Question

Topic: Other

International Marketing Support

Posted by broadhurst.jason on 3/9/2015 at 5:09 PM ET 125 Points
Hello Experts,

I head up a small marketing dept in a growing B2B organization.

As a North American manufacturer we rely on reps to sell our product across the US and Canada, and increasingly internationally.

In the last 6 months alone, we have expanded into Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Turkey. And this is having a considerable impact upon marketing.

We have a library of marketing documentation, and a website - both of which are available in English and French, but we haven't got the resources to translate and print collateral into 6 or 7 languages. Or to translate web pages into different languages.

The result has been that reps in our oversees markets have created their own branded websites, are doing their own translations, and printing their own documentation.

This concerns me greatly as we have no control over our brand in these markets or the quality of material being created, but of course when challenged, their answer is that we're not providing them with what they need so they have to do it themselves. I see their point of course. And, our upper management and international sales managers agree - they're a lot less concerned with our brand, the marketing budget or the limited resources we have, and they're more concerned with our reps having "something"...anything.

I'd like to see if anyone has experienced similar challenges, and has suggestions on how I manage this situation.

Thanks in advance!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 3/9/2015 at 6:05 PM Member
    Invest the money to create the language relevant, branded material.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 3/9/2015 at 6:12 PM Accepted
    Many marketers believe that brand is everything, and they have a point. If you don't get the brand right up front, it will cost you more in the long run to fix issues.

    But I also come from a pragmatic background and realize their often isn't enough money from some markets to justify the expense of localizing the right way, so routes like you are doing are often done. These can work in the short run, but if business starts getting big, it will cost you some to fix the branding discrepancies.

    One option in the short term is figure out the parts of the branding that are most important (like logo and name usage) and try to get them in place. Be easier if you had this figured out before the foreign reps came on board, as following these practices could be part of the contract. Bit it could still be done now.

    if you do go the route of locking down your brand world-wide, Do keep in mind that parts of your brand may not work in other cultures. As an example, colors mean different things to different cultures. And names don't always translate well. You may need to allow for some adjustments.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 3/9/2015 at 9:50 PM Member
    To reduce costs in print, create PDFs and simple websites. Brochures, leaflets, and catalogues are a waste of perfectly good trees.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 3/10/2015 at 6:57 AM Accepted
    Offer to part-fund their marketing activities. For instance they can provide the text, you finalise the graphics and layout and then either do or pay for the printing or web-hosting - that way you're much more in control of brand imagery if not quite in control of the text. The other option is to create templates from your materials and the local reps can fill in the text as required. Really though you should be quality-checking the text too. These materials are an investment in your customers. They should pay back multiple times in terms of sales so its up to you to ensure they show the values and quality that your business aspires to.

    Also note that some European markets are still strongly paper focused (eg southern Europe) and demand a catalogue or physical paper brochures before they will buy, so go with what the local rep suggests. Scandinavia is more open to English marketing materials, but Spain and Turkey almost certainly need something in the local language probably printed as well as on-line. If you have something in Spanish then you also open up the rest of the Spanish speaking world, so you could also choose languages according to their potential for growing your business.
  • Posted by broadhurst.jason on 3/11/2015 at 8:45 AM Author
    Thank you for these comments. I was thinking along the lines covered in the responses above, and they have helped me formulate somewhat of a plan that we're fleshing out now.

    Our reps will have brand guidelines that spell out what logos to use where, how, and what colors to use. They will have guidance on font and language too.

    We're also going to supply them with "approved" photography and video so they don't have to go create their own.

    We're going to provide our printed marketing materials in English, French and Spanish to cover our focus markets. We're going to provide printing, paper and design specs, and we're going to ask local reps to translate and print their own material the respects guidelines and specs.

    Now we have to work out how we cope with the websites that are popping up in our name, but at least we have a start on the printed collateral!

    Thanks again for your responses!
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