How to Launch a B2B, Cross-Regional, Global Content Marketing Strategy. Here, he shares his journey to creating and launching a global content marketing strategy for his division. But I never knew how much I had to learn until I was tasked to launch a brand new global content marketing program for Schneider Electric. When local teams are not in place or suffer challenging budget conditions, then a central content team needs to take the lead. A central team might help with shared processes, but the countries will fully own content creation. Otherwise, the local team might address the issue by not using the central team’s content and creating their own. Step 6: Educating Marketers About Your Content Marketing Program In addition to internal communication, education is key to a successful global content marketing program. Before going global, we piloted five content marketing programs. Content marketing takes time, especially if the plan is to roll out the program across different geographies. Exactly like it’s time to start your trip, once you’ve completed planning and preparation.
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Giuseppe Caltabiano (@giusec) is VP for Marketing Integration at Schneider Electric, where he is responsible for definition of Content, Social Media, and PR strategy for the IT Division. Here, he shares his journey to creating and launching a global content marketing strategy for his division.
I cannot remember a time in my life when I was not travelling. In a way, it has been a constant whether I was on the road for business or pleasure.
My travels have given me a better understanding of the world. But I never knew how much I had to learn until I was tasked to launch a brand new global content marketing program for Schneider Electric. In short: I thought I knew the world, but when you have to develop content for different geographies, well, it feels like you never stepped outside your front door.
My global content marketing journey started in mid-2015 when we began defining our content strategy and the processes that would sustain it. Our goals were twofold: to increase leads and marketing opportunities, which were flat and stagnating at that time (and marketing opportunities have to count for 20% of overall opportunities), and increase brand awareness.
After defining our strategy, we spent one full year preparing for the global launch through multiple pilots. We learned an incredible amount from our successes and mistakes. What follows is a series of valuable considerations from that experience, which should prove helpful to other marketers who are establishing and launching their own global content marketing strategy.
Building a Global Content Marketing Strategy
Step 1: Finding the Optimal Balance Between Central and Local
In most regions – take Asia or Europe for example, where there are dozens of countries and languages – it is unrealistic to make content work for each individual market. For this reason, creating content centrally and allowing the countries to fill the gaps might represent a good solution. I love the way Pam Didner defines in her book the relation that the central content team has to establish with the geographies: a relation of “servant leadership.”
The company’s organisational set-up and business model further define the content model.
A very centralised organisation will tend to create most of the content at a central level and cascade to the countries. When local teams are not in place or suffer challenging budget conditions, then a central content team needs to take the lead.
The opposite model is generally in place for decentralised organisations, or within organisations with strong, localised country cultures. A central team might help with shared processes, but the countries will fully own content creation.
As with most things in life, the best place to be is usually in between, with the central team acting as a servant leader and the countries adapting the centrally created content to match local customers’ needs. Many businesses, for example, require local languages, which means that countries will need to take ownership of the localisation process.
The role of the central team may shift as the program matures. In early stages of a program, the flow of information is often outwards, with the central team leading content production and strategy. As global content programs mature and flourish, the emphasis of the central team shifts to providing guidance on building local content skills and competencies.
All these considerations lead to a customised content model that has to be prepared with accuracy before going live – exactly as a long trip has to be prepared meticulously to avoid too many unexpected surprises along the way.
At Schneider Electric, the central team – my team – owns the Schneider Electric Data Center blog, our main hub for Data Center solutions content, and the APC blog, our main hub for the IT channel content. We create content, guidelines, and distribution packages. The countries, then, can further edit the content to adapt to their cultures. The guidelines link to shared content rooms, samples, and suggestions in terms of timelines for content publishing. In addition, we provide documents with recommended do’s and dont’s.
Step 2: Establishing Local Editorial Boards
While the central editorial team will generate content at a global level, a local editorial board has to be in place in each country or geography to manage proper planning and distribution.
The choice of editorial board members depends on the local marketing organization, which can be complex or lean. In general, I suggest the following members:
- A field marketer responsible for operations in that specific country
- A digital marketing lead (or individual channel distribution leads – social media, web, newsletter, SEO – in larger organisations)
- A content lead (assuming that the country has a content lead)
- A strategic marketing lead
- Members of the local agency – if an agency is supporting local operations
The local editorial board will agree with the central team on target personas, lead the decision for adopting content created centrally, contract with local vendors, and engage members of the central team to secure a strong, continuous dialogue.
Step 3: Defining Local Target…
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