market’s overall culture to the specific demographic you’re targeting – will inform how to communicate authentically and effectively. 

WHERE THEY SPEND TIME ONLINE

The number of digital channels has grown exponentially.  User experience and demographic trends are now major factors in how to reach and engage target audiences. 

Understanding local digital channels, like social media platforms, search engines and e-commerce websites, can heavily influence where, how and who you market to.

It’s important to know where your audience spends their time scrolling, clicking, liking and posting. That way, you can equip yourself with the resources you need to reach and engage them.

HOW ONLINE BEHAVIOUR DRIVES DECISION-MAKING

The customer journey varies significantly between markets. For example, in China consumers are looking for value and quality, so tend to avoid impulsive buying. And in France, consumers are increasingly looking to social media for brand research, especially for beauty products and fashion. 

Some global audiences may find display ads distracting to the user experience, while others engage with and appreciate them. So having key insights into the consumer journey is essential to providing a captivating, authentic experience that builds a connection between them and your brand.

HOW TO BUILD TRUST AND ENGAGEMENT

Across the US, UK and Australian markets alone, 88% of consumers see authenticity as an important factor when deciding which brands they support. Knowing your target audiences is key to building brand authenticity in your target markets – and with it,  trust and engagement from consumers. 

For example, Japan is a market where consumers view other users as a more reliable source of product information than experts. So ensuring your user reviews and testimonials are localized will be key to building trust and engagement in this market.

International customers are likely to feel better connected to your brand or trust your product if your in-language content is visible across the platforms your audiences use daily. Find out more about popular local platforms here. 

Once you’ve determined what your audience values, their online behaviour and preferred platforms, you’re ready to create your audience profiles. This is a surefire way to better understand your international audience. They expect a personalized experience – and when you’re equipped with the right knowledge, you can offer them this from the get-go. 

FINAL THOUGHT

For your existing markets and international expansion, ensuring your marketing localization strategy is effective is about taking the time to understand your international target audiences. Once you know which markets you’re going to target, in-country experts can provide insights about specific user behaviours and drivers to inform your content and digital marketing strategy in each locale. 

Taking this approach will set you up for success with a less costly, more agile approach to localization. And it will also allow you to make the case for expanding your international marketing efforts based on results.