Karolina Sarul
By
March 19, 2019

Behind the Scenes of Global Business Growth: a CMO's to-do List in Multi-Markets

global business growthIn 2011 I rode a roller-coaster in the southern part of Germany, a very specific one, where you sat in something that looked like a part of a steel trough, sliding on two pipes. I must say it was a steep and fast ride. 

And the unusual thing was that on the right side I had a handle to pull to slow down when I reached a certain sign and to push to speed up at the sign. The problem was that the signs were in German only (no pictures) and I didn’t understand them. This was the day I cursed not paying more attention to the German lessons at school. (I pity the fool that didn’t listen to Frau Grünholtz, I pity the fool!).

So, I sped up and slowed down at the wrong turns, causing people behind me to also have to slow down and speed up at the wrong places. Boy, was I the hated one there that day! During the whole ride I tried to come up with the what-I-want-my-funeral-to-look-like.

Yes, it probably was my fault that I didn’t learn beforehand. It was, however, also the fault of those responsible for the whole place. They didn’t make sure their message was going out to everyone by putting the signs as pictures or in English. It would make the adventure for people like myself more pleasant and less cursing would go on there.

Whether it’s sending a message to a local market or from a local market to prospective customers, the point is the same: it has to be understandable to the clients, otherwise they lose interest, won’t come back or, in my case, reach a completely new level of swearing and fear.

SEE FOR YOURSELF

Back to business. As the CMO, regardless of your industry, you have a lot on your plate. From developing and implementing the company’s international marketing plan, identifying targeted market segments, to being one of the key drivers for business performance. You make sure to implement the marketing initiatives in various channels and work in line with the Sales Managers, develop and maintain strong relationships by the use of marketing campaigns and also provide the business with research to improve overall business performance. This is a lot. And on top of that there’s the whole marketing translation business.

To make it easier for you, I have prepared a to-do list to consider when planning a global business growth.

 

1. Analyze the Data From the Local Markets

While identifying your targeted segments, you can and you should also identify the need for the languages your message should go out in. Should your content be translated into multiple languages or just a group of languages? It depends of course on your marketing strategy and your preferred audience’s location.

 

2. Motivate the Team to Search for an Ideal Language Services Partner

As one of the key drivers for business performance through implementation marketing initiatives via different channels, you are also the driver for implementing the localization idea into the overall marketing strategy. You are the one to inspire your team to see the need for it. You are also the one who can and should point out the necessity of having a professional language services partner, whose services are perfectly in line with your business objectives. And you are the one to motivate your team to search for such an ideal partner in a thorough and educated way.

 

3. Considering the Use of a Multilingual CMS, Don’t Forget to Combine Its Use With the Work of Your Language Services Partner

Educate yourself and your team to be fully informed about the options you have that can work in your favor. Like the multilingual CMS option. This will most definitely make your business performance exceed expectations. Translating content in an automated way saves time without a doubt, and it also saves money. Just remember that it must be a combination of the automated process together with the human translation. Doesn't the effectiveness, quality and savings in one process sound good?

 

4. Watch Those Numbers Grow

After you’ve analyzed the data and inspired the implementation of the professional marketing translation into your business objectives, after you’ve motivated and have driven the automated (or not) localization of your content, you can just sit back for a minute and relax ‒ watching those numbers grow.

Only for a minute, though, because you still have a lot on your plate, right?